Islander makes history
Rod Stanley first person from this province to receive prestigious PR designation
For the first time in its 70 year history, the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) has added an Islander to its prestigious College of Fellows. Rod Stanley, a project manager with Health P.E.I., will receive the designation at the society’s national conference in Charlottetown in May. Founded in 1948, the CPRS is a not-for-profit organization whose 2,500 members are engaged in the practice, management or teaching of public relations and communications. Stanley, a 20-year member of the society, has served on its national board for 10 years, from 1998 to 2008.
He is the former president of CPRS P.E.I. and held the national board positions of vice-president, treasurer and secretary.
He also chaired the events committee for the CPRS national conference held in Charlottetown in 2003 and is the current chair of the local advisory committee for the association’s
national conference, Connexions 2018, this May. The Charlottetown native has worked in several communication management roles in the not-for-profit sector, health care, education and the federal government and is a former
freelance journalist with CBC Radio in Charlottetown. Stanley said he was approached by a board member of the College of Fellows to apply for the designation and was pleased upon hearing the news he was selected.
“I’m very honoured to get the designation,” he said. “In P.E.I., we often wonder if we can stand up to the big city folks, and we can. We’re mighty and proud here.”
Not only is Stanley the sole Islander to achieve this designation, he was the only Canadian this year to be selected.
“It’s been such a confidence builder to know that you’re benchmarked against the best in the country.”
Stanley originally worked on the frontlines of the public relations field before moving into more of an engagement-focused role with Health P.E.I., where his work specializes in internal and external stakeholder engagement and program and service planning consultation. “Engagement is such an important part of the PR field these days. It used to be just one way (dialogue), and now we’re trying to do the dialogue so we’re hearing the patient voice or the client voice.” Other important aspects of PR are building credibility and ethics, he said, adding the image of PR and the reality of PR are often quite different.
“There’s bad apples out there and people that do ‘fake news’ and all those things that you’re hearing. And then there’s the people who are truly in it with the ethics that you need to do the profession well.”