PRSA’s new CEO sees opportunities amid challenges of 2021

It’s an incredible time to be a communicator.

That’s the chief message of the new CEO for the Public Relations Society of America, as she enters her new role leading the organization in what might be a turning point for the history of modern communications. In the throes of the worst public health crisis in a generation and days after a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol building, Linda Thomas Brooks sees the role of the communicator as an essential, even sacred duty.

How communication grows and is handled is an important societal issue, she says. In her view, the PR industry is “positioned to have an outsized impact” on the events of the coming years. It’s something that she sees as a reason to be excited about the future of PRSA and the communications industry at large.

“I’m very focused on media literacy and the impacts of mis/dis information; staying on top of that will take constant innovation and will be critical to the healthy evolution of the communications community,” she said in press release. “The work and output of PR and communications professionals can quite literally be life changing. I consider it an enormous challenge and privilege to work with the industry’s leaders on this and other critical issues.”