NEW YORK (Oct. 28, 2008) — The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) presented the Patrick Jackson Award for Distinguished Service to the organization to New York public relations management executive and author Art Stevens, APR, Fellow PRSA, at the PRSA 2008 International Conference in Detroit Oct. 25-28.
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The society cited Stevens for helping broaden the vision of PRSA through his service to the society and for enhancing the reputation of the public relations profession through his personal achievements and integrity. Stevens is co-founder and managing partner of StevensGouldPincus, a New York-based merger and management consulting firm to public relations agencies and other communication businesses.
“Like its namesake, this award is given to people who inspire others both professionally and personally,” said PRSA Chair & CEO Jeffrey Julin, APR. “Art Stevens has been that kind of inspiration for all of us. He is widely regarded for helping bring better business practices to public relations operations, which in turn helps those organizations serve their clients better.”
“Art Stevens’work in all facets of public relations has helped enhance our profession and allowed him to be a counselor, mentor and role model for many of its practitioners. We’re proud to recognize his contributions by awarding him this year’s Patrick Jackson award,” said Sherry Goldman, 2008 PRSA Honors and Awards Committee chair and president of the New York-based Goldman Communications Group.
The award was named in honor of the late Patrick Jackson, APR, Fellow PRSA, the Society’s president in 1980. It recognizes a PRSA member who has significantly contributed to advancing PRSA nationally and at local Chapter levels.
“Rather than sit on the beach and read trashy novels, I wanted to stay plugged in,” Stevens said. “I wanted to put the knowledge I accumulated to work in helping others [in the profession]. So I became a missionary for increasing the value of agencies and the business as a whole. I naturally gravitated from agency owner to helping others fulfill their dreams in this field.”
Stevens’ career spans more than four decades in corporate, financial, product, educational, marketing and political public relations. He has published numerous articles in magazines and professional journals. He coined the term “brandstanding” to reflect his appraisal of dramatic changes in the use of public relations for consumer product marketing – views he expressed in a widely acclaimed article for Harvard Business Review. He’s also author of the 1985 book, “The Persuasion Explosion,” which deals with the role and influence of contemporary public relations practices. In the financial area, his study of the attitudes of corporate presidents whose companies went public was quoted extensively in such media as Business Week, Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Investment Dealer's Digest and United Press International.
During his career Stevens, who divides time between his homes in Somerset, N.J. and Sanibel, Fla., also has managed to sneak in a bit of a “secret life” as author of “Sanibel Shell Shocked,” an anthology of the humor columns he writes for Florida newspapers near his home on the gulf coast. For several years, he did a weekly Florida Emmy-nominated humor commentary on WINK-TV, a CBS affiliate in Fort Myers, Fla.
Shortly after his graduation from City College of New York, Stevens began a meteoric rise in public relations. At 25, he became public relations director of Prentice-Hall Inc., where he pioneered a series of innovative programs designed to bring that giant educational publisher closer to their private college marketplace. He also was instrumental in developing in conjunction with the Missouri Bar Association a landmark study on public attitudes toward lawyers, which was adopted the American Bar Association and is still used today as an impetus for continuing legal education.
Stevens subsequently became head of Safire Public Relations, the agency founded by William L. Safire earlier in the former career of the New York Times columnist. Later, Stevens was cofounder, president and CEO of LobsenzStevens Inc., a successful mid-size agency that was acquired in 1999 by Publicis Groupe. He then became chairman and CEO of Publicis Dialog New York. Stevens also is a past president of Pinnacle Worldwide, a global network of independent public relations firms.
He served on PRSA’s national board of directors for several years and was elected secretary in 2004. Stevens also served on the board of the New York PRSA Chapter and was its president in 2006. As chairman of the PRSA Public Relations Committee, he launched a program to establish a closer relationship between the profession and national media. A former member of the executive committee of the Counselors Academy, Stevens established PRSA’s ethics committee and helped institute a new code of ethics and a grievance process. He was also involved in founding the PRSA College of Fellows Mentor Program, the Council of Public Relations Networks and the Council of PR Firms, and he served a term as president of Publicity Club of New York. In 1998, he was elected to membership in the Arthur W. Page Society.
Stevens also has served on the board of directors of the Putnam-Westchester United Way and is trustee of the Terri Gotthelf Lupus Research Institute.
He has been an instructor and lectured at Fairleigh Dickinson University, New School, New York University and other colleges and professional associations. Awards and citations for his career excellence include the PRSA New York Chapter’s highest honors: the John Hill Award for lifetime achievement, and the Philip Dorf Award for leadership in guiding the careers of young professionals.
About the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
The Public Relations Society of America (www.prsa.org), headquartered in New York City, is the world’s largest organization for public relations professionals with nearly 32,000 professional and student members. PRSA is organized into 109 Chapters and 10 Districts nationwide, and 20 Professional Interest Sections and Affinity Groups, which represent business and industry, counseling firms, independent practitioners, military, government, associations, hospitals, schools, professional services firms and nonprofit organizations. The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) has 296 Chapters at colleges and universities throughout the United States, and one Chapter in Argentina.
