PRSA Awards 2008 Paul M. Lund Public Service Award to Atlanta PR Executive Ellen Hartman

ATLANTA – November 6, 2008 – The Public Relations Society of America has awarded Ellen Weaver Hartman, APR, Fellow PRSA, its 2008 Paul M. Lund Public Service Award for her work with local, national and international diversity and community service.

The award was given at the national society’s International Conference held recently in Detroit. It is given yearly to a PRSA member whose volunteer public service has benefited the community and made significant contributions to the industry. It is named in honor of the late Paul M. Lund, VP of PR and employee communications at AT&T in the early 1970s who was an accomplished leader in public relations.

Hartman is the second Georgia chapter member to receive the Paul Lund Award. Dick Hodges, APR, Fellow PRSA, former chairman of Liller Neal, won the award in 1979 for his leadership positions in 30 professional and nonprofit groups.

Hartman, a 30-year strategic communications veteran, is president of Fitzgerald + CO Public Relations, an Atlanta-based unit of the Interpublic Group (IPG), one the largest communication companies in the world. In a career that includes executive experience with Weber Shandwick, Manning Selvage & Lee and Fleishman-Hillard, as well as corporate service in financial communications at The Coca-Cola Company and vice president and chief communications officer for AFC Enterprises, Hartman has built communications campaigns for some of the world’s best-known brands including Coca-Cola, MasterCard, Kraft, Popeyes, Avon Products and M&M Mars. Her expertise in crisis management has involved work on legal and labor issues, workplace violence, foodborne illnesses, product recalls and financial issues.

While Hartman was at AFC, she also led a 10-year effort to secure financing for and to build more than 300 Habitat for Humanity Homes in 23 countries on four continents. She personally worked on about a dozen home construction projects including several with former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn. Hartman and her team secured the funding for the 300 homes through grass roots marketing and public relations. Teams from AFC brands donated 7 million volunteer hours for Habitat.

"We are thrilled that Ellen Hartman is being honored on a national level for her public and community service. Ellen has been a driving force for PRSA|GA for many years. Her leadership by example is unparalleled. She has given of herself to our local Chapter as well as the industry and remains a visible leader to our members," said Renee Kopkowski, VP-Communications of Mars Snackfood U.S. and 2008 president of PRSA|GA.

Hartman has been active in PRSA since 1982 and is a former president of the Georgia Chapter. She led the Atlanta committee to host the 2001 PRSA International Conference in her hometown only two months after the Sept. 11 tragedy. She also was instrumental in developing a five-year strategic plan for PRSA|GA to increase minority participation and leadership by 25 percent — a program that resulted in the addition of 10 new African-American members in its first month.

“Service is a way of life for me,” Hartman said. “My greatest hope is to help leave this world a better place and to teach others, including my children, how to give of themselves in time and resources.”

Hartman served as co-chair of the national PRSA's first Diversity Committee and was a member of the PRSA Governance Committee (2006). She was a founding member of the Georgia chapter of the Black Public Relations Society and serves on the board of the American Institute for Managing Diversity. Previously, she worked as a PR volunteer with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Latin American Association.

Hartman has been recognized with numerous awards and citations, including induction into the Georgia PR Hall of Fame at University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. She was elected to the PRSA College of Fellows, the Arthur Page Society and the local chapter’s Order of the Phoenix for senior professionals.

Currently, Hartman serves on the board of The Carter Center, the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, Georgia State University School of Hospitality and the advisory board for Elon University School of Communications. She is an active member in Les Dames d'Escoffier International, Multi-Cultural Hospitality Foodservice Alliance, the Women’s Foodservice Forum and the International Women’s Forum.

A native of Starkville, Miss., Hartman majored in journalism at the University of Mississippi.

Hartman is married with five children. In addition to giving her own time, she often engages her own family in service projects and nonprofit events. Her daughters regularly volunteer to help seniors with Alzheimer's and autistic children, and one daughter traveled with her to Korea on a Habitat project.

PRSA|GA (www.prsageorgia.org), the second-largest local chapter in the national society, consists of nearly 1,000 professionals throughout Georgia. Its mission is to enhance the profession, provide continuing education and offer networking opportunities for its members.

The Public Relations Society of America (www.prsa.org), headquartered in New York City, is the world's largest organization for public relations professionals with nearly 32,000 professional and student members. PRSA is organized into 109 Chapters nationwide and 10 Districts nationwide, and 20 Professional Interest Sections and Affinity Groups, which represent business and industry, counseling firms, independent practitioners, military, government, associations, hospitals, schools, professional services firms and nonprofit organizations. The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) has 296 Chapters at colleges and universities throughout the United States.

PRSA|GA | Publish Date: 11.07.08 | Back to home |