Joan Gladstone, APR, Fellow PRSA

Applying for: Western District Director

President and CEO
Gladstone International, Inc.
Laguna Beach, California

Biography

Joan Gladstone, APR, Fellow PRSA is a nationally-recognized crisis communications expert. Since founding Gladstone International, Inc. in 1989, Joan has guided corporations, cities, public agencies and nonprofits to effectively manage communications during crises and emerge with reputations intact.

Joan has developed crisis plans and provided crisis counseling related to workplace accidents, municipal bankruptcies, labor strikes, foreign-object-in-food crises, gas pipeline ruptures, data breaches, toxic spills, high profile lawsuits, political protests, regulatory agency investigations and more. Her firm’s services include on-call crisis counseling, media training and crisis plan review.

In 2007, Joan was elected to the prestigious Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) College of Fellows. In 1997, Joan received the Orange County Business Journal’s respected Women in Business Award for her business achievements and community service. The previous year, she won a PRSA Silver Anvil award for community relations excellence.

In 1998, Joan and her husband, Ed Gillow co-authored "Starting and Growing Your Own PR Firm" for PRSA. The book became a PRSA bestseller and a second edition was published in 2006. The 200-page ebook is now available for free on the Gladstone International website.

Joan is a noted speaker who has presented more than 500 workshops and keynotes to professional and trade associations, including many full and half-day crisis communications workshops and webinars for PRSA. In 2011, Joan was selected by Vistage International, the world’s leading chief executive organization, to speak to its CEO groups.

Prior to her firm, Joan served as press secretary to Gaddi Vasquez, a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, from 1988 to 1989. Before that, she was public relations manager of Santa Margarita Company from 1986 to 1988, account supervisor of Burson-Marsteller from 1985 to 1986, senior account executive of Jansen Associates from 1983 to 1985, public relations manager of ITT Cannon from 1982 to 1983 and public relations manager of Microdata Corporation from 1981 to 1982. Before moving to Orange County, CA from Boston in 1981, she served as account executive of Clarke & Company from 1978 to 1981, publications coordinator for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts from 1977 to 1988 and the Boston University Public Information Office from 1975 to 1977.

Joan joined the adjunct faculty of Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in Orange, CA in 2008, where she taught several public relations classes. She served as a full-time assistant professor of public relations and advertising at Chapman from 2009 to 2011 before returning to consulting.

Joan graduated summa cum laude from Boston University with a bachelor’s of science degree in public relations. She and her husband Ed Gillow live in Laguna Beach, CA. Her interests include oil painting and travel.