Three days before the Public Relations Society of America's national conferance began Nov. 9 in St. Louis, the association's public relations director Steve Erickson stepped down. The move adds yet another layer to questions concerning the devisiveness of the 17,000-member organization and its administrative leadership.
Erickson told PR NEWS last week from his home in New York, that he resigned Nov. 6 because of "a difference in management style" and based on an agreement with PRSA CEO Ray Gaulke who accepted his resignation "after lengthy conversation."
"This needed to be done and we each agreed that PRSA and I would part to go our different directions" Erickson said.
He added that although the timing seemed unusual, it had nothing to do with the conference. "It just happened to be then," Erickson said. "This was a mutual decision and we parted on positive terms."
Erickson, who is earning his masters degree in communications management at Syracuse University, came on board at PRSA in June 1995 after leaving a vice president of communcations slot with the Arthritis Foundation in Atlanta.
He said that he has yet to take another full-time job and it is likely he will do PR work for New York-based agencies for a brief time.
"I'm not in a great hurry (to find a new job)," Erickson said. "And I wish PRSA the best. A lot of communcation is needed to decide the organization's needs and to decide where it's going.
He PRSA members' decision to defeat the dues increase reflected their unwillingness to turn over any more money to PRSA. "There is this view, from what I understand, that people didn't have a sense of the value of their current dues and where the money would be spent."
Erickson also said that he and the organization have yet to work out the final details of his departure.