PRWeek this morning unveiled the six communicators who will make up the Class of 2025 in the 13th iteration of our Hall of Fame.
At a ceremony in NYC on November 20, the 72 previous inductees will be joined by Kathy Bloomgarden from Ruder Finn, Johnson & Johnson’s Vanessa Broadhurst, University of Florida’s Pat Ford, Torod Neptune from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, FleishmanHillard’s John Saunders and Real Chemistry’s Jim Weiss.
These communicators join Hall of Fame luminaries including Harold Burson, Betsy Plank, Al Golin, David Finn, Pam Edstrom, Dan and Richard Edelman, Marilyn Laurie, Ofield Dukes and Marcia Silverman.
You won’t find Trump White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in the PRWeek Hall of Fame, or her predecessor from the Biden administration, Karine Jean-Pierre, for that matter.
First of all, I want to pay tribute to a Hall of Famer we lost this week, former Southwest Airlines communications lead Ginger Hardage, who died from cancer at the weekend aged 70.
Hardage was an unfailingly positive person and presence in the industry, remembered fondly on LinkedIn by her successor Linda Rutherford:
“For those who knew and worked with Ginger, we reflect today on just how lucky we were to be on the receiving end of her kind words, enthusiastic affirmation, warm smiles and sincere hugs.
“She had an internal glow I have never experienced in another human — those in her orbit were truly fortunate to know, work with, enjoy time with and learn from this amazing woman. And Southwest Airlines is better for her influence as a member of the senior executive team during her 25 years at the airline, last serving as SVP of culture and communications before her retirement in 2015. She was my leader for 23 years.
“I was looking back through vintage photos of our time together and fondly recall how supportive Ginger was of all our crazy ideas to garner positive news coverage for the airline — everything from planting cactus outside Phoenix after a fire to convincing Southwest execs the airline should star in a reality TV program called Airline to getting [cofounder] Herb [Kelleher] to bowl against the cast of the TV show, Wings, for charity. Without her support, Herb would not have armwrestled another aviation executive for the right to keep using our ‘Just Plane Smart’ marketing tagline.
“Without her advocacy, we would not have entered the digital age with the airline industry’s first blog ‘Nuts About Southwest’ or launched a social business strategy to build affinity for the brand in places like X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Without her influence, we would not have been able to modernize our charitable giving into strategic pillars. Without her hutzpah, we would not have created an enterprise emergency response program that is now the envy of the airline industry. Without her unwavering commitment to people, we would not have one of the most studied corporate cultures on the planet.”
Hardage was inducted into the PRWeek Hall of Fame in 2015 and became a worthy member of this illustrious community. Our sincere thoughts and condolences go out to her family, friends and colleagues.
This year’s class of honorees have led in terms of business growth; purpose; and diversity, equity and inclusion, all at a time when these three elements are more top of mind than ever before.
As Torod Neptune outlines on the latest The PR Week podcast, they are delivering on the extra demands and accountability demanded by clients and their CEO and C-suite bosses. They are navigating increasingly complicated economic waters and geopolitical conflicts and uncertainty. They are engaging employees and prioritizing internal communications to what has become the most important stakeholder group in any business or organization. And they are helping their leaders to see around corners and pick the right time to authentically weigh in and the right time to stay silent in the face of an issue or crisis.
And now two of the honorees — Neptune and Pat Ford — are heavily involved in educating the next generation of communicators who will take this industry to even higher levels of recognition and reward for the value it adds.
