LAKELAND, Fla., August 15, 2017- Several awards were received by members of the Dick Pope/ Polk County Florida Public Relations Association at the 79th Annual Conference at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando held August 6-9, 2017.
Jennifer Olivier, APR, president of the Dick Polk / Polk County chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association received a President’s Award for Leadership Development during the Florida Public Relations Association 79th annual conference. Olivier is the Director of Alumni Relations for Florida Southern College.
Cindy C. Rodriquez, CPM, Sr. Government Affairs Program Manager, Southwest Florida Water Management District received three distinguished awards at FPRA’s Annual Conference with her collaborators, Gene Heath, Executive Director for the Polk Regional Water Cooperative and Ryan Taylor, Assistant County Manager for Polk County. They received the Judges Award, presented by judges for an outstanding entry that achieves maximum results while using a minimum amount of money; the Golden Image Award, presented to the top-scoring entry in each category; and the highest award given, the Dick Pope ALL FLORIDA Golden Image Award, presented to the overall highest scoring entry in the highly competitive Awards Division A. All awards were in the Public Relations Programs – Public Affairs category. Robyn O. Felix, Public Affairs Bureau Chief of Southwest Florida Water Management District shared in a memo, “Winning a Golden Image Award is very difficult and an honor.”he continued “This is the first time the District has ever won this award and Cindy’s second time winning it in her career.” Rodriquez will be serving as the Dick Pope/Polk County chapter Local Image Chair 2017/2018. She looks forward to encouraging and assisting other professionals with entering their own excellent work into the first level of the awards competition.
The Dick Pope/Polk County chapter was proud to have fifteen members attend the Florida Public Relations 79th Annual Conference:
Margarita Alfaro, NuJak Development, Inc.
Bob Gernert, APR, CPRC, Retired
Teresa Griffin, Polk County Public Schools, Polk Academies
Sara Hallett, APR, Hallett Public Relations
Erin Knothe, MIDFLORIDA Credit Union
Danny Kushmer, International Responsible Farming Council
Joe McLeod, McLeod Communications, LLC
John McShaffrey, APR, AECOM
Jennifer Olivier, APR, Florida Southern College
Rebecca Paul, Florida Southern College
Cindy Rodriguez, Southwest Florida Water Management District
Bradley Ruhman, Crews Banking Corporation
Marybeth Soderstrom, Central Florida Regional Planning Council
Ellen Underwood, APR, Sonshine Communications
Brian West, Publix Super Markets, Inc.
Dana C. Davis, Chief Communications Officer, Southeastern University, has been accepted into Leadership FPRA. The program is highly competitive and provides members with the tools they need to become strong leaders in their organizations and their communities. Davis has been awarded a scholarship from the Dick Pope/Polk County chapter for the leadership program.
The Dick Pope/Polk County Chapter of FPRA holds monthly general meetings on the third Wednesday of each month at 7:30 a.m. Meetings are held at the Fresco’s (132 S. Kentucky Ave, Lakeland, Fl 33801) unless otherwise indicated. Members and guests are always welcome but it is necessary to RSVP at FPRA.org or contact Brad Ruhmann at info@fprapolk.org to reserve your seat.