about program

Almost every headline has an AI mention these days. As communicators, we need to know when to use it, how to deploy it responsibly and how to advise clients in today’s rapidly evolving environment. Join PRSA and a group of experts for a panel and roundtable discussions on the intersection of PR and AI. Topics to include the ethics of AI, developing talent in an AI-world, creatively employing AI for PR (from pitches and media lists to social media), and leveraging AI for productivity.

Help us help you. Take this brief 5-question survey to help us get to the topics and questions you'd like to hear about.

When: Wednesday, May 1; 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. CT
Where: Manny's Cafeteria & Delicatessen, 1141 Jefferson Street, Chicago, IL 60607 (Directions)

SPEAKERS

Tushar Agrawal
Principal, Regional Manager Customer Success Architects | IBM
Tushar Agrawal leads a team of Customer Success Architects is the US National Market to drive adoption of Hybrid Cloud and Artificial Intelligence platforms provided by IBM. Agrawal is passionate about integration of AI to augment our day-to-day lives to bring operational efficiency. He focuses on ethical AI principles and collaborates with his customers to develop innovative solutions to address business transformation challenges.

Agrawal is an experienced enterprise architect for large-scale data processing who successfully launched 50+ complex solutions for customers across industry verticals and segments. Agrawal has filed 170+ patent applications with the US Patent Office, and continuously works on innovation with emerging technologies to co-create intellectual property for IBM.

Agrawal holds an MBA degree and is pursuing a PhD in Software Engineering from North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND.

Jason Brandt
Chief Marketing Officer | Stagwell Marketing Cloud's PRophet Suite
Jason is Chief Marketing Officer of Stagwell Marketing Cloud's PRophet Suite, the first and only generative and predictive AI SaaS products built by and for PR and marketing professionals. Brandt brings more than 30 years of industry experience building and managing digital businesses, driving innovation and scaling growth for global brands.

In his role, Brandt’s mission is to further create awareness, adoption and growth of the PRophet Suite – consisting of the Earn, Influence, and Monitor products. The suite is by far the most comprehensive and accessible AI solution for brands and agencies alike to improve their productivity and quality of their creative 

Brandt joined Stagwell in 2022 from serving as Chief Innovation Officer for the P&G Team at WPP, where he focused on integrating global creative technology solutions to enhance customer experience and brand loyalty. He also served as the Chief Growth Officer at WPP company Grey Midwest, where he spearheaded growth strategies and fostering internal partnerships across Grey while delivering innovative CRM, digital, and performance marketing capabilities to global brands. 

Brandt has also held global positions working with world class brands such as Gartner, IBM, Dell, Diageo, Hearst, Discover and American Express.

Dr. Minjin (MJ) Rheu
Assistant Professor | School of Communications, Loyola University Chicago
Dr. Minjin Rheu (Ph.D., Information and Media Studies, Michigan State University) is an assistant professor in the School of Communication at Loyola University Chicago. Her research focuses on the socio-psychological implications of emerging media technologies. Her recent works primarily revolve around human-AI interactions, focusing on lay users’ perceptions, understandings, and use cases of AI applications as well as virtual influencers. Her studies have been published in flagship outlets in the fields of communication studies, information science, and human-computer interaction, including Communication Research, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, The ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), and The ACM SIGCHI Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW), and have been widely cited by other scholars.

Davis Schneiderman
Executive Director of the Krebs Center for the Humanities and Professor of English | Lake Forest College
https://www.davisschneiderman.com/
Krebs Center for the Humanities
HUMAN AI/humanities grant
https://www.lakeforest.edu/academics/faculty/dschneid
HUMAN media coverage

Davis Schneiderman is the Executive Director of the Krebs Center for the Humanities and Professor of English at Lake Forest College. He is the Principal Investigator for a $1.2 million grant from the Mellon Foundation for a project called HUMAN: Humanities Understanding of the Machine-Assisted Nexus. This multi-year initiative explores artificial intelligence from a humanities perspective. As part of this work, Dr. Schneiderman is collaborating with the Chicago History Museum on a new AI project and speaks to audiences about AI in education and the workforce.
 
Schneiderman is a novelist, journalist, scholar, and the author or editor of novels and critical collections. His scholarly work focuses on areas of contemporary interest, including artificial intelligence, copyright and digital plagiarism, remix culture, and technology. He is working on several projects related to the Grateful Dead and editorial work for Cambridge University Press. 
 
He previously served as Lake Forest College’s Krebs Provost and Dean of the Faculty.

Zach Tarvin
Director, Creative Technology | Golin
Zach Tarvin is a creative technologist at Golin, where he helps brands across industries tell new stories through technology. Outside of work, he builds apps for Apple platforms. Before working in PR he earned an MFA in Fiction from Roosevelt University. He enjoys helping poets and writers explore ways to bring their work to new mediums in addition to print.

Dr. Jing Yang
Associate Professor | Loyola University Chicago
Dr. Jing Yang (Ph.D., Information and Media Studies, Michigan State University) is an associate professor in the school of communication at Loyola University Chicago. Her recent research focuses on the adoption, implications, business, and societal impact of artificial intelligence in the field of advertising and marketing communications. Specifically, she is a pioneer in integrating AI technology in classroom settings and has developed the course “AI in Advertising” since Fall 2019. In addition, she has also published numerous journal articles and conference proceedings discussing her research findings regarding the impact of AI on education, consumers, professional development, and societies. Her works can be found in the Journal of Interactive Marketing, the Journal of Advertising, the Journal of Advertising Education, the Journal of Marketing Communications, Advertising and Society Quarterly, and the Journal of Interactive Advertising, among many others.

MODERATOR

Jacqueline Thomas, MS
President | South Shore Public Relations
PRSA Chicago Membership Committee Co-Chair
Jacqueline Thomas is a seasoned communications professional with over 15 years of experience in strategic communication and public relations. Her career has spanned diverse sectors, including optical, technology, public affairs, infrastructure, and the non-profit industry. Thomas's accomplishments include establishing Anglotopia as the world's largest anglophile website, providing crucial crisis management and public relations support to the Professional Convention Management Association during the early days of the 2020 global pandemic, and leading North American communications for one of the largest optical companies globally. Most recently, Thomas opened her own public relations firm, South Shore Public Relations.

Her dedication to public relations education is evident through her involvement with organizations like the Optical Women's Association, the Public Relations Society of America, and the Commission on Public Relations Education Research. Thomas specializes in crisis communications and Business-to-business communications and holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Purdue University, complemented by a Master's degree in Strategic Communications from the same institution. Thomas was also named as a 2023 Emerging Optical Leader of Tomorrow by the Vision Council. 

Thomas' extensive experience and passion for public relations have led to notable achievements. Her commitment to fostering professional development and contributing to her community sets her apart as a leader in the field. With expertise in crisis communication, public relations, strategic communications, and business-to-business relations, Thomas has left a positive and lasting impact on the organizations she supports and the causes she champions. Her academic foundation and hands-on experience make her a highly dedicated figure in strategic communication and public relations.

Questions? Please email us at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!

Program Details

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