BledCom people
Ana Tkalac Verčič
University of Zagreb, Croatia
Ana Tkalac Verčič is an Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Zagreb. In 2001 she was a Fulbright scholar working under the mentorship of James E. Grunig, one of the leading world academics in the area of public relations. In 2003 she received a PhD at the University of Zagreb and became the first public relations academic with a PhD in Croatia, introducing undergraduate and graduate courses in the area of public relations. She is the first Croatian academic to publish papers in top public relations journals and present at top public relations conferences. She co-edited “Public Relations Metrics; Research and Evaluation” with Betteke van Ruler and Dejan Verčič. She is a visiting lecturer at the Universita della Svizzera italiana, one of the leading international institutions in the area of communications. She is also a recipient of the CIPR Diploma and a qualified CIPR lecturer, as well as the director for the CIPR program in Croatia.
Andrea Balduzzi
Methodos, Italy
Andrea has undertaken editorial activities for some publishing companies, and has collaborated with the Domus Academy Research Centre for the development of some multimedia editorial projects, he has collaborated with Trivioquadrivio (study of Milan of training and communication)for the digital support of cultural and communication projects, and with the publicity and communication agency Publicis in the Milan offices.
In Methodos since 2001 he is in charge of communication, web design, web tools to support specific business activities, intranet projects and internal communication plans, technologies and implementation of digital communication tools. He collaborates as a professor in the IULM Master in Milan of Company Public Relations and with of the Masters of specialization of IlSole24Ore.
He has taken care of the design and implementation of Avanti e Veloci, the Fiat Group Automobiles portal that has been inserted in the change program as a tool of support and promotion of the new principles and personal development, through both the exploration of the individual and the group collaboration. In Avanti e Veloci a community has been constructed of approximately 1200 managers that has found continuous stimuli in the portal, resources and moments of comfort in order to reflect on their own leadership.
The portal has received the Platinum Intranet Innovation Award 2007, the global awards that celebrate new ideas and innovative approaches to the enhancement and delivery of intranets, and recognise individual intranet improvements, by increasing the pace of innovation across the whole of the intranet community.
Today he coordinates the development of social media applied to internal communication and to projects of cultural change.Iva Balgač
Ministry of the Interior, General Police Directorate, Croatia
Iva Balgač has graduated from Police College in Zagreb in 2001 and 2010. In 2010 she graduated with high honors and awarded for high performance with Magna cum laude.
Balgač is employee of Ministry of the Interior since 2006 and currently working as Police Officer for International Police Cooperation within Office of General Police Director.
Until now, she has published as author or co-author, several scientific or professional papers and handbooks. Currently she is working, as a co-author, on handbook “Situational Crime Prevention – theory and practice”. Balgač is interested in crime prevention, public relations, internal communication and protocol. Matteo Barone
Methodos, Italy
With classical training, graduated in Philosophy and specialized in Social Communication with a thesis on the contribute of epistemology to social research.
After the degree, he has collaborated with the Institute of Social Communication and with the Sociological Department of the University Cattolica of Milan, publishing essays on the magazine “Comunicazioni Sociali” (Vita e Pensiero), subsequently collaborating in the Business Communicative Theory and Techniques discipline.
In Methodos since 1995, direction consulting firm, he deals with socio-cultural researches inside public and private organizations, change management plans for the managerial and work cultural dimension and stakeholder engagement integrated programs and sustainable welfare.
He undertakes training activities on themes of managerial culture inside organizations and at some specialization Masters (Sole24Ore, IULM, Ferpi).
From 2005 he is close to Fiat Auto in the turnaround project of Marchionne’s management, and to its deployment in the managerial structure and plant of Mirafiori (2006), Pomigliano D’Arco (2008), Termini Imerese (2009). In these areas and in other national and international business contexts (including Kraft, Pastificio Rana, Pirelli Polo Industriale of Settimo Torinese) he has conducted research and consultant activities linked with the relationship between company culture, architectonic spaces and ecology of work, and the relationship between well-being, space planning and work-life balance.
He is the author of various articles on magazines of the sector and co-author of \"Prospettive per la comunicazione interna e il benessere organizzativo: appartenere, integrarsi e comunicare nell’organizzazione che cambia\" by Giorgio Del Mare (Milan, Franco Angeli, 2005). Today, in Methodos, he is Senior Manager with the responsibility of the Internal Communication/social research of the Business Unit and of Knowledge Management.
Silvia Biraghi
IULM University of Milan, Italy
Silvia Biraghi is a PhD student in Corporate Communication at the Department of Economics & Marketing at IULM University in Italy.
She received her degree at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan (Italy) with a dissertation on On-line consumer branded entertainment.
Her current research interests are internal communication and consumer brand engagement. In her PhD research she is trying to investigate the strategic role of internal communication in sustaining organizational management and success.
Krunoslav Borovec
Ministry of Interior, Republic of Croatia
Krunoslav Borovec is Spokesperson of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia. He graduated in defectology - social educator and he is candidate for a doctor's degree on the studies of Prevention science on the Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation of the University of Zagreb.
Mr. Borovec is an employee of the Ministry of the Interior since 1992. He has been working there as police officer, deputy of the Head of the police station, Head of the police station, Head of the Office of the Head of police administration and as a Head of Director General Office.
He specialized himself to the scope of crime prevention, urban prevention, to the protection the victims of criminal offences and women and children as victims of violence. In the field of Public Relations it is important to mention that he is the author of strategy: “Public Relations of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia,” and he is the initiator of many changes and researches in the field of internal communication in the Ministry of the Interior. For crisis communications during killing of Pukanić-Franjić, the Croatian Public Relations Association has awarded him with the complimentary title Communicator of the Year for the year 2009.
Liz Bridgen
De Montfort University, United Kingdom
Liz Bridgen is Senior Lecturer in Public Relations at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, and leads the University’s MA in Public Relations. She has an MA in Mass Communications from the University of Leicester and previously worked in public relations practice in the UK and Iceland where she specialized in corporate communications and internal communications working for clients including Visa, Bosch and the British Post Office.
Her recent paper on the emotional implications of social media use by public relations practitioners will shortly be published by the Journal of Media Practice and she has delivered refereed papers at conferences run by EUPRERA (the European Public Relations Education and Research Association) and MeCCSA (the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association) as well as at the 11th International Public Relations Research Conference in Miami, Florida.
Her research focuses on gender, social change and the implications of new technologies in the workplace, viewing these areas from the perspective of public relations practice.Carl Brønn
Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway
Carl Brønn is Associate Professor of Decision Science in the School of Economics and Business at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He also holds an adjunct position at the Norwegian Business School. He teaches courses in business simulation methods, strategic decision making, problem structuring, and corporate environmental management. His research interests are centered on understanding the challenges of corporate environmental management from the perspective of organizational learning and knowledge management. This requires an interdisciplinary and multi-methodological approach that offers considerable room for exploring a broad range of seemingly unrelated topics. He has is published in a number of books as well as in journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Communication Management, Corporate Reputation Review, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management and the Journal of Public Policy. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, a master in applied statistics from Georgia State University, and a PhD in decision sciences, also from Georgia State University.Peggy Simcic Brønn
Norwegian School of Management, Norway
Peggy Simcic Brønn is Professor of Communication and Management in the Norwegian Business School’s Department of Communication, Culture and Languages, and associate dean of the school’s Bachelor in Public Relations. She is also director of BI’s Center for Corporate Communication. Dr. Brønn has conducted research on relationship outcomes, reputation and reputation risk analysis, institutionalization of communication, motives for social engagement and the strategic role of communication managers. Her works are published in European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Communication Management, Public Relations Review, Journal of Communication Management (European editor), Corporate Reputation Review (editorial board), Corporate Communication an International Journal (editorial board), Journal of Business Ethics, and Business and Society Review, among others. She is coeditor of Corporate Communication; A Strategic Approach to Building Reputation (second edition) and is coauthor of the first academic book on reputation in Norwegian. She is Norway’s academic representative to the Reputation Institute and consults in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors in Norway. She holds a DBA (doctor of business administration) from Henley Management College in the UK, an MBA in Marketing from Georgia State University and a BA in Journalism/PR from the University of Georgia.Whitney Burk
Microsoft International, France
Whitney Burk is an American communications professional living in Paris. She was born and raised in Texas and then moved to California to pursue a French degree at UCLA, starting a decade-long stay in California. She began her career as a technology consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers in San Francisco (because they had an office in France… which seemed like a good enough reason at the time).
She quickly realized she liked technology but wanted to spend her time talking about it, rather than building it, so she transitioned into public relations. She worked for Applied Communications and Bite Communications in San Francisco, both high tech PR agencies, at the height of the technology boom and during the lean years following the technology bust. She represented clients including HP, Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Oracle and many more in enterprise technology.
Whitney moved to Seattle, Washington in 2005 and began working in PR for Microsoft’s Online Services Division. After nearly five years there, she fulfilled her dream to get to France by landing the job as Executive Communications Director for Microsoft International. In this role, she is responsible for PR, internal communications and speech writing for the President of Microsoft International.
Nigel de Bussy
Curtin University, Australia
Associate Professor Nigel de Bussy is Public Relations Course Coordinator in the School of Marketing, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia. He holds a PhD from Curtin Business School and an MA from The Queen's College, Oxford. Before joining Curtin, Nigel gained more than a decade's experience in the public relations profession in the UK and Australia consulting to major private sector and government clients. He is a Fellow and past State President of the Public Relations Institute of Australia.
His current research interests include corporate social responsibility and organisational identity, stakeholder dialogue and its impact on business performance, and credibility in new communication media. He has published in Public Relations Review, Journal of Marketing Communications, Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal and the Journal of Communication Management amongst others, and presented numerous international conference papers.
Lavinia Cinca
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Belgium
Lavinia Cinca spent the early years of her career in the Romanian Association of Public Relations Professionals where, as Secretary General, she interacted with the PR market and learned directly from top practitioners. Until 2009, she experienced the different facets of communication like media relations, rebranding, CSR campaigns or event management thanks to my positions at Enel and in other consultancies. Later on, she moved to Belgium for an internship in the press Unit of the Committee of the Regions and at the moment she is working at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Brussels. She is passionate about Internet communications and she has co-presented in Austria an academic article on Belgium’s country image in the online media. In my spare time, she is writing touristic articles on Travel Moments in Time. She holds a Masters' Degree in Management and Business Communication (NSPAS, Romania) and a postgraduate degree in European Studies (CIFE, Belgium). She is proficient in English, French, Spanish and Italian.Sherry Devereaux Ferguson
University of Ottawa, Canada
Dr. Sherry Devereaux Ferguson (Ph.D., Indiana U; M.A., U of Houston; B.A., L.S.U.) is a senior professor and former Chair and Director of Graduate Studies for the Communication Department, University of Ottawa, Canada.
She has acted on the editorial boards of numerous journals, including the Journal of Communication, the Communication Yearbook, the Communication Studies Journal, the International Journal of Strategic Communication, and the Communication, Culture and Critique Journal. She chaired the PR Division of the ICA and held the position of Executive Board Member-at-Large for the Americas. Publications include three books on organizational communication, two on public opinion and strategic planning in communication, two on public speaking, and a book on civic discourse and cultural politics in Canada. She is currently working on a book on interpersonal communication for Oxford Canada. She has published 27 articles in refereed journals and made 43 conference presentations.
Clients in an extensive consulting career have included the Department of Foreign Affairs (Canada), the Department of Justice, Transport Canada, Health Canada, the Canadian Space Agency, the National Research Council, Office of the Auditor General, CIDA, the Canadian Management Institute, Petro Canada, and others. She served on two major federal advisory boards, which oversaw the writing of a vision statement and defining of curriculum needs for government communicators. She trained more than a thousand government communication officers in public opinion analysis and strategic planning techniques, initially at the request of the Assistant Secretary of Communications to Cabinet. She also did professional speech writing for a former Prime Minister, government ministers, and top level bureaucrats.
Steve Doswell
Institute of Internal Communication and FEIEA, United Kingdom
Steve Doswell is a change management and communication consultant, with wide experience in large employer organisations spanning several economic sectors. His key professional communication interests are grouped around three key themes: change, professional development and Europe.
Steve enjoyed several years working in-house in internal and corporate communication management roles in financial services before setting up his own practice in 1995. He also facilitates training sessions, workshops and discussion groups and has written extensively for publication. Prominent clients include Rolls Royce plc, HM Revenue & Customs, the Ministry of Justice, Kingston University, National Grid, the European Investment Bank, Doosan Power Systems and Siemens UK.
A member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (speaking degree-level French and Spanish, and conversational German), Steve is also president of FEIEA, the European federation of internal communication associations, and chief executive-designate of the Institute of Internal Communication (formerly CiB). Steve brought two years of part-time study to a successful conclusion in November 2010 when he was awarded a Master’s degree in European integration by the University of Birmingham.
Official page • ContactFinn Frandsen
Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences, Denmark
Finn Frandsen (Mag. Art.) is a Professor of corporate communication since 2004, and the Director of ASB Centre for Corporate Communication since 2001, at School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University.
Frandsen has (co)authored and (co)edited more than 200 books, journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedic entries. His primary research areas include strategic communication, crisis management and crisis communication, and environmental communication. His research has been published in international journals and handbooks such as Corporate Communication: An International Journal, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Management Communication Quarterly, LSP and Professional Communication: An International Journal, Handbook of Crisis Communication, Handbook of Pragmatics, and the SAGE Handbook of Public Relations.
Frandsen has served as visiting professor at the ICN Business School (Nancy), Dakar Business School, Lund University, Norwegian School of Management (Oslo), Aalto University (Helsinki), IULM University (Milan), University of Leipzig, and Copenhagen Business School. He is regional editor (Europe) of Corporate Communication: An International Journal. He is member of the advisory boards of Corporate Communication International (Baruch College, CUNY) and the European Communication Monitor.Brane Gruban
Dialogos, Ljubljana
Over 40 years of business experience out of which over 20 years in public relations, strategic communications and strategic management consultancy. His assignments include a wide variety of fields: public relations, communications strategy, management of change, issues and crisis communications management, executive development and education, employee relations, human resources management, etc.
Gruban is a founding member of Public Relations Society of Slovenia (PRSS) and past president for six years. He also established the Slovenian Chapter of IABC, International Association of Business Communicators with headquarters in San Francisco: he is past director-at-large of the IABC! He is holding the ABC accreditation (Accredited Business Communicator).
Emanuele Invernizzi
IULM University, Italy
Emanuele Invernizzi is professor of Public Relations and Corporate Communication at IULM University, Milan, where he is director of the Institute of Economics and Marketing.
He is director of the Executive Master Program in Corporate Public Relations and director of the PhD programme in Corporate Communication; he is responsible for the Research Centre on Corporate Communication and Public Relations, where he conducts research on the institutionalization of public relations, on the assessment of results of communication activities and on the development of the public relations industry and its professional role in Italy.
He is President of Euprera (European Public Relations Education and Research Association) since January 2010 and member of the Executive Board of Ferpi (Italian Federation of Public Relations).
Dragica Ivin
University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Dragica Ivin was born on 2nd May 1959 in Zrenjanin, Serbia. In 1984 she graduated International Politics at the Faculty of Politics, Belgrade and in 1987 she completed the studies of English language and literature at the Faculty of Philology at Belgrade University. She taught English in Secondary school for Economics and in Zrenjanin Grammar School from 1987 to 2001. In 2001 she started working as a lecturer at Technical Faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin. In 2006 Dragica Ivin defended Master Thesis at Technical Faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” dealing with Business Communications. The title of her Thesis is “The Implementation of Public Relations Concept at Universities”. Since the majority of her students study management and business communications, the knowledge she acquired helps her a lot in her work with students. Although linguistics can be considered as her main field of interest Dragica Ivin has also worked as assistant – lecturer with students of Business Communications at the subjects Business Communications in Serbian and Business Communications in English. She has published several papers in national journals and was co-author of several papers from the field of Management and Public Relations.
Julia Jahansoozi
University of Stirling, Scotland
Julia Jahansoozi has been teaching within the field of public relations and public communication since 2001. Currently, she is the Director of the MSc in Public Communications Management at Stirling Media Research Institute, University of Stirling where she has been working since 2008. Previously Julia managed the Division of Applied Communication at the University of Central Lancashire, in Preston, UK. Main teaching areas include public relations and tourism, conflict resolution and negotiation skills, public affairs and advocacy, public relations in context, social influence theories, public diplomacy and strategic communication.
Julia received both her PhD and MSc in Public Relations from the University of Stirling and completed her BSc in Psychology and Political Science at the University of Victoria, Canada. In 2009 she was awarded the Günter-Thiele-Award for Excellent Doctoral & Postdoctoral Theses. Her areas of research include organization-public relationships and international public relations. She sits on the editorial boards of Journal of Communication Management and is the book review editor for the new journal Public Relations Inquiry. Before moving into academia, Julia worked in public relations practice in both Canada and the UK in a variety of consultancy and in-house roles within the private and non-profit sectors.Winni Johansen
Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences, Denmark
Winni Johansen (PhD) is an Associate Professor of corporate communication since 2001, and the Study Director of the Executive Master’s Program in Corporate Communication since 2003, at School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University. She earned her PhD from Aarhus School of Business in 1999, with a dissertation on the (inter)cultural dimensions of corporate communication.
Johansen has (co)authored and (co)edited more than 85 books, book chapters and journal articles. Her primary research areas include strategic communication, crisis management and crisis communication, and environmental communication. Her research has been published in international journals and handbooks such as Corporate Communication: An International Journal, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Management Communication Quarterly, LSP and Professional Communication: An International Journal, Handbook of Crisis Communication, Handbook of Pragmatics, and the SAGE Handbook of Public Relations.
Johansen has served as visiting professor at ICN Business School (Nancy), Dakar Business School, Norwegian School of Management (Oslo), Aalto University (Helsinki), IULM University (Milan), University of Leipzig, and Copenhagen Business School. She is on the editorial board of Corporate Communication: An International Journal.
Anne Kankaanranta
Aalto University School of Economics, Finland
Anne Kankaanranta, PhD, MSc (Econ), EMBA, is Senior Lecturer of International Business Communication at the Aalto University School of Economics (previously Helsinki School of Economics), Finland. Her main research interests include the use of English as a business lingua franca (BELF), global communicative competence, intercultural communication and corporate communications in global business contexts.Ruža Karlović
Police college of Zagreb, Croatia
Ruža Karlović, M.Sc. earned her master’s degree at the Faculty of humanities and social sciencies, University of Zagreb. She graduated from the Police college in Zagreb and is currently writing a doctoral thesis under the title “Public perception of public security. Police contribution”. She is a lecturer at the Police College in Zagreb and interested in crime prevention, sociology of police and police issues.Jeong-Nam Kim
Purdue University, USA
Jeong-Nam Kim is an assistant professor of public relations in the Department of Communication at Purdue University. He searches and researches phenomena related to human communication and problem solving. He has developed the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) and the communicative action in problems solving (CAPS) with Dr. James E. Grunig and Dr. Ni Lan. He is working on the research projects applying CAPS and STOPS in the areas of public relations, digitalization and cybercoping among members of publics, risk and health communication, and sociological public diplomacy. He studied communication and public relations at the University of Maryland, College Park.Danijela Lalić
University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Danijela Lalić, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. She teaches courses Public Relations Management, Leadership and Business Communication.
Danijela is a partner in consulting agency ProMethod Network Solution System where she is involved in numerous communication management projects. She has experience in cooperation with scientific institutions, public relations agencies and international organizations. She was a lecturer and trainer at numerous educational programs in the field of communication and public relations management. She is also actively involved in numerous international projects.
Danijela has immense interest in Internet and Intranet systems, internal relationships and internal communication and new technologies. She spreads the idea of internet communication, social media strategy, community management and internal communication to companies such as Cisco Entrepreneur Institute, Gazprom Neft, Opel Dealer, and many other private and public organizations.
Jan Lies
University of Applied Sciences for Media and Communication, Germany
Jan Lies is professor for PR and communication management since 2007 at MHMK Macromedia University of Applied Sciences for Media and Communication in Hamburg, Germany. Besides he is consultant for strategic and change communications.
Thus his research and consultancy focus on internal, change and brand communications, which empowers management to execute change management projects. One current question is, if the scope of a change management project is already understood and practised as hard and also soft success factor of change management. He is editor of the handbook “Public relations” (2008) and the book “Success factor change communications” (2011).
Pascal Lorenzini
Swiss Post, Switzerland
Pascal is the director of corporate publishing and head of internal communications at Swiss Post. He is responsible for all internal and external communication activities across the group. These include traditional media – such as the client magazine, the annual report, the staff newspaper for all employees in Switzerland and a printed newsletter for all staff abroad – as well as various online channels.
He is a strong believer in true two-way symmetrical communication. Three years ago, he introduced a commentary function that accompanies all intranet news, blogs and wikis, at Swiss Post. This has lead to the FEIEA (Federation of European Business Communicators Associations) award for best intranet site in 2009.
Pascal started as an editor for a leading newspaper and as a radio sportscaster. Then he moved into Public Relations. He edited Swisscom’s staff magazine and was in charge of all online news channels before taking on overall responsibility for the intranet. In 2000, he founded his own Public Relations and consulting agency, coteq ltd., which he ran successfully for seven years. Pascal holds a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Applied Sciences in Berne, Switzerland, and is presently pursuing a master’s degree in communications management at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School.Leena Louhiala-Salminen
Aalto University School of Economics, Finland
Leena Louhiala-Salminen, PhD, Lic.Phil., MSc (Econ), is Professor of International Business Communication at the Aalto University School of Economics (former Helsinki School of Economics), Finland. She is also Program Director of the Aalto ECON Master’s Program in International Business Communication. Her main research interests include the various genres of business communication, the use of English as the business lingua franca, and corporate communication in international contexts.
Roxana Maiorescu
Purdue University, USA
Roxana Maiorescu is currently a Doctoral Student in the Department of Communication at Purdue University in the United States. Her research interests include: crisis management, public diplomacy, corporate social responsibility, and the use of new media in PR campaigns. Prior to her doctoral studies, she earned an MA degree in Communication from Virginia Tech and a BA in Journalism and German from Babes Bolyai University in Transylvania.
Her work has focused primarily on the ways in which corporations and governments communicate during times of crisis. Thus, she has explored the crises faced by corporations such as Deutsche Telekom, Daimler, and France Telecom along with the ethical dilemmas they gave rise to. Additionally, she analyzed the PR strategies employed by governments of newly formed states such as Kosovo.
Her work has been presented at conferences among which: the International Public Relations Research Conference, the National Communication Association and the International Academy of Business Disciplines. Her forthcoming publications include a book chapter on the ethical dilemmas corporations face under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as well as a peer-reviewed article on the use of social media in crisis management.Laoise O’Murchú
Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland
A highly experienced PR /Communications professional with a proven ability to deliver results based corporate communication, strategic planning, internal communication, crisis management and social media programs. Laoise has won a number of professional awards, notably the Public Relations Institute of Ireland’s Excellence Award and is currently the President of the International Association of Business Communicators’ Irish Chapter, (IABC).
Laoise is currently completing her PhD in Dublin's Institute of Technology and has analyzed leadership support for communication and communication practices in high profile public and private companies in Ireland. Additionally, she has explored the role of ethics within the communications as rumblings about integrity in the profession persist.
Laoise is Course Director at the Public Relations Institute of Ireland where she developed their Certificate Internal Communication Certificate Course. And has also introduced and facilitated training webinars in developing practitioners’ social media skill set. A graduate of University College Dublin Laoise holds a BA international, Higher Diploma in Education and H Dip PR. She is a frequent public speaker and former radio presenter and teacher.Milan Nikolić
University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Milan Nikolić was born on 21 September 1971 in Zrenjanin, Serbia. On 3 June 1998 he graduated at the Technical faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin, Department of development engineering - mechanical engineering field. The Master's degree thesis he defended on 7 March 2001 at the Technical faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin at the Department of management. PhD thesis entitled: “Quantitative model for selecting a new product with research into relevant criteria”, he defended on 3 december 2004 at the Mechanical faculty University of Belgrade at the department of Industrial engineering. He has been working at the Technical faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin (University of Novi Sad) since 1 October 1998 as assistant teacher. In September 2010 Milan Nikolić got the title of associate professor at the Technical faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin. He organizes exercices for the subjects: Strategic management, Public relations and Decision theory. The basic fields of interest of Milan Nikolić are using quantitative methods in management with a particular stress on the business decision making, product development, organizational culture ond public relations. Milan Nikolić published about 100 papers in these fields.Soohyun Park
Indiana University at IUPUI, USA
Soohyn Park studies public relations at the Indiana University at IUPUI. She has been working as a public relations manager in Korea. Her specific interests and areas of expertise are employee communication, fundraising, and public segmentation. She is currently working on the research projects with Jeong-Nam Kim on employ communication applying CAPS and STOPS in the areas of public relations.Sónia Pedro Sebastião
Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal
Sónia Pedro Sebastião is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Social and Political Science (ISCSP-UTL), teaching Public Relations, Cultural Studies and Media Studies courses since the year 2001. She has published in Portugal her master thesis about the Swiss Political System (2005), a textbook on Public Relations and her forthcoming PhD thesis about the Portuguese identity and mythology. Her main interests are related with theoretical and cultural approaches to Public Relations, identities and digital communications.
She is a CAPP Senior Research Fellow and Orient Institute Research Fellow, both research centres held by ISCSP-UTL, acknowledged and accredited by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology with Excellence and Very Good classifications, respectively.
She is a member of: the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA); the European Sociological Association (ESA - RN07 Sociology of Culture); the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA - Organisational and Strategic Communication); and of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Ciências da Comunicação (SOPCOM). She participates in these international and Portuguese associations as a speaker.
Ronél Rensburg
University of Pretoria and Centre for Communication and Reputation Management, South Africa
Ronél Rensburg is the former Head of the Department of Marketing and Communication Management at the University of Pretoria (2000-2008). She is currently senior professor in the same department. She is a board member of the Ron Brown Institute (RBI) for the enhancement of small business incubation and development in Africa. She is a member of EUPRERA (the European Public Relations Education and Research Association), President of PRISA (Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa), a board member of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (GA), a member of the North American and Russian Communication Association (NARCA) and the ICA (International Communication Association).
Ronél Rensburg is coordinator of international exchange activities and collaboration initiatives for the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. She is a founding-member of the recently-established Centre for Communication and Reputation Management at the University of Pretoria. She is a speechwriter and -trainer for politicians and captains of industry on a continual basis.Stefania Romenti
IULM University, Italy
Stefania Romenti, PhD, is currently Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics and Marketing at IULM University (Milan, Italy) where she teaches both at BA and Master levels courses in public relations and communication.
Her research is on a range of topics in public relations, with a particular focus on evaluation and measurement of results of communication. She is author and co-author of several books and articles in Italian and international communication journals. She is an active member of Federazione Relazioni Pubbliche Italiana (FERPI) and European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA).Kevin Ruck
PR Academy and Chartered Institute of Public Relations, United Kingdom
Kevin Ruck is a founding director of the PR Academy and the editor and co-author of the text book Exploring Internal Communication.
Kevin has worked in communications within the telecoms and ICT sector for more than 20 years. He is a qualified lecturer, holding a Post Graduate Certificate in Education and graduated with a distinction in his MBA from the Open University in 2007. He was awarded a bursary to undertake a PhD in Internal Communication at the University of Central Lancashire in 2009.
Kevin developed both the Internal Communication Certificate and the Internal Communication Diploma (for which he is course leader) for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in the UK. His special interests are internal communication, change, creativity, social media and employee engagement.Sara Secomandi
Methodos, Italy
Sara has graduated in Philosophy and specialized in Social Communication at the University Cattolica of Milan with a thesis on cultural programming of Swiss Television in Italian. She has undertaken journalistic activities for different newspapers and from 1998 she is part of the Lombardy Journalistic Order.
From approximately 15 years she works in the field of multimedia communication and she is interested in themes linked to the use of computer interfaces for communication, internal and external. She has worked for the development and design of internet websites, intranet and Cd-roms and has managed projects of complex web presence for public administration, developing citizen portals and platforms of e-governments.
In Methodos she is dealing with projects regarding intranet platforms and internal multichannel communication for important clients. Including, Fiat Group Automobile, for which she has coordinated the editorial activities of the portal Avanti e Veloci, an auto-training and development platform dedicated to all the managerial population at a European level.
The portal, in 2005, has received the Platinum Intranet Innovation Award, the highest prize for intranet innovation expected by an international network of company and specialized study groups in the assessment of the intranet and the environment based on web technologies for the growth of the business, the change, the development of the leadership and organizational communication.
For Enel, the largest electronic operator in Italy and the second largest utility quoted in Europe, she has undertaken the internal communication plan for two years, integrated on web channels, newspapers, TV and visual for the program of operative excellence and continuous improvement that has involved all the countries of the Group.
At the same time she is finalizing her studies in Psychology, graduating in Science and Psychological Techniques with specialization in Work Psychology at the University Bicocca of Milan. Laura Smith
HM Revenue & Customs, UK
After graduating university with an English degree, Laura Smith started work as a trainee journalist on local newspapers. After working as a chief reporter and news editor, she left to join UK government department Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
Along with journalism qualifications, she has also gained a certificate and diploma in internal communications.
As part of HMRC’s internal media team, she heads the print and online news service for the department’s 73,000 staff.
John Smythe
Engage for Change, United Kingdom
John is one of the founding voices of the leader and employee engagement movement. He is a partner of Engage for Change, a consultancy dedicated to advising on engaging leaders and everyone at work to drive change, transform organizations and raise day to day business performance. Our firm’s view is that institutions that cultivate a culture of distributed leadership will create compelling work places and result in much better performance; a view confirmed by independent research commissioned by our firm.
John co-founded SmytheDorwardLambert in 1989, a consultancy which was acknowledged to be the thought leader in organizational communication, change communication/leadership and change management. The firm was sold to Omnicom in a trade sale which was completed in 2000.
His last book – CEO, Chief Engagement Officer; Turning Hierarchy Upside Down To Drive Performance was published by Gower on June 7th 2007. Previously he co-wrote ‘Corporate Reputation; managing the new strategic asset. John speaks widely in many countries.
He is presently working on a second book for Gower on leader & employee engagement - Velvet revolution at work; the rise of employee engagement, the fall of command and control.John speaks all over the world; in the UK, most other European countries (including Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia), the USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, South Africa.
Lokweetpun Suprawan
Curtin Universtiy, Australia
Mrs. Lokweetpun Suprawan is a PhD student in the School of Marketing, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia. She received her MBA degree from Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand. She is currently employed by Bangkok University, Bangkok, Thailand, as a lecturer in the Marketing Department, Faculty of Business Administration.
Her current research interests include corporate social responsibility, organisational and corporate identity, and corporate branding. A part of the preliminary findings of her thesis was presented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference (ANZMAC) in 2009.
Edit Terek
University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Edit Terek was born on 21st March 1986 in Zrenjanin, Serbia. In September 2008 she graduated at Tehnical Faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin, Department of Management with average mark 9,59. After graduating she continued with her studies on Master degree in Business communication. She worked two years as a manager in tourism. From November 2010 she works at Tehnical Faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin as a teaching associate on the subjects: Strategic management, Public relations, Benchmarking, Knowledge Management. Areas of research and theoretical interest include: Public relations, Organizational Culture and Knowledge Management.Dušan Tomič
Siemens IT Solutions and Services GmbH, Austria
Dušan Tomič has over 18 years of experience in business development, consulting, pre-sales and sales for renowned international companies (Capgemini, Hutchison, Siemens) in leading strategic and operational positions, including several years of experience in managing organizational units and teams in complex integration projects of the private and public sector companies.
He is an IT and telecommunications professional with a PhD in Computer Science from the Vienna University of Technology. In 2010 he completed a General Management Executive MBA program of the Managmeent Center Innsbruck (MCI). Dusan is interested in process and project management, business requirements analysis and integrated corporate communications.Jordi Xifra
Pompeu Fabra University, Spain
Jordi Xifra, is Professor of Public Relations at the Department of Communication of Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain). He has published more than 10 books in Spanish about theory, strategy, and tactics of public relations as well as on lobbying and issues management. He also has published or co-published over 30 refereed journal articles. He is the co-editor of Public Relations Inquiry (SAGE Publications) the new academic journal on public relations that will be launched in January 2012.
His main research fields are public relations theory, public diplomacy and influence groups’ communication (lobbying and think tanks’ communication strategies). In 2004, Professor Xifra co-founded the AIRP (Spanish Association of Public Relations Research) and was the first AIRP President (2004-2009).Li Ying
FSH University of Macau, China
Her work mainly focuses on strategic public communication to promote social and cultural changes. She is especially interested in grassroots and participatory media and communication practice for the purpose of civic engagement, community organizing, and public diplomacy. She approaches this line of inquiry through blending research traditions from strategic issues management, public relations, and international relations. Her recent research projects include investigating public diplomacy efforts by Chinese networked activists overseas in 2008, cultural re-branding of Macau as a tourist destination, and research and design of public communication campaigns and crisis management on the light rail project in Macau.Tamara Vlastelica Bakić
University of Belgrade, Serbia
Tamara Vlastelica Bakić, MSc, is the lecturer at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, at the Department for Marketing and Public Relations. She was a Corporate Affairs Manager at Coca-Cola Hellenic Serbia and Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Deloitte Serbia. Tamara is the author of the book “Media Campaign – publicity and advertising” published in 2007. She participated as a consultant in many marketing and PR projects with scientific institutions, NGOs and PR agencies and she was a lecturer and trainer at numerous educational programs in the field of communication management and skills. Tamara is a member of the professional jury for annual PR awards and she was a member of the Managing board of the Public Relations Society of Serbia. She is the chairman of the Working group for education and development of CSR in the United Nations Global Compact Serbia.
Tamara is the PhD candidate with the dissertation “Reputation Management by Socially Responsible Approach in Marketing and Public Relations”
She started her career working for foreign media WDR/ARD, Spiegel, Televisione Swizzera - Italiana, Deutche Welle, etc.Dejan Verčič
University of Ljubljana & Pristop, Slovenia
Dejan Verčič, Ph.D., is a founder of Pristop, a leading communication management consultancy based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Associate Professor for Public Relations at the University of Ljubljana. He holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
He has published over 200 articles, books, chapters, papers, and reports. His recent books are The Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research, and Practice (with K. Sriramesh, 2nd ed. 2009 by Routledge) and Public Relations Metrics: Research and Evaluation (with B. van Ruler and A. Tkalac Verčič; Routledge 2008).
Prof. Verčič is an active consultant serving major Slovenian and international corporations, government agencies and international organizations. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Special Achievement Award for developing the Public Relations sector in Slovenia, both in theory and in practice, and the Alan Campbell-Johnson Medal for Special Achievement in the area of International Public Relations. Prof. Verčič served, inter alia, as the chairman of the Research Committee of the IABC Research Foundation and as the President of the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA). Since 1993, he organizes an annual International Public Relations Research Symposium – BledCom.
Institutionalization of PR: Interview • Future of PR: Interview • Public Relations Metrics: Measuerement and Evaluation
Jelena Vukonjanski
University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Jelena Vukonjanski was born on 13th September 1979 in Zrenjanin, Serbia. In September 2005 she graduated at the Technical Faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin in Department of Management. The Master's degree thesis she defended in March 2008 at the Technical faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin at the Department of management. The Master's degree thesis titled: Research of state and perspective of organizational culture in companies in Serbia. Areas of research and theoretical interest include Organizational Culture, Human Resource Management and Knowledge Management. Jelena Vukonjanski published about 15 papers in these fields.
Mary Welch
University of Central Lancashire, UK
Mary Welch has a PhD in internal communication (Manchester Business School, 2008) an MSc in Marketing (UMIST, 2000) and a BA Hons in Social Studies (University of Liverpool, 1991). Following a career in public relations and corporate communication management in the not-for-profit and public sectors, she joined the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK in 2001. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Lancashire Business School and leads the full-time and a part-time executive MA Strategic Communication course.
She has a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (UCLan 2002 and Accreditation as a Teacher in Higher Education (SEDA 2003). She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In 2009, she won a UCLan Livesey Award to facilitate internal communication research. In the same year, she won a UCLan Arnoux Award for a PhD studentship in rethinking internal communication measurement. Currently supervising the PhD project at UCLan on internal communication measurement and is a member of the supervision team for a PhD project at the Université Catholique de Louvain on internal communication and organisational commitment in crisis situations.
Research interests and publications focus on internal communication and stakeholder relationship management. Acts as a reviewer for communication, marketing and management journals. Currently involved in a survey of communication professionals' views of internal communication masters education. Presently conducting research on employee engagement in a multi-site industrial services company with a dispersed workforce.
