PRSA Inducts Head of Public Relations for Kaiser Permanente Into the College of Fellows for Contributions to the Profession and Lifetime Achievement

PRSA Inducts Head of Public Relations for Kaiser Permanente Into the College
of Fellows for Contributions to the Profession and Lifetime Achievement

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Public Relations Society of America
(PRSA) will bestow the distinguished title of Fellow on Diane Gage Lofgren,
senior vice president of Brand Strategy, Communications and PR for Kaiser
Permanente, tonight at a ceremony at PRSA's 2009 International Conference in
San Diego.

"Being inducted into the PRSA College of Fellows is one of the profession's
highest individual honors," said Michael Herman, APR, SAGE, Fellow PRSA, and
2009 chair of the College of Fellows. "It is with great pride that we
recognize the lifetime career work and leadership of outstanding professionals
who exhibit exceptional personal and professional qualities and have
significantly advanced our profession."

Ms. Gage Lofgren has been in her current position at Kaiser Permanente for
three years, where she is responsible for managing national communications,
issues and brand management, and public relations functions. In this role,
she leads the critical work of positioning Kaiser Permanente in the hearts and
minds of the organization's key stakeholders, and leads all work associated
with stewardship and oversight of the Kaiser Permanente brand.

The results of Ms. Gage Lofgren's hard work have been dramatic; there was a
246 percent increase in positive media news mentions 2006 over 2008, and a 191
percent increase from 2007 to 2008. She established a national speakers'
bureau and issues council for Kaiser Permanente, and created an overarching
message architecture to ensure consistency across the organization. She
encourages the use of social media to communicate with external audiences, and
under her leadership Kaiser Permanente instituted company pages on Facebook
and YouTube, and the media team became active in the use of Twitter to reach
key audiences. Early in her tenure, Ms. Gage Lofgren completed a
re-organization of the communications functions to better align communications
with operational efforts and organizational priorities. She and her team
launched the Kaiser Permanente News Center to serve as a go-to source for
internal and external stakeholders with timely responses to issues as well as
broad-based information about the organization.

Ms. Gage Lofgren has focused on informing and inspiring employees, creating
new venues to promote business literacy among her team members. She is an
executive sponsor of KP IdeaBook, an internal social media platform to
increase employee collaboration and productivity. Recently, Kaiser Permanente
was recognized by PR News Online as one of the "Best Places to Work in PR."

"I am honored to be accepted into the College of Fellows because PRSA has
played such an important part of my career," Ms. Gage Lofgren said. "I look
forward to continuing my work for Kaiser Permanente, where public relations is
clearly viewed as a critical asset in achieving the organization's business
objectives and building our brand."

During Ms. Gage Lofgren's impressive career she has worked in many public
relations and health care communications roles, including serving as senior
vice president of marketing and communications at Sharp HealthCare in San
Diego, and as vice president of customer and market strategy for Catholic
Health Initiatives' national office in Denver. Additionally, for 10 years,
she owned The Gage Group, a full-service public relations and marketing agency
in San Diego

She is a past president of the San Diego Chapter of PRSA, and became
accredited in public relations through PRSA in 1989. Currently she is a
member of the PRSA San Francisco Chapter.

In addition to her day-to-day role, Ms. Gage Lofgren contributes to the
profession in other ways, having published seven books and written scores of
national magazine articles discussing topics ranging from business and
personal relationships to management and marketing. She speaks regularly to
communications and business audiences and is also a community volunteer,
serving on the Keep Oakland Beautiful board.

In the mid-90s, Ms. Gage Lofgren taught public relations classes at San Diego
State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and
master's degrees in mass communications, and she continues to advance the
profession through guest lectures at her alma mater.

About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We
are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and
not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide
high-quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our
members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 8.6 million members
in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is
focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians,
specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are
empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for
health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and
world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care
innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community
health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente

Brenna Robinson of GolinHarris, +1-213-438-8748,
brenna.robinson@golinharris.com, for Kaiser Permanente