Taraneh A. Fultz, APR

Senior Field Marketing Analyst
Cambia Health Solutions
Portland, Oregon

Applying for: North Pacific District Director
Alternate Position(s): 

Biography

Taraneh (terre-UH-nay) Fultz, APR, got her start in public relations at the age of 17, when she was recruited by a publicist at Terry Hines and Associates who’d seen her using her high school newspaper’s film and television beat to build relationships with Bay Area film critics. That internship sparked a lifelong love of the profession, as well as a commitment to mentoring new professionals.

Taraneh works at Cambia Health Solutions (2015-present) where she manages integrated marketing communication strategy for the trade association and labor and trust lines of business in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington markets. Key association clients include City and County Insurance Services, Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish County, Associated Industries, GeekWire, and Costco Wholesale. She is also the chair (and former programming chair) of Cambia's Women's Employee Leadership Lab, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year.

Taraneh is accredited in public relations by the Universal Accreditation Board, holds a certificate in project management from Portland State University and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and public relations from the University of Oregon. The Portland Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America awarded her their 2007 New Professional of the Year. Taraneh, who has both American and Iranian citizenship, lives in Portland, Ore., with her native Oregonian husband, Joe, and two dogs, Oliver and Josephine. Find her on Twitter @taranehfultz.

ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (post university)
Marketing Communications Specialist, Swagelok Northwest, 2012-2015
Public Relations Coordinator, ClearEdge Power, 2010-2011
Account Manager, Woloshin Communications, 2007-2009
Marketing Communications Specialist, PECO Manufacturing, 2006-2007
Proposal Manager, Merchandising Technologies, Inc., 2006

PROFESSIONAL ADVANCEMENT
Co-chair, Communicators Conference, 2007 and 2008

PRSA Accomplishments

District Positions
2016 Secretary, North Pacific District
2017 Chair-Elect, North Pacific District
2017 Chair, Conference Committee, North Pacific District

National Committees
2017 Member, Strategic Planning Committee
2017 Member, Thought Leadership Committee
2017 Member, Leadership Academy Committee
2016 Member, Strategic Planning Committee
2007 Member, Professional Development Committee

(Greater) Oregon Chapter Positions
2017 Adviser, Transition Committee
2017 Finance and Legal Transition Lead

Portland Metro Chapter Positions
2016 Immediate Past President and CFO
2016 Chair, Statewide Governance Committee
2016 Member, Communicators Conference Committee
2015 Member, Communications Committee
2015 Member, Career Development Committee
2015 Member, Membership Committee
2015 Member, Communicators Conference Committee
2015 Member, Recognition Committee
2015 Chair, Strategic Planning Committee
2015 Advocacy Chair
2015 Diversity Chair
2015 Assembly Delegate
2015 President
2014 President-Elect
2014 Chair, Bylaws Review Committee
2014 Member, Vision 2020 Committee
2014 Member, Recognition Committee
2014 Chair, Nominating Committee
2013 Treasurer
2013 Chair, Awards of Distinction Committee
2012 Director-at-Large, Sponsorship
2011 Director-at-Large, Sponsorship
2011 Member, Finance Committee
2009 Vice President, Professional Development
2009 Member, Communicators Conference Committee
2008 Co-chair, Communicators Conference
2007 Co-chair, Communicators Conference
2006 Member, Spotlight Awards Committee
2005 Member, Sponsorship Committee

Governance Skills

In 2014, I led the Portland Chapter's committee to revise its Bylaws for the first time in more than a decade. We held town hall meetings and Twitter chats to engage members in the process, as we'd changed a few key provisions to increase voter access, transparency and organizational efficiency. In the same year, as the chair of the Chapter's nominating committee, I led the Chapter in a Board restructure and created 156 discrete volunteer opportunities, with position descriptions, to create line of sight among all volunteer roles, as well as to create pipeline development pathways.

In 2016, I chaired a statewide committee to merge Oregon's three Chapters. That committee's scope included everything from governance and operations -- including development -- to programs and services -- including virtual professional development and networking options. I also had the pleasure of serving on the Society's strategic planning committee, which was led by Jane Dvorak.

Outside of PRSA, I've participated in the three-year strategic plan formation at Swagelok Northwest,which included an organization restructure, led strategic plan development at Cambia's Women's Employee Resource Group, and helped form the Albertina Kerr Ambassador Board, from charter to three-year road map -- with fundraising goals. While at Woloshin Communications, I helped restructure her business plan. At PECO, I built their marketing communications department, which supported four lines of business across 15 vertical markets in North America and Europe. At Cambia, I've been asked to rescue (manage) a $500,000 web project sponsored by our organization's chief marketing officer and chief revenue officer and has stakeholders across more than 10 departments.

I've also served as treasurer of my homeowner's association and the University of Oregon Chapter of PRSSA. (I like math.)

Leadership Skills

Professionally, for the last decade, I've held independent contributor roles where I'm managing projects and not people. This means that I rely on influence and a servant leadership mindset to achieve successful outcomes for my projects, as I do not have the lever of holding teams accountable via performance and compensation reviews at my disposal.

I engage in collaborative conflict management and consultative decision making, but most importantly, I check my ego at the door. A good leader listens and guides a team with empathy and inclusion in service of a shared business objective and/or organizational cause. I find people are more open to going along with you for the ride if someone leads in this way. I've also noticed that this is particularly true when an organization is navigating a fundamental shift, such as abandoning one line of business for a new venture or when changing ownership.

In addition to my paid work, I also serve as the chair of an internal professional development organization, as chair-elect of PRSA's North Pacific District and as a founding board member of Oregon's oldest nonprofit organization's first Ambassador Board.

Leadership is a critical competency to national board service because we are accountable for guiding the strategic direction of the Society that represents our industry and ourselves.

Strengths

Gallup StrengthsFinder top five themes:
Relator
Strategic
Futuristic
Activator
Learner

I'm a non-traditional public relations professional. I don't do media relations. I don't even work in the communications department. My specialty is applying public relations methodologies to integrated marketing communications functions within companies experiencing organizational change. If you're looking for someone to maintain the status quo, I'm not your board member.

If you're looking for an experienced millennial who started in PRSSA, joined PRSA right after college, and has had an almost single-minded devotion to the Society for the last decade, I'm your board member.

And if you're looking for someone with both inherent and acquired diversity, I'm REALLY your board member. I have siblings currently spread across three continents, I have dual citizenship, and I'm both first-generation American (father's side) and fifth-generation San Franciscan (mother's side).

Volunteer Commitment

If selected, I will re-evaluate my current volunteer and work commitments in partnership with my leadership team, so that I can create space for national board service.

Position Statement #1

Prompt: The lines continue to blur among the disciplines of public relations, marketing, IT and customer service, and the need increases to create more collaborative teams and hybrid professionals. PRSA has continued to evolve and respond to these issues in support of our members, partners and colleagues. What do you believe are the strongest components of PRSA’s strategic plan that will help our members address these challenges, and how will PRSA remain relevant and sustainable for the future?

This concept was one of the primary insights driving the strategic plan framework, but it is called out specifically within two of the three platform pillars: 1) professional development: Establish partnerships with multi-disciplinary organizations in an effort to provide cross-training opportunities for PRSA members; and 2) thought leadership: Thought leadership that highlights leading thinkers and best practices in this new era of communications.

I believe the way we will remain relevant into the future is by serving as the lead partner, facilitating this journey. We can't do it all ourselves, but we can be the lead voice, facilitating the transition to a more integrated industry.

Position Statement # 2

Prompt: PRSA has become more complex and diverse in recent years. While the Society must become nimbler, we also are cognizant that we must help prepare our members to meet tomorrow’s challenges as leaders at every level. The role of the communications professional will continue to evolve, and PRSA will anticipate future trends, and support our members at every stage of their career.  As a member of PRSA’s national board, what do you see as your role in contributing to helping our membership meet tomorrow’s challenges as leaders? 

This is a particular passion point of mine. As national leaders, our board needs to be focused primarily on where our industry should be, not where it is currently. Historically, we've been more traditional and risk-adverse in our approach, but we face increased competition -- from other trade associations, media, and groups/training within some of our organizations -- so we need to adapt. There's that famous saying that if Henry Ford had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse, and then we would never have had a car. We need to be the Elon Musk of communications professional trade associations. Integrated communications professionals should be looking to PRSA to guide them not just on the issues of the day, but to set the goal posts for their career -- with a map to get them there. That's how we stay relevant. That's how we keep members. That's how our profession will make CCO roles standard best practice across small, medium and large businesses, alongside CFOs and COOs.