January 2025 PRSA Dallas Letter from the President
Posted by admin on Jan. 9, 2025 / Subscribe 0
Happy New Year to all you PR, marketing, and communications professionals in Dallas.
This is my first update as chapter president, so before I ramble any further, I would like to express gratitude to Kenn Dixon, APR for his leadership throughout 2024 and for his future support as immediate past-president (buckle up, Kenn. We still have you for 12 more months).
There are three things I want to cover in this letter: share a bit about me, highlight our chapter’s four-year strategic plan, and preview what you can expect this year as a member. I’ll attempt to be concise, which is always a challenge, considering I was an undergraduate creative writing major and graduate screenwriting major. Why use one word when you can use ten?
I am the vice president of communications for nonprofit Buckner International, a position I’ve held exactly one month longer than my time as president of our chapter. However, I’ve been part of the amazing Buckner communications team since July 2018, which is how I became involved with PRSA Dallas. It was my former boss at Buckner who encouraged me to earn my Accreditation in Public Relations (APR).
Karen, my wife, is a theatre teacher. We’ve been in Texas since 2016 after deciding to move from Los Angeles. Brooklyn, a 12-year-old pit bull mix, is the third part of our small family. I’m sure I’ll sprinkle in some personal facts and anecdotes throughout the year, but that’s enough about me for now.
Last year, a small group of Dallas board members came together to assemble a strategic plan to guide the chapter from 2025 through 2028. The last time our chapter created a strategic plan was in 2019 to be executed in 2020-2023. Unfortunately, 2020 threw us a curveball three months into implementing the plan. An abbreviated version of our new plan is available on our website, which you can access here.
Many of the objectives and tactics are similar. The primary differences are our priorities. We created four new priorities to direct our efforts through 2028: Advancing Learning, Building Community, Fostering Career Development & Advancing the Profession, and Maintaining Leadership & Organizational Excellence.
If you’ve read through the previous plan, you may notice the absence of diversity, equity, and inclusion as a chapter priority. That is because DEI’s importance exceeds being limited to a single priority. DEI is a foundational element of our chapter, mission, and values. It’s also a key strategy to correctly execute each of our priorities and provide membership value to each of you, as well as to add value to the Dallas professional landscape and its communities.
We also removed membership growth from our priorities. Don’t get me wrong, chapter growth and revenue generation are important, but I believe if we focus on our four priorities along with our outlined objectives, growth and retention will be outcomes.
So, what can you expect from this year? We assembled a talented and dedicated board of directors for 2025 composed of many returning directors and a few newbies. Together, we will work to move the needle on the four priorities mentioned above. We want to provide you with opportunities to expand your network, deepen your knowledge, and give you the tools to succeed at your job and within this incredible profession.
If you want to be part of shaping our chapter and executing the plan, we always need more volunteers. Visit PRSADallas.org/Get_Involved by Jan. 31 for more information. If you have ideas for programming, please email [email protected], or if you have marketing, social media, or content ideas, email [email protected].
One last thing before I put a bow on my first update. This year marks the 75th anniversary of our chapter. PRSA Dallas was established as a chapter in 1950, three years following the founding of the national association. That same year, PRSA adopted its first code of ethics to guide members on the ethical practice of the profession (I forgot to mention earlier that I love random historical facts). Our 75th anniversary is a milestone we want to celebrate with you throughout the year.
Can you believe this was me being concise?
Thank you for being a member of PRSA Dallas. And if you’re not yet, I’m happy to speak with you at any of our events, or you can reach out to me on LinkedIn or email [email protected]. This year is about you, and we want you to be proud of being a PRSA Dallas member.
Thank you,
Christopher Ruth, APR
2025 PRSA Dallas President
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