Congratulations to Thomas R. Martin and Margery Kraus, recipients last night of the prestigious Arthur W. Page Society awards for Distinguished Service and Hall of Fame. The Page Society is comprised of corporate chief communications officers, major agency CEOs and leading PR academics.
Tom Martin, Executive-in-Residence at the College of Charleston, received the Distinguished Service Award at the Page Society’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. In his acceptance remarks, Tom urged the PR veterans to become “heros” by mentoring students and setting high ethical standards. From my long friendship with Tom, I can attest to the fact he practices what he preaches.
Prior to joining academe five years ago, Tom was Senior Vice President and Director of Corporate Relations at the multi-billion-dollar ITT Corporation, which he joined in 1996. As one of the top corporate officers, Tom served as a member of the company’s Executive Council and was responsible for worldwide brand and reputation management, PR, employee communications, government affairs, corporate advertising and community relations. Before his ITT career, Tom was Vice President, Corporate Communications for Federal Express Corporation which he joined in 1978, just five years after the company was founded.
Tom serves as a Senior Counselor with PulsePoint Group, a management consulting firm. He has served as a trustee of the Page Society for the past nine years, and was President of the organization in 2004-05. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Josephson Institute of Ethics, and is a member of the Charleston Philanthropic Partners. In 2006, he was inducted into the PR News Hall of Fame.
Margery Kraus, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of APCO Worldwide, received the coveted Hall of Fame Award from the Arthur W. Page Society. In her acceptance remarks, Margery discussed dramatic changes to the world over the past 10 years–recalling her experience of flying from Boston to Washington on September 11, 2001–arriving at National Airport just as the second plane hit the World Trade Center. She said there has never been a bigger opportunity to leverage our talent to lead than during these times of change.
Margery was recognized for founding APCO in 1984 as a one-woman consultancy which she built into a multinational corporation with 30 offices around the world, more than 600 employees and over $113 million in revenue. Six years ago, Margery led a management buyout of her firm, making APCO one of the largest independent, majority employee-owned communication and public affairs company in the world.
An entrepreneur even before starting APCO, Margery assisted in the creation and development of the Close Up Foundation, a major educational foundation. She continues to serve on the organization’s board of directors. Margery has been recognized by peers in other organizations. She received the Institute of Public Relations’ Alexander Hamilton Award for lifetime contributions to the profession as well as numerous other professional and business awards.
This blog will feature more about these two great careers in future Career Capsules.