Public Relations Industry Masters Judy Phair And William Oliver To Be Inducted Into National Capital Public Relations Hall Of Fame

Lifetime Achievement Award to be Bestowed at Annual Thoth Gala

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Public Relations Society of America's National Capital Chapter (PRSA-NCC)will induct Judy Phair, APR, Fellow PRSA and William Oliver to its Hall of Fame this year. The induction ceremony will take place at PRSA-NCC's 45th Annual Thoth Awards Gala on September 18, 2013 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Pavilion Room in The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

The chapter started the Public Relations Hall of Fame in 1999 by inducting 50 leaders with significant accomplishments in the public relations field as part of the chapter's 50th Anniversary celebration.  The Hall of Fame members hold more than a thousand awards, distinctions, honorary degrees, advisory positions, charity board seats, and Who's Who citations among them. A complete list of Hall of Fame Members is at the PRSA-NCC website.

Criteria for induction in the NCC Public Relations Hall of Fame includes 30 or more years of distinguished accomplishments, visionary leadership, mentoring, commitment to the profession, positive and significant impacts on the industry, and contributions to the community. Inductees must have worked in the Washington, DC area for at least ten years.

Judy Phair was nominated by colleague and PRSA-NCC Past President Tracy Schario, who said in her nomination, "When I think of public relations leaders in Washington, DC, and nationally, Judy Phair is top of my list."

Judy's contributions to public relations and the society are numerous. She served as National PRSA president in 2005, overseeing the membership organization for 22,000 public relations professionals. In October 2010, she received PRSA's highest individual award, the 2010 Gold Anvil Award. It is considered PRSA's Lifetime Achievement Award and is presented to an individual "whose work significantly advanced the profession and set high standards for those engaged in the practice of public relations."  The Maryland Chapter of PRSA also honored Judy with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and she has won numerous other awards in public relations, marketing, and crisis communications.

According to Schario, "Judy began her career as a reporter and brings that sense of curiosity and concern for the facts to her paid and volunteer work. She has a reputation for fairness and tenacity."

Judy's commitment to the PR profession is exemplified in her continued involvement with PRSA. She is past chair of PRSA's prestigious College of Fellows, co-chair of its Educational Affairs Committee and The MBA/Business School Initiative, PRSA Foundation Board Member, and PRSA representative on the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). She also writes and speaks about public relations.

Judy opened PhairAdvantage Communications, LLC, in 2002, and resumed a full-time focus on the agency in 2010 after serving as vice president, communications, for the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), an association of 211 top graduate business schools worldwide and the owner of the Graduate Management Admission Test, from 2006-10. Previously, Judy was vice president for public affairs at the Council on Competitiveness, a nonpartisan, nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based association of corporate chief executives, university presidents, and labor leaders.  She also has served as vice president for institutional advancement at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, assistant dean of external relations at Johns Hopkins University, and vice president for public relations at Goucher College, in addition to positions at the University of Michigan and University of Cincinnati. Judy began her career as a newspaper reporter in the Chicago area. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Goucher College, developing the college's first public relations course, and at Towson University.

William (Bill) Oliver, was nominated by colleague Douglas Goodyear for his accomplished career leading strategic public relations and communications at AT&T, where he "endured [considerable] changes and challenges...played out in the public eye."

Goodyear said, "as [AT&T's] Senior VP for Public Affairs, [Bill] helped provide both the vision and strategy for many of AT&T's public fights for almost two decades."

Oliver was featured as one the Holmes Report's "100 Most Important In House Communicators in the World" for his service at the helm of AT&T's public affairs. Oliver began his career in Washington, DC, serving first as administrative assistant to a senior member of the US House of Representatives; then as director of manpower and reserve affairs for the Department of Defense. In the private sector, he held senior communications roles at PACCAR, Weyerhaeuser, and TRW before joining AT&T in 1994. 

Beyond the desk work, Bill had incredible impacts in the public relations community. He has been an active member of the Arthur Page Society and with Kent State University, helping college kids find internships in communications-related slots for many years.

About PRSA's National Capital Chapter
The National Capital Chapter of PRSA (PRSA-NCC) is a professional public relations association of more than 1,500 members in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region. PRSA-NCC provides professional development programs, accreditation instruction, and networking. PRSA-NCC also promotes public relations education through five area Public Relations Society of America student chapters. For more information, please visit www.prsa-ncc.org or call 703-691-9212. Connect with us on Facebook at PRSANCC or follow us on Twitter @PRSANCC with #thoth2013.

SOURCE The Public Relations Society of America’s National Capital Chapter (PRSA-NCC)