Council of Public Relations Firms Announces 2009 Board of Directors

Ketchum CEO Ray Kotcher to serve second term as Chair
NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
The Council of Public Relations Firms (Council), www.prfirms.org
http://www.prfirms.org, the industry's 10-year old trade association,
announced today the election of its new officers and directors.

Ray Kotcher was elected to his second one-year term as chairman of
the Council. Kotcher, the CEO of Ketchum since 2000, will chair the
board of directors though November, 2009. Joining Kotcher on the
executive committee are Margery Kraus, (APCO Worldwide) chair elect,
Andy Cooper (CooperKatz), treasurer and Cos Mallozzi (Gibbs & Soell),
secretary.

The Council also announced the election of its new board members,
all CEOs/principals of their firms: Tom Coyne (Coyne PR), Ken Eudy
(Capstrat), David Fuscus (Xenophon Strategies) Ken Makovsky (Makovsky
and Company), Andy Polansky (Weber Shandwick) and Becky
Powell-Schwartz (The Powell Group).

Continuing directors, all CEOs/Principals of their firms, are:
Mark Hass (MS&L), Lou Hoffman (The Hoffman Agency), Kathy Obert
(Edward Howard), Helen Ostrowski (Porter Novelli), Mark Penn
(Burson-Marsteller), John Seng (Spectrum Science Communications), Paul
Taaffe (Hill & Knowlton), Jim Terman (Jasculca/Terman and Associates),
and Otis Wragg (Wragg & Casas Public Relations).

"I am honored to serve a second term as Chairman of the Council,"
said Kotcher. "There is a lot of important work to be done, and with
the help of an exceptional Board and a dynamic membership our ongoing
efforts to strengthen the public relations agency business will
continue unabated. My focus this past year has been on providing a
voice for the industry, something I think we achieved with the
successful launch of the weekly online publication, The Firm Voice.
That mission will be increasingly important going into a year with so
much uncertainty, both economically and politically. The good news for
public relations firms is that we have never been stronger as an
industry or better positioned with our clients as strategic
counselors."

"Council members - and the industry at large - will benefit from
another year of Ray's stewardship," said Kathy Cripps, president of
the Council of Public Relations Firms. "He is a tremendous leader, and
in one year has already left an impressive record of accomplishments
at the Council. Ray is the perfect person to lead our organization
into its second decade as the home of America's leading public
relations firms."

The Council of Public Relations Firms http://www.prfirms.org was
founded in 1998 and is comprised of America's leading public relations
firms. Its membership (http://www.prfirms.org/who/members.asp)
represents the premier global, mid-size, regional and specialty
agencies across every discipline and practice area. The Council's
mission is to advance the business of public relations firms by
building the market and firms' value as strategic business partners.
For more information about the Council, visit www.prfirms.org
(http://www.prfirms.org/).

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Council of Public Relations Firms
Matt Shaw, 877-773-4767
mshaw@prfirms.org

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