Richard Edelman To Deliver 2014 Bowling Lecture
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 16, 2014) — Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman, the world’s largest public relations firm, will deliver the 2014 James C. Bowling Executive-in-Residence lecture at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21, at the University of Kentucky Singletary Center Recital Hall. This is the 15th year for the program.
Edelman will speak on “The Rise of Communications Marketing.” The program, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications Alumni Association.
Edelman has 67 offices and 5,000 employees worldwide. Richard Edelman was named president and CEO in September 1996.
As the creator of the annual Edelman Trust Barometer, Edelman has become one of the foremost authorities on trust in business, government, media and NGOs. He has spoken on this topic at several conferences including the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where he regularly leads discussions among global heads of business, government and media conglomerates. The firm’s research is widely cited in media publications and academic journals from around the globe.
Edelman has extensive experience in marketing and reputation management, having led assignments with major corporations, NGOs and family businesses in more than 25 industries around the world. He has counseled countries in every region of the world on economic development programs.
Edelman topped PRWeek‘s list of most powerful executives in 2013 and was recognized as the third highest rated CEO by Glassdoor in 2014. In 2011, he was ranked No. 78 on Ethisphere Institute’s “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics.” In 2010, Forbes named him one of “America’s Favorite Bosses” (No. 8). Advertising Age recognized Edelman as “Agency Executive of the Year” in 2008.
“We’re honored to welcome Richard Edelman to UK for this year’s program," said Beth Barnes, director of the UK School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the UK College of Communication and Information. "The public relations path is the largest segment of our integrated strategic communication program. Having the head of the world’s largest PR agency come to campus is exciting for both our students and faculty members. And it’s a special pleasure because Richard’s father, Daniel Edelman, was our executive-in-residence in 2003.”
Edelman earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1978 and a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in 1976. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1972.
Thomas T. Noland Jr., senior vice president of corporate communications for Humana Inc., is the 2014 Excellence in Public Relations award recipient from the UK School of Journalism and Telecommunications. He will be honored at a reception Oct. 21 preceding the annual James C. Bowling Executive-in-Residence lecture.
Noland leads and coordinates all of Humana’s internal and external communications and public relations. He also directs the company’s reputational equity initiatives and serves as Humana’s chief spokesperson.
Noland headed the team that won a national Silver Anvil Award, the “Oscar” of the public relations profession, for Humana in 2009 for strategic communications and media relations surrounding the company’s Freewheelin’ bike-sharing program at the 2008 Democratic and Republican national political conventions.
Noland joined Humana as manager of public affairs in 1984. He became vice president of communications in 1991. In 1993, he was recruited by The Cobb Group, a Louisville subsidiary of Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., New York, to create the Health Care Industry Group of high-technology, health-related newsletters and magazines. He returned to Humana in 1997 as vice president of corporate communications and was named senior vice president in 1999.
Noland was elected to membership in 2006 to the Arthur W. Page Society, a select national consortium of leading senior corporate communications executives across all industries. He is a member of the Strategic Communications Committee of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the health benefits industry’s principal trade association, and a national lecturer at conferences sponsored by AHIP, The Conference Board, the Public Relations Society of America, and the International Association of Business Communicators.
In Louisville and Kentucky, Noland is active in civic affairs, serving on the board of directors and executive committee of the Fund for the Arts and Historic Locust Grove, and on the boards of the Louisville Downtown Development Corporation, Yale in Kentucky, and (as an appointee of the Governor of Kentucky) the Governor’s Scholars Program. He is the former president of the board of directors of the Louisville Orchestra, the Kentucky Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and the Filson Historical Society, and previously served on the boards of The Cabbage Patch Settlement House, Kentucky Opera, and the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival.
A native of Norwalk, Connecticut, Noland is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale University. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in history in 1975. He attended Duke University from 1971-73 where he was editor-in-chief of The Archive, the campus literary magazine. Noland completed the Stanford University Professional Publishing Program in 1993.
The Bowling Executive-in-Residence Program began in 2000 and brings to UK nationally known public relations practitioners to not only deliver an address, but also meet with students interested in public relations careers. The program includes the executive-in-residence visit, the excellence award and a scholarship for a senior integrated strategic communication major with an emphasis in public relations. The 2014 scholarship recipient will be announced at the lecture.
The series honors James C. Bowling, the late retired assistant chairman of Philip Morris Companies Inc. He attended UK and later served the university as a member of the UK Development Council. In addition to serving on several national boards, Bowling also worked with the UK College of Agriculture, UK Gatton College of Business and Economics, and the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging.
MEDIA CONTACT: Ann Blackford at 859-323-6442 or ann.blackford@uky.edu