Kristine Patricia Lueneburg Naidl, APR
Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Public Relations
Laughlin Constable
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Applying for: Midwest District Director
Alternate Position(s):
Biography
Significant strategic communications experience. Focused on strategizing, planning, directing and implementing public relations, marketing, digital communications and social media initiatives across a variety of industries, including consumer products, real estate development, retail, financial products and services, health care, timber, energy, professional services, manufacturing, education, agriculture and more.
Experience includes:
Executive Vice President - Public Relations
Laughlin Constable
July 2012 – Present
Manage and grow agency team while leading public relations strategy or projects for dozens of clients, including Quarles & Brady, The Corners of Brookfield, Rio Tinto, Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association, Lung Cancer Alliance, GE Healthcare, U.S. Cellular, Kohler Co. and others.
Executive Vice President
Zeppos & Associates - Public Relations
July 1994 – July 2012 (at which time firm was acquired by Laughlin Constable)
Positions at Company Included:
Vice President
Director of Client Services
Senior Account Executive
Account Executive
Clients represented include MillerCoors, Krispy Kreme, Wisconsin Gas/Guardian Pipeline, 7-Eleven, Eli Lilly, b.d.'s Mongolian Grill, Second Harvest of America, Milwaukee Public Schools and many other businesses and organizations.
Assistant Director of Community Relations
Milwaukee Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
Apr 1992 – July 1994
Hold a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin, with double majors in Journalism and Political Science.
PRSA Accomplishments
Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), SE Wisconsin Chapter - 1992 - present
- Served two terms on the Board of Directors
- Programming Committee member
- Website liaison to the Board, including leading the online launch of all major member services
- PR Pro Day mentor
- Seminar presenter
- Board Nominating Committee member
- Mentor
- PRSA APR Accreditation Volunteer Judge
- PRSA-SE Wisconsin Chapter Paragon Awards Judge (regular judge for more than two decades)
- Counselor’s Academy, National PRSA, member
- Presenter and mentor for Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA)
Governance Skills
I have a variety of governance experience in both my private sector and volunteer roles.
Professionally, I helped start and grow a startup PR firm that grew from 2.5 employees in 1994 to 18 at its largest. My roles were many in that firm, including overseeing policy development and oversight, determining key agency priorities, setting strategic direction and more.
I was also involved in the strategic approach to position for sale and then sell that firm to an integrated agency in 2012. In my new role at the integrated agency, I manage a team of 16 professionals, lead the PR function of the agency, serve on the Leadership Team as well as a number of other key policy and oversight committees.
Via volunteer roles, I have also been responsible for governance and oversight primarily in the board of director and officer positions held. I served the Southeast Wisconsin Chapter of PRSA for two full board terms, assisting the organization through a number of challenges and opportunities. I also served two board terms, including the role of Vice President, for the St. Catherine's High School Foundation. This is a well established non-profit Foundation with assets over $5 million. The Foundation Board was responsible for protecting, investing and using the assets to fullfill its mission to support Catholic schools in my home community.
Leadership Skills
I have served in a number of leadership roles at both agencies where I have worked and in the community in which I live and work.
For good or bad, I live with the philosophy of lead or, please, get out of my way. I am very diplomatic, collaborative and polite (I did say "please), but I also recognize that someone needs to lead. That need not always be me and I welcome and enjoy when someone else takes the lead or roles are divided, but I am not one to sit back and have there be a lack of direction, inspiration or action because no one is leading or everyone is trying to lead. Then I find it necessary to step in or ask or assign someone to do so.
I think strong leadership is a very common characteristic of the most successful PR people I know and with whom I have worked.
I would assume National PRSA Board members join me in seeing the critical need for leadership for our organization and collectively work together to be sure someone is leading, all have the opportunity to lead and all aim to work collaboratively.
Strengths
I have served on several boards of directors previously and I think experience in those roles is valuable for this national PRSA role.
I have also been at a very small start-up PR agency and helped it grow and prosper and sell it, and now I am part of a larger, independent integrated communications firm. I think those experiences and perspectives will be valuable to the board as well as my communications skills, political education and experiences and my commitment to advancing the PR profession.
Additionally, in 2017 I completed a comprehensive Leadership Development Program offered to select Laughlin Constable employees and from there was selected as one of just a few to be further developed for the next level of leadership for the agency. Through that current, advanced, select program, I work with a company-provided but independent leadership coach and mentor to most quickly advance to a higher level of executive leadership.
Volunteer Commitment
This will be the biggest challenge should I be fortunate enough to serve National PRSA.
Certainly, all board members have demanding jobs with day-to-day demands and it will be important for me to prioritize my volunteer role with PRSA.
I currently am not on another board of directors, having recently completed another term, so that is an advantage in seeking this opportunity right now. I also have the support of my employer, Laughlin Constable, as it sees the value in me and our agency being a PR leader representing the Midwest region.
I live and breathe by the motto that "if you want something done, ask someone who is busy" and that is how I seem to have managed prior volunteer roles with full time employment responsibilities.
Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention my amazing family who supports me in such roles.
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?
I couldn't agree more that the most important challenge for current PR professionals is to expand their base of knowledge and interest in broader communications including marketing, analytics, branding and more.
In reading PRSA's 2017-2019 Strategic Plan, I was pleased to see such a focus on encouraging and helping our members broaden those skill sets. The strongest components of the the Strategic Plan to help members do so are:
* Promote Lifelong Learning - The best PR professionals with stellar careers still need to stay fresh and recognize the broadening needs and opportunities of our profession. Often more senior PR practitioners stop attending PRSA meetings as they may feel they don't need the training opportunities, but in today's day and age of a rapid blurring line between PR and all other communications specialties, that need is there now more than ever for longtime practitioners.
* Providing Training in Truly Beneficial Areas - Training PR professionals in data analytics, leading-edge techniques and, especially, consultative selling is important and was good to see. Again, often training is perceived for younger professionals or very tactical, but these skills in particular are key for longer-time professionals who likely didn't have formal analytics training during their education and who can always benefit from others' successes. As an agency leader, I also strongly support training through PRSA to help its members learn how to sell our profession's value and benefits to potential customers as well as to C-suite internal customers.
* Partner with Multi-disciplinary Organizations - I think it is extremely valuable to our members to bring together a number of other marketing and communication specialty organizations for cross training, networking and collaboration. It will be helpful for PRSA members to gain advanced training in areas key to building a broader and current communications expertise, but also important to further promote Public Relations and its art, skill set and professionals to these other organizations and its specialists. No matter how much we have tried over the years, PR is still a fairly vague concept to others and such collaborations help promote the profession.
* Industry Segmentation - I think expanding PRSA's industry segmentations and enhancing those already offered is very wise. I would also encourage an agency segmentation that would be an ideal opportunity and place for such training as consultative sales, broader business acumen in managing the agency, pitching and persuading clients and more.
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?
I believe we do need to stay at the forefront of technology and new advances in communications and ensure our Association and its members embrace those, are leaders in implementing them and remain strategic in how new tools still help us help others protect and enhance their reputation, build meaningful and authentic relationships with their stakeholders, tell stories through credible news sources and provide content of value.
That said, I think there is also a bigger role for PRSA to train leaders and encourage our members to think beyond PR and how PR is the springboard to higher leadership.
I read an interesting article a couple of years ago about an emerging trend of PR and communications being the new pathway to the CEO title - rather than through finance or operations. I have been watching to see that trend take hold in my day-to-day professional life, and I see it starting to happen more and more.
CEOs need to think strategically, be diplomatic, be persuasive, hold high ethics, be trustworthy, build relationships, do what you say and say what you do, be good communicators in all forms, and, did I say, think strategically?
Those are all skills I see as very prevalent in top PR professionals and PRSA plays an important role in furthering those skills for our colleagues.
For example, the APR process is a fine example of developing strategy, placing importance on ethics and excelling at communications. I believe in the APR process very strongly. In fact, through my and others' efforts, encouragement and support, Laughlin Constable has more APRs on staff (4 and one on the way) than any other Wisconsin agency and is in the leading group for all of the Midwest.
I will work hard to further those type of leadership development opportunities, encourage others to volunteer for roles within PRSA locally and nationally and aim to assist local regions and chapters in doing the same.
Kristine Patricia Lueneburg Naidl, APR
Category
Midwest District Director