About Reception

December 6, 2018
The Arts Club of Chicago

Jon Harris, Senior Vice President and CCO of Conagra, was honored November 29 as the Distinguished Senior Leader of 2018 by the Chicago Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

Approximately 115 senior communications leaders joined Jon’s family and friends at The Arts Club of Chicago to celebrate his many achievements. It was the 15^th anniversary of the Distinguished Senior Leader program.

“Jon is distinguished in many ways, so is very deserving of this honor,” said Bridget Coffing, communications consultant and retired CCO of McDonald’s Corporation, who co-chairs the program with Rich Jernstedt of The Jernstedt Company. “As a communications leader, mentor and active volunteer in a variety of causes, his many talents and contributions continue to make a difference in our community.”

Sean Connolly, CEO of Conagra, and Larry Wert, president of Broadcast Media at Tribune Media Company, introduced Jon as a dedicated professional, friend, husband and father. 

Jon’s comments in accepting the honor provided insights in to his leadership philosophy and commitment to the field of communications.  He challenged the audience to use their skills as communicators to encourage understanding, engagement and actions to make the world a better place.

Jon stressed the power of relationships, saying that he “found a career that was and continues to be based in strategy and incredible storytelling that is all brought to life by powerful relationships.” He went on to observe “the importance of building relationships, acting with integrity and treating people with respect is more important today than ever before.”

A contribution to one of Jon’s favorite causes, SocialWorks, was made in his name by the Senior Leaders’ Advisory Committee.

Sponsors of the event included Conagra, Sard Verbinnen & Co., Edelman, Finn Partners, MWWPR and Golin. 

Bill Parke of CME Group and Jay Porter of Revere were introduced as incoming co-chairs of the Senior Leader program.

Call For 2017 Board Nominations

Looking to get more involved with your local PRSA Chapter? Are you passionate about any of the areas where we have openings (Diversity, Membership, Programming, Sponsorship, Midwest District) Now is your chance to nominate yourself or a colleague for a 2017 Board position. All nominations are needed no later than 11:59 p.m. CT Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. Please share as much information as possible on the form to ensure we understand your specific interests.

It’s almost summer, PRSA Chicago! Thank you for your dedication to our chapter and for the feedback you’ve provided so far this year. We are committed to providing you with a valuable experience and want to continue the dialogue. What’s been working? What can we do to improve? Please drop me a note at [email protected] if you have anything to share.

In the meantime, I wanted to recap a few ways we’re working to give you the best possible PRSA Chicago membership:

• Redesigned eNewsletter! As you can see here, we’re stepping up communications to give you pertinent event information with local PR perspective. If you have ideas, we want to hear them.

• Welcome to Chicago! If you are new to the area, or new to PRSA Chicago, we’d love to meet you and help you build your network at the YPN ‘Welcome to Chicago’ Social on Tuesday, June 14.

• A Trophy-Worthy Skylines Gala, Presented by AKA MEDIA INC. I hope to see you on Thursday, June 16 to accept your awards and support the wonderful work we do as a PR community. Tickets are going fast, but are still available.

• Summer Socials. We have a few summer social events in the works and we’ll be sharing the event information in the coming weeks. We hope to meet you there!

Alison Bruder
PRSA Chicago President

Welcome to a new year with PRSA Chicago! Spend a minute with Alison Bruder, chapter president for 2016 and watch this 50-second video message.

PRSA Chicago 2016 - President's Welcome from Alison Bruder on Vimeo.