Saluting Women: As March is Women’s History Month and the 8th is International Women’s Day, it’s heartening to report several PR firms were among the National Association for Female Executives’ list of Top Companies for Executive Women. With women comprising 54% of its senior managers and 66% of its 1,500 U.S. employees, FleishmanHillard made the list’s top 10. With women being 70% of its 2,700 U.S. employees and 62% of its senior managers, Edelman was on the list, too. At Edelman, 56% of its top 10% earners are women; the percentage at FleishmanHillard is 48%. At FleishmanHillard 44% of direct reports to president/CEO John Saunders are women and 53% of the board are women. At Edelman, 30% of president/CEO Russell Dubner’s direct reports are women. The board is comprised of 20% women. Women have made “a lot of progress…but we have not gotten far enough,” says Margery Kraus, founder/executive chair, APCO Worldwide, whose global leadership is more than 50% female. “At the working levels, we are doing great and often carrying the day. But in the C-suite, there is much to be done, both on the agency side and on the client side. There are still too many meetings where I have been the only woman in the room or there has been only one on the client side. And, in my recent experience talking to investment firms, only one out of 15 firms even brought a woman to the meeting—when talking to a woman-owned business!”
24/7: Yet another reminder that communicators not only need to monitor what employees say on social from nine to five, sometimes they also have to respond to what’s posted after hours. As President Trump spoke to a joint session of Congress the evening of Feb. 28, an employee of Liberty Advisor Group, a Chicago investment firm, tweeted his displeasure with Carryn Owens, widow of Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, who died during a military operation in Yemen Jan. 28. As the president paid tribute to the fallen sailor, he noted Carryn was in the House visitors’ gallery, where she received applause from lawmakers. Liberty’s Dan Grilo tweeted: “Sorry, Owens’ wife, you’re not helping yourself or your husband’s memory by standing there and clapping like an idiot. Trump just used you.” A Hillary Clinton supporter, Grilo apparently tried to delete his tweet and apologized, reports Investment News, yet the damage was done. Grilo, whose LinkedIn profile identified his employer, and Liberty, were pilloried. The firm repsonded quickly, issuing a 200-word apology to “Mrs. Owens…and…all those who have served this nation...and anyone else who was offended by these comments…the personal views of this individual do not represent Liberty and we vigorously disavow them. Although the message and subsequent apologies were sent from an individual’s personal account, and bore no connection to his work with Liberty, his comments were inconsistent with the Company’s values and the unyielding respect it has for the members of our Nation’s Armed Forces.” While it never mentioned Grilo by name, the statement included word that the tweet was a job ender: “The individual who issued the tweet is no longer affiliated with Liberty.”
Platform Prater: We loved how YouTube included measurement talk in announcing Feb. 27 that last year it found people watch about 1 billion hours of its content daily. YouTube noted initially views was its most critical metric. “It wasn’t an easy call” to switch focus to “the amount of time someone spent watching,” it said. The bet has paid off. YouTube said the next day it will offer a skinny bundle of live TV, including the broadcasters and three dozen cable channels for $35/month.
People: FleishmanHillard named SVP/senior partner Terri Owen GM of its headquarters office in St. Louis. Owen has been with the firm for more than two decades. – Lewis named Miles Daniels VP, media strategy, a newly created role. Speaking of which, Lewis PR( notthe Lewisabove) has rebranded as Three Box Strategic Communications. Whew! – BackBay Communications promoted Jen Dowd to COO, a newly created role. Dowd joined BackBay in 2007 from Compton Consulting, a financial communications outfit. – Kudos to Lisa Ross, rbb Communications president and travel & leisure practice leader, honored as one of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International’s top 25 extraordinary minds during the 60th annual Adrian Awards Feb. 21 in NY. – Finn Partners managing partner and founder of its CSR and social impact practice Anne Glauber lost her three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Glauber’s passing was only a pyrrhic victory for pancreatic cancer, though. The fight against this deadly killer continues with Let’s Win, the online effort Glauber founded to share unconventional treatments with patients, families and the medical community. Knowing Anne, the PR pro's PR pro, we’ll guess she’d insist the story for this week is not her demise, but that Let’s Win lives to benefit others.