Ursula Burns

Ursula Burns is the first African American woman to be CEO at a Fortune 500 Company. She is a leading voice in a number of areas, including business, engineering, technology, as well as public communication. Burns has been listed multiple times as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world by Forbes. She was the chairwoman of the board of Xerox Corporation from 2010 to 2017 and chief executive officer from 2009 to 2016 and is a founding partner of Integrum Holdings, a private equity firm.

Sanjay Gupta

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the award-winning chief medical correspondent for CNN and host of the CNN podcast Chasing Life. Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon, plays an integral role in CNN’s reporting on health and medical news for all of CNN’s shows domestically and internationally, and regularly contributes to CNN Digital. Since 2001, Gupta has covered some of the most important health stories in the United States and around the world. He is the host of the CNN audio podcast “Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta."

Kelly McGinnis

Kelly McGinnis oversees communications and media relations at Levi Strauss. She helped found Time to Vote, an initiative that encourages companies to ensure their employees have time off to vote. She also spearheaded Levi’s advocacy for gun violence prevention and reproductive rights. McGinnis has been recognized by PR Week on the U.S. Power List (2019).

Mary Barra

Mary Barra is chair and chief executive officer of General Motors. Barra began her career with GM in 1980 as a co-op student at the Pontiac Motor Division. She is chair of the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies. She serves as the chair and founding member of GM’s inclusion advisory board. Barra also serves on the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company, the Duke University Board of Trustees and the Detroit Economic Club.

Watch Barra's Q&A with Page Center board member Roger Bolton from the 2023 Page Center Awards virtual event.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Barra.

Lester Holt

Lester Holt is the anchor and managing editor of NBC’s flagship broadcast “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.” Holt joined NBC News in 2000. He has served as principal anchor of “Dateline NBC” since September 2011. Most recently, he has conducted interviews with President Joe Biden, former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many more. One of Holt’s trademarks is his on-the-ground reporting and his deep commitment to providing viewers with first-person accounts when disaster and tragedy strikes.

Watch Holt's Q&A with Page Center board chair Bill Nielsen from the 2023 Page Center Awards virtual event.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Holt.

Jon Iwata

Jon Iwata is the founding executive director of the Data & Trust Alliance, a not-for-profit lab that brings together leading businesses to learn, develop, and adopt responsible data and AI practices. He is also the practice leader of the recently-established Program on Stakeholder Innovation and Management at the Yale School of Management, where he is an executive fellow and lecturer. Over a 35-year career at IBM, Iwata held multiple roles, including senior vice president and chief brand officer. According to Interbrand, IBM became the second most valuable brand in the world during Iwata’s tenure as CMO. Iwata is also a former advisory board member of the Page Center.

Watch Iwata's Q&A with Page Center board member Aedhmar Hynes from the 2023 Page Center Awards virtual event.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Iwata.

Christiane Amanpour

Christiane Amanpour is chief international anchor of CNN’s award-winning, flagship global affairs program "Amanpour," which also airs on PBS. She is based in the network's London bureau. Amanpour's fearless and uncompromising approach made her popular with audiences, and a force to be reckoned with by global influencers. She has become a trusted voice in journalism and has been recognized for coverage of many historic events over her near 40-year career, including the Gulf War, the trial of Saddam Hussein, genocide in Bosnia and the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Watch Amanpour's Q&A with Page Center board member Suki Dardarian from the 2022 Page Center Awards virtual event.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Amanpour.

Kenneth Chenault

Ken Chenault is the chairman and a managing director of the venture capital firm, General Catalyst. Prior to joining General Catalyst, Chenault was chairman and chief executive officer of American Express, a position he held from 2001 - 2018. Upon Chenault’s retirement from American Express, Warren Buffett, the company’s largest shareholder stated, “Ken's been the gold standard for corporate leadership and the benchmark that I measure others against.” At General Catalyst, Chenault focuses on investing in fast-growing companies that have the potential to become large, fundamental institutions. He also provides invaluable guidance to portfolio companies, particularly to those with an eye towards global markets and responsible innovation, as they scale their teams and products.

Watch Chenault's Q&A with Jon Iwata, founding executive director of the Data & Trust Alliance, from the 2022 Page Center Awards virtual event.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Chenault.

Andy Polansky

Andy Polansky is the chairman and chief executive officer of IPG DXTRA, a global collective of  marketing services and public relations firms that includes Weber Shandwick, Golin, Rogers & Cowan PMK and FutureBrand.  Polansky also is executive chairman of Weber Shandwick, after serving as CEO from 2012 to 2019.  Under his leadership, Weber Shandwick was named Agency of the Decade by PRovoke Media and was PR Week’s Global Agency of the Year from 2015 to 2018. Polansky has a passion for engaging with students and young professionals as they plan their careers and is a trusted global leader in the public relations industry.

Watch Polansky's Q&A with Page Center advisory board member John Onoda from the 2022 Page Center Awards virtual event.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Polansky.

Anthony Fauci

Dr. Anthony Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, where he oversees an extensive research portfolio focused on infectious and immune-mediated diseases. As the long-time chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, Dr. Fauci has made many seminal contributions in basic and clinical research and is one of the world’s most-cited biomedical scientists. He was one of the principal architects of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program that has saved millions of lives throughout the developing world.

Watch Dr. Fauci's Q&A with Page Center advisory board chariman Bill Nielsen from the 2021 Page Center Awards virtual event.

Bill Heyman

Bill is founder and CEO of Heyman Associates. He has been responsible for filling top communications roles for some of the most recognized brands in the world, including leading corporations, foundations, academic institutions, and professional associations. Heyman and the firm have affiliate firms across the globe. With his diverse network and passion for the work of executive search, Heyman sets the example for Heyman Associates in building top-performing communications teams.

Watch Heyman's Q&A with Page Center advisory board member Charlene Wheeless from the 2021 Page Center Awards virtual event.

Eugene Robinson

A 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner, Eugene Robinson has been a journalistic force since starting his career at the San Francisco Chronicle 40 years ago. He worked his way up the ranks at the Washington Post to his current position as associate editor and columnist. His columns are syndicated to more than 260 newspapers. He also contributes to NBC News and many MSNBC programs as a chief political analyst. In 2011, Robinson was elected to the Pulitzer Prize board and served as its chair from 2017 to 2018.

Watch Robinson's Q&A with Page Center advisory board member Sandra Clark from the 2021 Page Center Awards virtual event.

Judy Woodruff

Woodruff has been a steady and trusted voice among a chaotic media landscape for decades. When her career began, she was a woman in an industry of men. Over that time, she and other notable women journalists, blazed a trail by committing to strong journalism that built trust among colleagues, but more importantly viewers. A sign of trust across party lines, Woodruff has moderated several debates for both the Democratic and Republican parties. She has been a PBS Newshour anchor since 2010 and its managing editor since 2013.

Woodruff co-anchored PBS Newshour with Gwen Ifill, who posthumously received a Larry Foster Award in 2018. Woodruff shared remarks about her colleague and friend in a video at that year’s event.

Watch Woodruff's Q&A with Page Center advisory board member Gary Sheffer from the 2021 Page Center Awards virtual event.

Gene Foreman

Gene Foreman spent 25 years out of his 41-year career as a journalist at The Philadelphia Inquirer. He served as executive editor, managing editor and deputy editor. During this time, the Inquirer received 18 Pulitzer Prizes and, even now, is referred to as its “heyday” for the amount of talent and reliability within its journalism and reporting. Foreman’s journalism career began at the age of 13, as a correspondent for the Phillips County Herald in his hometown in rural Arkansas. After returning from the Army, his career continued at the Arkansas Gazette in 1957. After his time with the Gazette, Foreman worked with numerous publications such as The New York Times, Pine Bluff Commercial, Arkansas Democrat and, as executive news director, at Newsday. Following his journalism career, Foreman became a member of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications faculty at Penn State. Foreman was a part of the Penn State family from 1999 to 2006. He taught classes on journalism ethics, winning two awards for teaching and another recognition for the contributions he made to the college.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Foreman.

Ginger Hardage

Ginger Hardage spent the last 25 years of her career at Southwest Airlines as senior vice president of culture and communications and a member of the CEO’s executive leadership team before her retirement. During her time at Southwest, Hardage was seen as one of the strongest female figures at the company. She led a team of 150 people in building and sustaining the company’s culture and enterprise along with launching her own brand, Unstoppable Cultures, that helps companies achieve their goals of creating and sustaining a company culture. Hardage was recognized for her hard work numerous times throughout her career: An induction into the Public Relations Hall of Fame, one of Texas’ Most Powerful and Influential Women, “Legendary Communicator” coined by Southern Methodist University, and multiple spots on PRWeek’s Top 50 Power list and 50 Most Powerful Women in Public Relations are among some of the recognitions Hardage earned. Currently, she serves as a trustee on the global board of Ronald McDonald House Charities and serves on the board of The Trinity Park Conservancy. She was recently appointed president of the Trinity Commons Foundation.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Hardage.

Tom Kean

Tom Kean’s political career started in 1967 when he was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly. Kean’s interest in politics goes all the way back to his visit to the 1948 Republic National Convention. He soon after began to write a semi-weekly political column for his school newspaper called “Sound and Fury.” In 1981, with an endorsement from Gerald Ford, Tom Kean was elected the governor of New Jersey. He won the closest gubernatorial election in New Jersey history. By the time he ran again in 1985, Kean won by the largest margin in state history and gaining 70 percent of the vote. After his time as New Jersey governor, Kean was appointed as president of Drew University where he focused on upgrading the facilities and academic programs. During his time at Drew University, Kean involved himself in national politics. In 2002, Kean was selected to lead the 9/11 Commission, which was responsible for a detailed overview of how the United States prepared and responded to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Kean.

Dean Baquet

Dean Baquet is the executive editor at The New York Times. Baquet got his start at his hometown afternoon newspaper, The States-Item. The paper was later absorbed by the Times-Picayune. Six years later he joined the Chicago Tribune. Baquet led a team of reporters at the Tribune to a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism after exposing deep corruption within the Chicago city council. Baquet joined The New York Times as a metro reporter in 1990 and became national editor in 1995. Ten years later he became the managing editor at The Los Angeles Times. In 2005, he became the first African-American journalist to lead a top U.S. newspaper when the LA Times promoted him to editor. He re-joined The New York Times in 2007. He was promoted to executive editor in 2014 making him the first African-American to serve in the Times’ top newsroom position in the newspaper’s 163-year history.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Baquet.

Marilyn Laurie

Marilyn Laurie became the highest-ranking woman in AT&T history when she was promoted to executive vice president in 1987. She joined the global company in 1971 after playing a major part in the inaugural Earth Day celebration in New York City. As a part of the organizing committee, Laurie helped convince the mayor of New York to shut down Fifth Avenue in 1970. Since then, Earth Day has become an annual event celebrated worldwide. Laurie built a sterling career that launched her into the upper echelon of public communications. Her skills could not be ignored as she quickly rose in the ranks at AT&T from speechwriter to senior vice president. In 1987, she became the first woman to join AT&T’s 10-person executive committee. She was the first woman elected to the Arthur W. Page Society Hall of Fame and she was on the “most influential” lists of many publications and organizations. Laurie was an avid philanthropist and was committed to public service. She died in 2010.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Laurie.

Jack Rowe

Jack Rowe had an illustrious career in corporate communications as a leading CEO in the healthcare industry. From 1988 to 1998, prior to the Mount Sinai-NYU Health merger, Rowe was president of the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. From 1998 to 2000, Rowe served as president and CEO of Mount Sinai NYU Health, one of the nation's largest academic health care organizations. From 2000 until late 2006, Rowe was chairman and CEO of Aetna, Inc., one of the nation's leading health care and related benefits organizations. During his tenure he transformed Aetna’s business model and culture with a focus on empowering physicians, enabling patients to achieve health and financial security, before retiring in 2006. Business Week named him “Manager of the Year” in 2005. The Smithsonian Institute, in association with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, awarded Rowe the Corporate Citizenship Award in 2006.

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Rowe.

Bill George

Bill George is a senior fellow at Harvard Business School, a bestselling author and the former chief executive officer of Medtronic. He is known for teaching and exemplifying a leadership style that is authentic, thoughtful and ethical. George started his career as assistant to assistant secretary of defense for the U.S. Department of Defense. There, he also served as special assistant to secretary of Navy before moving to Litton Industries where he served as director of strategic planning and president of Litton Microwave Cooking. George accepted a role of president in 1989 and eventually became Medtronic, Inc.’s chief executive officer two years later. He led Medtronic for 10 years, building a reputation for demonstrating strong leadership and integrity. He has written several bestselling books including True North, Discover Your True North, Authentic Leadership and 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis.

View Bill George's acceptance speech at the 2018 Page Center Awards. [Transcript]

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about George.

Gwen Ifill

Prior to moderating the vice presidential debates in 2004, journalist Gwen Ifill had spent 23 years building her reputation as a knowledgeable, pioneering and ethical journalist. Thanks to her career-long commitment to the craft, few doubted her ability to be objective when she became the first African-American woman to moderate a VP debate. She would go on to host the 2008 debate as well. Between 1981 and 1994, she worked her way from the Baltimore Evening Sun to The Washington Post to The New York Times, where she covered the White House. She joined NBC as a Capitol Hill reporter in 1994 and moved to PBS in 1999, where she became the first African-American woman to host a national political talk show, Washington Week in Review. At PBS, she was a senior correspondent for PBS NewsHour. Ifill died of cancer in 2016.

View long-time friend Lisa Davis deliver an accecptance speech for Gwen Ifill. [Transcript]

Watch PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff share stories and thoughts about Ifill.

John Onoda

John Onoda built a reputation of being a provocative, yet ethical leader in the corporate communications field. Onoda’s career began in 1977 as a journalist for the Omaha World-Herald. He switched to corporate communications leading departments at major companies such as Levi Strauss, General Motors, Visa USA and Charles Schwab. He then worked for FleishmanHillard as a senior consultant. In 2018, he joined the strategy execution firm Gagen MacDonald. Onoda founded Dozen Best books, a passion project fueled by his love of reading, in 2015.

View John Onoda's acceptance speech at the 2018 Page Center Awards. [Transcript]

Listen to colleagues share thoughts and stories about Onoda.

Ann Barkelew

Over her 35-year career, Ann Barkelew has gained experience in public, private and international sectors. Today, she remains a prominent leader in the corporate public relations world with a commitment to maintaining integrity in all aspects of her work. She is the founding general manager of the Minnesota office of FleishmanHillard, a global public relations firm. Barkelew was vice president of corporate public relations for the Dayton Hudson Corporation from 1981 to 1994 where she supervised all internal and external communication. Before her time at Dayton Hudson, she established a new corporate program as the vice president of corporate affairs for Munsingwear, Inc. She also served as the chief public relations officer for the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

View Ann Barkelew's acceptance speech at the 2017 Page Center Awards. [Transcript]

Listen to Barkelew share her thoughts about making connections and the role of integrity in public relations. 

Dick Martin

Dick Martin is the former executive vice president of public relations for AT&T and chairman of the AT&T Foundation. He has written several books, many on ethics in the industry, including “Tough Calls: AT&T and the Hard Lessons Learned from the Telecom Wars” and “OtherWise: The Wisdom You Need to Succeed in a Diverse and Divisive World.” He has also co-authored other books and has published articles in such publications as the Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive and the Journal of Business Strategy.

View Dick Martin's acceptance speech at the 2017 Page Center Awards. [Transcript]

Listen to Martin share his thoughts about integrity and the importance of media literacy. 

Alan Murray

As chief content officer, Alan Murray oversees editorial policies and standards at Time Inc. He is responsible for the media company’s commitment to quality journalism and storytelling. Murray also serves as editor-in-chief of Fortune magazine, where he oversees print and digital operations. Before joining Time Inc., Murray was president of the Pew Research Center and spent two decades at the Wall Street Journal in positions that included deputy managing editor and executive editor, online. Murray has also authored four books, including “The Wall Street Journal Guide to Management” and “Showdown at Gucci Gulch.”

View Alan Murray's acceptance speech at the 2017 Page Center Awards. [Transcript]

Listen to Murray share his thoughts about truth and the role of journalism in the modern era.