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Reed Bolton Byrum Serving as SC PRSA President following Silicon Valley and Austin PRSA honors
GREENVILLE, SC – February 11 , 2008 – Reed Bolton Byrum, the former national President and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), was recently elected the President of the South Carolina chapter of PRSA, indicating the first time that a former national President has subsequently moved into a chapter President role.
“We are honored that Reed has offered his continued service to PRSA by working actively in South Carolina. He has set forth national platforms and programs that will translate into good works for South Carolinians,” said Lee Bussell, former President of the South Carolina Chapter of the PRSA.
Byrum, who is also the former President of the Silicon Valley chapter of PRSA, was recently elected in South Carolina following his 2005 move to Greenville from Austin TX.
“On PRSA’s national landscape, we worked actively to advance the professional and advance the profession. We will be doing the same thing in South Carolina by combining strategies of advocacy, professional development and diversity to raise the standards of the profession and its recognition among society at large,” Byrum said.
SCPRSA (www.scprsa.org) will increase opportunities for professional development, enhance the level of program offerings to communications professionals throughout South Carolina and work to increase the voice of the profession, Byrum said. Byrum will preside over the 2008 Mercury Awards, honoring professional achievements in South Carolina.
Byrum, who served as the national president of the 30,000- member organization in 2003, counsels the nation’s CEOs on corporate reputation management, trust and governance. Byrum is the chair of the Byrum Innovation Group Inc. – a marketing and communications firm that specializes in technology and innovation – that operates from Greenville, SC, headquarters.
He has served as a corporate executive for companies, ranging from start-ups to the Fortune 100, such as Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and GE Capital. PR Week magazine named him one of the top PR executives in high tech, and the Austin, TX, PRSA chapter awarded him a career achievement award in 2005. He also received the public service award from the San Francisco Bay chapter of PRSA.
Byrum is highly regarded as a leading spokesman for the communications profession and the industry and has spoken at the United Nations in New York, the Global Alliance in Rome, the PR Alliance, The Conference Board, The Strategic Communications Institute, and the Donald W. Davis Ethics Symposium at the Pennsylvania State University.
A former member of the President’s staff at Johns Hopkin’s University, Byrum previously taught at the University of Texas and lectured at more than 35 universities. Byrum is a former award-winning journalist for five newspapers and a wire service and a director for Gannett Co., Inc., during the introduction of USA TODAY.
