December 2, 2009

STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAM DIRECTOR LARRY PARNELL INDUCTED INTO PR NEWS HALL OF FAME

Washington, DC - This week PR News inducted its 2009 PR Hall of Fame recipients. One of the honorees,  Larry Parnell, directs the Strategic Public Relations Master's Degree program at The George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM).

Parnell is one of six inductees, including Don Bulmer (VP of Global Communications, Industry and Influencer Relations, SAP), Peter Debreceny (Strategy Execution Consultant, Gagen MacDonald), Donna Imperato (CEO, Cohn & Wolfe), Michael Kempner (President & CEO, MWW Group), and Marcia Silverman (Global CEO, Ogilvy PR).

"We have gone from typewriters to distributing news via PDAs, from press conferences to Webcasts and tweets, from one-to-many communications to one-to-one," said Parnell. "All that has really changed is the pace and means of distributing your message. What hasn't changed is the importance of developing a strategic message, identifying your key audiences and getting your position across to protect or enhance your client/organization's reputation."

Over a 30-year career, Parnell has held senior communications positions in consulting, on the client side and in politics. Most recently, he was Vice President and Group Leader of the Corporate Communications practice at Hill and Knowlton Canada. He came to Hill & Knowlton from Barrick Gold Corporation (Toronto) where he was Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations with responsibility for corporate, financial and internal communications. In New York, he served for four years as Director of Global Public Relations at Ernst & Young LLP. While at Ernst &Young he was named PR Professional of the Year (2003) by PR Week magazine.

"Communications will become even more dramatic, critical and strategic," said Parnell. "The key is to take advantage of the opportunity the market is giving us today, and to not overreach-to just deliver results."

The Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) at The George Washington University seeks to improve politics by educating its students and professionals in the tools, principles and values of participatory democracy, preparing them for careers as ethical and effective advocates and leaders at the international, national and local levels.

For more information on PR News' 2009 Hall of Fame inductees, visit http://www.prnewsonline.com/free/PR-News-2009-Hall-of-Fame-Inductees_13508.html.

For more information about GW's Graduate School of Political Management, visit http://www.gspm.org.

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