5
Spring 2015 | Vol. 47, Issue 3 | www.prssa.org/FORUM
New PRSA Board Liaisons You Should Get to Know
BY KATHERINE DAY University of Georgia
Join us in celebrating our two new PRSA Board Liaisons, whose positions were effective in January 2015. Get to know Bonnie
Upright, APR, and Jo Ann LeSage Nelson, APR, as they serve as PRSSA’s representatives to PRSA for the next two years.
LeSage Nelson has amassed an extensive list of awards throughout her career.
Among them are the YWCA Resourceful
Woman Award and the inaugural PRSA
Outstanding Public Relations Practitioner
Award, which she is most proud of because
it was awarded by her peers.
member of Jacksonville Women’s Network
and was named one of the Jacksonville
Business Journal’s “40 under 40.”
Bonnie Upright, APR
2015 PRSA Board Liaison
An Orange Park, Florida, native, Bonnie Upright, never expected to work in the
public relations field. In fact, she started
out as a sports writer and producer. But
now she has more than 20 years of experience under her belt — and we’re lucky to
have her.
Upright currently is the senior vice
president of Olympus Foundation Management, which she calls “the best job
in the entire world.” There she manages
foundations and nonprofit organizations for
professional athletes. While she unexpectedly entered into the world of public relations and stumbled into the lap of nonprofit
work, she says she “fell in love with working on behalf of a mission and using her
powers for good.”
Previously in her career, Upright
worked with many small businesses and
prestigious restaurants, including an awardwinning beachfront boutique hotel. She is a
Since joining PRSA in 2000, Upright
is now a member of the PRSA Board of
Directors and has served as a Chapter president, district chair and international conference co-chair. When asked how PRSA
has impacted her career, Upright said not
only did it aid in her professional development when she first started her career, but
it currently helps her to stay educated on
emerging trends and current events in the
industry. She also credits PRSA with urging
her to get her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR), which has been one of her
most valuable assets.
Being a liaison is something very
personal to Upright. She loves the interaction with student members and is thrilled to
stand as a link between the national organization and the student organization. As the
new board liaison, she is not only excited
to provide insight based off her own experience, but also to learn from the students.
In her free time, Upright keeps up with
the hectic lives of her two teenagers, is
an avid football fan and a self-proclaimed
stalker of Kenny Chesney — but not in a
creepy way.
services, retail and health care. She is happy
to report that she gets to go to work every day
with people she loves and work with some
really wonderful clients.
Jo Ann LeSage Nelson, APR
2016 PRSA Board Liaison
Much like Upright, Jo Ann LeSage
Nelson did not plan to work in public
relations. After two years as an editor at a
financial services firm, she was hired for
an entry level public relations position at
a community hospital. From there she has
gained quite an extensive and diverse background in public relations.
She has served as the vice president
of communications and government relations at the largest Chamber of Commerce
in New York’s Capital Region, as well as
worked for an Albany-based public relations agency.
LeSage Nelson is currently the vice
president of Pierce Communications, an
Albany-based public relations/public affairs/crisis management firm. There she is
in charge of communications counseling
and strategic public relations for clients in
industries that include technology, utilities, education, human services, financial
When asked how PRSA has impacted
her career, what stood out the most to her
was the outstanding network the organization has provided her. Not only are they
assets to her, but they have become close
friends that have created an open and inviting environment that is hard to find elsewhere. She is very proud of her profession
and of the fact that “PRSA is such a strong
advocate for the important role of the PR
professional. We all stand to gain when we
work together to ensure that practitioners
are well respected for their work, and that
those who don’t uphold the high ethics and
values that PRSA members adhere to are
called out for who and what they are.”
This will be her first time serving on
the board and LeSage Nelson is looking
forward to taking lead from fellow board
member, Bonnie Upright. She looks forward to “supporting her and the students in
whatever way” she can over the next year.
When she is not busy with her career,
LeSage Nelson loves to entertain and throw
large dinner parties with her husband. She
is an avid reader and loves to sit by the pool
with a good book and a Diet Coke or the
occasional margarita.
Launch of Hybrid Agency Gains Attention at University of Florida
The University of Florida’s
College of Journalism and Communications officially opened
a full-service strategic communication agency, named “The
Agency,” in January of this year
and it has already secured nearly
$500,000 in client work.
Rather than the traditional
student-run firm, which the university’s PRSSA Chapter also has,
this firm is led by professionals,
staffed by students and inspired
by faculty. Diane McFarlin, the
dean of the college, made the initiative a priority and hired Andy
Hopson, the firm’s executive
director, in July 2014. Hopson
said this is when the idea — that
goes back as far as 2008 — was
made a reality.
“For many years, this college
has offered immersive learning
experiences to journalism and
telecommunications students,”
Hopson said. “However, advertising
and public relations students were
not getting that same opportunity.”
Hopson is a 30-year agency
veteran whose career has included
major titles like COO of Publicis
Dialog and CEO of BursonMarsteller’s New York headquarters and northeast region.
Ryan Baum, a junior public
relations major at the University
of Florida, is the assistant to the
executive director and was the
first student Hopson hired in July.
BY EMMA FINKBEINER Northern Michigan University
“For many years, this college has offered
immersive