About Program

Join some of PRSA Chicago’s most senior PR professionals for a discussion on the ‘State of Public Relations’ at the University Club of Chicago. Corporate, agency, non-profit and academia leaders will discuss trends in the market, skills needed to succeed and the media landscape.

Panelists

Ron Culp
(@Culpwrit)
Consultant and Professional Director, Graduate PRAD Program, DePaul University

Ron Culp is a veteran public relations executive with a broad-range of experience at four major corporations and two agencies. He currently serves as Director of the Graduate Program for Public Relations and Advertising (PRAD) at DePaul University.

Prior to beginning his consultancy and joining DePaul, Culp was a Ketchum Partner and headed the global agency’s North America Corporate Practice. He also served as Managing Director of the agency’s Chicago office.

Before joining Ketchum, Ron opened and served as Managing Director of the Chicago office of Sard Verbinnen and Company, a leading financial communications firm.

Previously, Ron was a corporate officer and Senior Vice President, Public Relations and Government Affairs at Sears. During his Sears career, Ron managed internal and external communications, marketing public relations support, state and federal government affairs and community relations. Earlier in his career, Ron held senior communications positions at Sara Lee, Pitney Bowes, Eli Lilly, the New York State Assembly and the Indiana House of Representatives.

Ron is active in several civic organizations including the Economic Club of Chicago where he is a former vice chair and board member. He also serves on the boards Gilda’s Club Chicago and the Indiana State Foundation. He is a founding board member and former chair of the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. Ron is a member of the advisory board of the Museum of Public Relations and Library, and serves on the PRSA Foundation board.

Ron funds an annual PRSSA scholarship recognizing student mentors. In addition, he and his wife have endowed a scholarship for first generation college students at their alma mater, Indiana State University.

Ron and DePaul colleague, Matt Ragas, are co-authors of a leading business communication textbook, “Business Essentials for Strategic Communicators.” They currently are working on their second book, “Mastering Business,” which features 24 chief communications officers. Publication date: January 2018.

In 2015, Ron received PRSA’s Gold Anvil Award for lifetime achievement in the profession. He also received the Distinguished Service Award in 2014 from the Arthur W. Page Society, and in 2011 he was honored with the prestigious John W. Hill Award by the New York Chapter of PRSA and in 2012 he was named PR Professional of the Year by Chicago PRSSA. Ron was named to the PR News “Hall of Fame” in 2008.

Ron’s career blog, Culpwrit, consistently ranks as one of the most popular PR blogs in the U.S.

Justin DeJong
Vice President, Editorial and Channel Strategy
American Medical Association

Justin DeJong is a strategic communications leader, specializing in public affairs, crisis communications and digital strategy. He currently works as the American Medical Association’s Vice President for internal and external communications which includes media relations, physician communications, speechwriting, digital communications, and employee communications. Last year, he led the digital reinvention of the organization by relaunching the AMA’s website, intranet and its AMA Wire news platform.

Before joining AMA, DeJong was an appointee in President Barack Obama’s Administration and specialized in advancing initiatives to improve the health and nutrition of the American people. During the President’s first term, he worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and served in several communications roles including Director of Public Affairs where he oversaw media relations for the third largest federal agency. Most notably, DeJong led USDA communications for First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative and to both pass and implement the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which improved school meals for the first time in a generation. He also led the marketing and media strategy to unveil MyPlate and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

In his tenure at USDA, DeJong’s crisis communications management guided federal response to H1N1 (swine flu), BSE (mad cow disease), H7N9 (avian influenza) and other challenges. His communications expertise helped secure congressional passage of the Claims Settlement Act which resolved claims of discrimination by Black farmers against USDA, as well as contract renegotiations with the crop insurance industry that achieved $6 billion in savings.

Previously, DeJong served as Illinois Director of Communications for the 2008 Obama campaign and as Director of Communications at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. He’s also served as a spokesperson for several state agencies in Illinois government including the Departments of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and Central Management Services, as well as the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget. His other experience includes working at Chicago-based Peoples Energy, Jasculca-Terman and Associates, and Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Press Office.

DeJong earned his B.A. public relations from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.

Kelly Drinkwine
(@kdrinkwine)
Vice President, Aon

Kelly came to Aon in Jan. 2009 from the agency world, where she oversaw KemperLesnik’s top financial services and technology public relations accounts as well as media relations for The Art of Food & Wine Palm Desert annual festival in California.

Kelly has worn multiple hats since joining Aon, most recently serving as the global leader of internal and external communications for Aon Risk Solutions, the $6+ billion global risk management business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), the professional services firm ranked 420 on Fortune’s Global 2000. In this role, Kelly focuses on strategic positioning and executive communications, working closely with the CEO and his leadership team to help drive the short- and long-term objectives of the business. Prior to this role, Kelly served as director / global head of public relations for Aon Risk Solutions, senior director / head of global marketing and communications for Aon Broking and in a chief of staff role for the CEO of Aon Risk Solutions.

She has counseled Aon’s top leaders and experts on messaging, branding and delivery on topics ranging in scope from the risks inherent to doing business in Brazil to those facing filmmakers in Hollywood. In her tenure at Aon, Kelly has led the internal charge on social media channels such as Twitter as well as the integration of search engine optimization tactics into news release development on a global basis.

Prior to KemperLesnik and Aon, Kelly served as a consultant to business-to-business and media clients in Chicago and spent several years in New York City with ABC television network, where she cut her teeth in production and ultimately oversaw advertising for the network’s sports division. In that role, she was responsible for all off-channel advertising and promotion, maximizing opportunities for brand exposure for such flagship properties as Monday Night Football, college football’s Bowl Championship Series, auto racing’s Brickyard 400 and Indianapolis 500, National Hockey League and figure skating. Her fresh perspective and balanced approach reflect her strong background in strategic communications as well as the hats worn thus far in her career, including journalist, TV and radio producer, marketing and special event professional, actor and Olympics supervisor.

Kelly is the president-elect of the PRSA Chicago chapter and co-leads the Chicago chapter of Aon’s Women’s International Network. She is a former executive board member of the Publicity Club of Chicago and Find A Better Way, a charity committed to raising awareness of landmines and improving the methods by which they are identified and extracted.

Kelly’s work has been featured by PRNews and PRWeek. Among her honors, Kelly has led her teams to multiple award wins, from the Golden and Silver Trumpets bestowed by the Publicity Club of Chicago to several coveted innovation and leadership honors in the risk management industry, and served as producer for the Best Radio Promotion Campaign as determined by PROMAX – the highest accolade for promotion and marketing professionals working in the electronic media.

A graduate of Florida State University with a bachelor’s degree in media communication, Kelly lives in Chicago with her husband, Michael, and their sons, Emmett and Samuel.

Maxine Winer
(@MaxineWiner)
Senior Vice President, Senior Partner and General Manager, FleishmanHillard

Maxine Winer is senior vice president, senior partner and general manager of the Chicago office of FleishmanHillard, one of the world’s largest integrated communications firms.

Max has more than 25 years’ experience in integrating marketing communications. Currently, she leads one of FleishmanHillard’s largest offices, with a client list that includes McDonald’s, PepsiCo (Gatorade, Propel, Tropicana, Cap’n Crunch, Life and Quaker), Abbott, Walgreens, CDW, Illinois Office of Tourism, Lands’ End, and The Chicago White Sox, among others. The office’s areas of expertise include reputation management, financial communications & investor relations, crisis and issues management, consumer brand marketing, sports marketing, business-to-business marketing, food & nutrition, health & wellness, social & digital, and content creation.

Before joining FleishmanHillard in 2010, Max spent five years with Edelman, where she was executive vice president and deputy general manager of the reputation management practice in the agency’s Chicago office. Prior to that, Max ran her own Chicago-based communications consultancy with a client list that included Washington Mutual, Hewitt Associates and Chicago’s Lincoln Park Hospital. She took that step after spending several years as senior vice president at MS&L/Chicago, where she supervised the public relations effort credited with helping The U.S. Army achieve its recruitment goal for the first time in four years and in the wake of the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001.

Earlier in her career, Max was vice president of marketing for PNC Mortgage, a subsidiary of PNC Financial Services Group, and also served as vice president of professional services marketing at the Financial Relations Board in Chicago. She began her career at HomeFed Bank in San Diego, where, as assistant vice president of corporate relations, the crisis plan she developed helped preserve employee trust, maintain morale and curtail deposit outflows despite negative publicity and corporate volatility when HomeFed became the largest takeover by the Resolution Trust Corporation during the S&L debacle of the late 1980s.

Max is on the board of Junior Achievement of Chicago. She is also a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, The Chicago Network and the Executives Club of Chicago. In 2015, she was honored with the Niles North High School Distinguished Alumni Award as part of the year-long celebration of the school’s 50th anniversary.

Our Moderator

Chris Mordi
(@chrismordi)
Account Manager and Creative Recruiter, Paladin

Chris Mordi has spent more than 15 years in public relations. He has held roles at FleishmanHillard and Golin. He also spent time on the client side with Lands’ End and Bass Pro Shops. Most recently, Chris was the vice president of communications for Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet, a luxury outdoor appliance manufacturer. He made the jump to recruiting world in 2016, landing at Paladin. He is a member of the Chicago office’s communications practice that specializes in recruiting for roles in public relations, content and social media.

Program Details

Refunds:
All ticket sales are final. Substitutions may be made at any time.