The Seminar

The Seminar has been described by O'Dwyers PR Daily as an "annual gathering of heads of blue chip corporate PR depts. and about a dozen CEOs of major PR firms." In promotional material it describes itself as the "premiere organization of senior business executives recognized for leadership in communications and PR," and that members "interact as an informal network for the exchange of high value information."

O'Dwyer's reported that the Seminar's annual four day meetings are held at "many of the finest resorts in the U.S. (the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara, Calif., was the scene of the 2007 meeting), are highly secretive. Members are warned that if they report any of the doings to the press they will be banned for life. Paid speakers, including academics and editors and columnists from major media such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fortune, Forbes and Business Week, also swear not to write about Seminar. Corporate communications executives usually have control of the corporate ad budget. With attendance of more than 300 (including spouses) upwards of $750,000 and more is spent on the meeting each year including registration costing several thousand dollars."

Editors and Columnists Attend --- But Don't Report
In a November 2007 commentary column, O'Dwyer's made the telling point that "powerful editors and columnists speak at Seminar but they never mention the group in their media ... Why do the NYT, Washington Post and WSJ skip coverage of Seminar? Are they afraid of losing corporate ads?" It listed those who have attended events as including:


 * John Huey, editor-in-chief of Time, Inc., and former editor of Fortune (2006);
 * Robert Bartley, editor emeritus, Wall Street Journal (WSJ);
 * Peter Kann when he was president and publisher of the WSJ;
 * Paul Steiger, WSJ managing editor from 1991 to May 2007 and now editor-at-large;
 * John Geddes, when he was financial editor, New York Times (he is now one of two managing editors);
 * Matthew Bishop, U.S. editor, The Economist;
 * Sam Donaldson, ABC-TV News;
 * Bill Raspberry, Washington Post;
 * Stephen Shepard when he was editor-in-chief of Business Week;
 * Marvin Stone, editor, U.S. News & World Report;
 * Stanley Bing, Fortune columnist (alias Gil Schwartz of CBS PR);
 * John Stossell, ABC News;
 * Bob Schieffer, CBS News;
 * Campbell Brown, "The Today Show";
 * Lionel Barber, U.S. managing editor, Financial Times; and
 * William Schneider, political correspondent, CNN.

Other media movers and shakers listed as attending the 2006 annual seminar event, held at the Ritz-Carlton at Half Moon Bay in California in late May,
 * Adrian Wooldridge, Washington Bureau Chief, The Economist (2006)
 * Simon Walker, Reuters Group
 * Tom Brokaw, NBC News Special Correspondent
 * Lionel Barber, U.S. Managing Editor of the Financial Times
 * John Hunt, Financial Times
 * Campbell Brown, Co-Anchor "Today" Weekend Edition

Name Change
In November 2007 O'Dwyer's reported that the group had decided to change its name from PR Seminar to simply "The Seminar" and drop any reference to PR altogether.

New Members Admitted in 2007
The total membership of the group is capped at 200 O'Dwyer's also reported that in 2007 33 new members were admitted to the group. These were:
 * Shelly Ann Bird, chief communications officer, NCR Corp.
 * Michael Busselen, VP, corporate communications, Solectron Corp.
 * Fred Cook, president and CEO, Golin Harris
 * Tim Cost, listed as with Aramark as XVP, corporate affairs, although he has left Aramark
 * Donna Cox, VP, comms., MeadWestvaco
 * Debra DeCourcy, VP-CC, Fifth Third Bank
 * Valerie DiMaria, Willis Group Holdings, London-based insurance brokerage
 * Frances Emerson, VP-CC, Deere
 * Kimberley Goode, VP-CC, Visteon
 * Mark Hass, CEO, Manning, Selvage & Lee
 * Denise Hill, VP-C, Quest Diagnostics
 * Kathleen Lawler, VP-C, Harley-Davidson
 * Mary Linder, SVP, corporate brand & communications, Northwest Airlines
 * Gerard Mauchner, director and VP-comms. & PA, Eastman Kodak Co.
 * Anne Nobles, VP, corp. affairs, Eili Lilly
 * Thomas Noland, SVP-CC, Humana
 * Helen Ostrowski, Global CEO, Porter Novelli
 * Andrew Polansky, pres., Weber Shandwick Worldwide
 * Bonnie Racquet, corp. VP, PA, Cargill
 * Steven Rautenberg, SVP, CC, NY Life Ins.
 * Chip Rouse, VP, U.S. comms., Sanofi-Aventis
 * D’Arcy Rudnay, VP-CC, Comcast Corp.
 * Robert Sherbin, VP, external comms., Hewlett-Packard Co.
 * John Spelich, VP-CC, Walt Disney Internet Group
 * Michael Stewart, dir., external rels., McKinsey
 * Jessica Stoltenberg, VP-CC, Wyeth
 * Mary Stutts, sr. dir., CC, Genentech
 * Daniel Tarman, mng. dir., CC, Countrywide
 * Loretta Ucelli, SVP-CC, Pfizer
 * Melissa Zorkin, pres., Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
 * Ann Marchant, CEO, Walker Merchant Group
 * Robert Wynn, VP, global CC, Oracle

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