Dear Fellow Chapter Members:
April brought a wonderful start to spring at IABC/Washington. We presented the IABC/Washington Pinnacle Award to Chris Doherty, vice president of internal relations for Sprint Nextel, at a breakfast meeting at the Willard Inter-Continental Hotel. In remarks both entertaining and packed with business value, Doherty discussed the internal communications effort that played a major role in enabling two telecom companies to successfully become a Fortune 40 company only eight months after the merger was announced.
The Pinnacle Award breakfast marked the end of a year of work designed to identify the business communicator in the Greater Washington-Baltimore region who exemplifies the highest standards of excellence and ethics. At the same time, it marks a big step forward in a renewed effort by our chapter to raise the profile of IABC in the business community and the critical value that we, as business communicators, bring to our organizations and our clients.
Special thanks go to VP/Special Programs Randi Hicks Rowe, who guided this process from the beginning.
Thanks also go to Portfolio Director Wendy Schneider-Levinson, who brought us the elegance of the Willard and seamlessly choreographed an event that all of us who attended won’t soon forget. And to our judges, Les Potter, ABC, president and founder of international consultancy Les Potter, Inc.; and Molly Matthews, founder and chairperson of the Matthews Media Group. I’d also like to extend a thank you to our Pinnacle Award nominating committee – Angelo Ioffreda; Jennifer Collins, ABC; Shelley Griewahn, ABC; Margery Zylich, APR; Marvin Jones; Marie Tibor; Rachel Querry;and Michael Evitts – for their terrific work.
This month, we are delighted to welcome IABC Chair Warren Bickford, ABC, who will speak at the May 11 chapter-wide professional development meeting on the top 10 hot trends and issues in communications. The day before, the Greater Maryland SIG is presenting a program in Columbia, MD, featuring three award-winning experts and one savvy hospital president who use strategic communications to advance their business goals. Of course, don’t forget our signature Fourth Tuesday Networking Happy Hour on May 23 at the exclusive Eighteenth Street Lounge in Washington, D.C.
I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event.
Daria Steigman
President, IABC/Washington
