2022 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Dawn Doty, APR | Teaching Associate Professor, University of Colorado Boulder
Dawn Doty, APR, joined the University of Colorado Boulder as a full-time public relations instructor in 2016 and helped to establish CU’s first-ever PRSSA chapter. In 2021, she received PRSA’s Outstanding Educator Award. In 2022, she was promoted to Teaching Associate Professor.
During her professional career, Dawn had a track record of achieving results in corporate, agency and nonprofit work environments including management positions in Chicago, San Francisco and Colorado for several global public relations firms, Orbitz, and Breckenridge and Keystone Ski Resorts. Before transitioning to CU Boulder, she was a partner with Denver-based Linhart PR where her clients included Chipotle, Crocs, Rudi’s Organic Bakery, Southwest Airlines and the U.S. Air Force Academy, to name a few.
She is a longtime judge of PRSA’s Silver Anvil Awards. More recently, Dawn added judging responsibilities for PRSSA’s Bateman Case Study Competition, and PR Week’s Outstanding Student and Purpose Awards. Dawn is a career-long member of PRSA which includes leadership roles with the Chicago and Colorado chapters, and the Western District board.
She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Dayton where she was a member of the university’s PRSSA chapter. She earned her graduate degree in 2014 from Johns Hopkins University.
Dawn lives in Boulder with her husband, Matt.
2022 PUBLIC RELATIONS PERSON OF THE YEAR
Jacqueline K. Clark, MPR, APR, Fellow PRSA | Government Relations & Public Affairs at HolcimUS
Jacqueline K. Clark, MPA, APR, Fellow PRSA, is Holcim’s West Regional Government Relations and Public Affairs leader. Clark directs the company’s public and government affairs as well as political action, community relations and crisis management programs. Her career spans five decades in category-leading companies as well as public sector experience.
Her leadership aided the success of boards of directors for public relations, business, civic, arts, education, health and human services organizations. She is the only person in America to have served on the boards of directors of the Public Relations Society of America, the Public Affairs Council and the State Government Affairs Council. She became the first woman to chair a Portland Cement Association committee. Clark has served in leadership capacities with four states’ chambers of commerce. She led the international Mizzou Alumni Association as its president.
Clark has been honored for her business and nonprofit accomplishments having earned the Portland Cement Association’s top industry advocacy award, a National Association of Manufacturers’ STEP AHEAD Award, Hope House Everyday Heroes Award; Greater Kansas City PRSA Chapter PR Professional of the Year; Eastern Jackson County (Missouri) Women of Distinction Award and the Colorado Contractors Association recognized her as a “Women in Construction Waymaker.”
Learning has been a lifelong commitment for Clark. In 2010, she was inducted into the PRSA College of Fellows, which represents the top two percent of PRSA’s 20,000 members. She earned her Accreditation in Public Relations in 2002. Clark completed both the inaugural SGAC state government relations certificate and its advanced certificate program. Clark earned the Public Affairs Council PAC and Grassroots certificate and its Public Affairs Management certificate. During her service as an elected director and vice president for her alma mater school district, Lee’s Summit R-VII School District Board of Education, she became the school district’s only director to achieve the Missouri School Board Association’s top certification.
2022 MENTOR OF THE YEAR
Cori Pope | President & Founder, Keeton Public Relations
Cori Pope is founder and president of Keeton Public Relations. Based in Denver, Colorado, she has more than 25 years of experience helping consumer brands, business-to-business companies, nonprofits and organizations of all types and sizes, from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, get their stories out into the world through public relations.
As president and founder of Keeton PR, Cori leads a team of talented public relations practitioners. As someone who is passionate about the power of public relations, she works day in and day out developing and delivering public relations programs that help clients meet their business goals.
Although her experience includes writing for and working with some of the world's largest and most well-respected media outlets, Cori’s skills – and the services offered by Keeton PR - have also evolved to meet clients' changing needs over the past two decades. This now includes everything from media training and traditional media relations, to blog and influencer relations, to social media strategy and implementation.
Prior to founding Keeton PR in 2004, Cori served as an account manager for Barnhart/CMI. Before Barnhart, she worked for software company Quark, Inc., home healthcare equipment provider Sunrise Medical, and Des Moines, Iowa-based Metro Waste Authority. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. She resides in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two teenage daughters.
2022 CHAPTER SERVICE
Shannon Hughes | Account Supervisor, Linhart Public Relations
Shannon is a strategic thinker and problem-solver with expertise in social media marketing, media relations and influencer marketing, and stakeholder engagement and advocacy communications. She provides strategic guidance, innovative solutions and creative ideas to help meet client goals, whether it’s to achieve regulatory approval of an energy and utility project or to secure media coverage of a new relocation management service. Outside of the office, you'll likely find Shannon reading on her front porch or up in the mountains skiing
2022 ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Nora Thomas | Founder & President, Nora Thomas Ltd.
As a Colorado native with a strong familiarity of the Denver market, over the last year Nora braved the leap and started her own marketing, PR and consulting business at the age of 25 called Nora Thomas Ltd. Today, she is working with some of the most influential and impactful local ventures focusing on women-owned businesses in the wellness and coaching space. Her scope of work ranges from marketing on social media and paid ads to community partnerships, to business development. In Nora's experience thus far, she has made meaningful connections for all of her clients and has created relationships with over 30 businesses in the Denver area from higher education and nonprofits to the Cannabis industry. Immersing herself in these ventures has given her the confidence to prove her skills when helping businesses reach their goals and connect with the Denver community simultaneously. She works to help clients focus on social responsibility in some aspects and as of lately, has been focusing on how she can support her clients in giving back to the community. Human connection is truly what fuels her business and creating this space for dialogue and growth has been her favorite part of the journey. To connect with Nora, visit norathomasltd.com.
2022 BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR
Joelle Martinez | President and CEO, Latino Leadership Institute
Joelle is a nationally recognized executive, strategist, speaker, and facilitator. A visionary leader, Joelle dedicates her life to helping cross-sector leaders realize their individual potential as well as the economic and social opportunities presented by an increasingly diverse U.S. populace. Prior to the LLI, Joelle spent more than 15 years building winning communications, business development, and public affairs strategies in both the private and public sectors. Joelle is a subject matter expert in Neuroleadership, Latino identity, civic engagement, workplace diversity and inclusion, and demographic shifts. In 2017, Joelle was named one of the most powerful women by the Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce. In 2019, she received the NFL Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award for her outstanding contributions to the Latino community. She currently serves on the Hispanic Advisory Council for Coca-Cola and has served on boards, advisory councils, and executive committees for Mile High United Way, Building Better Colorado, Museum of Nature and Science, Denver 7 Colorado, Prosper Colorado, and many more. Joelle is a member of the NeuroLeadership Institute and is a certified practitioner of both Insights Discovery® and i4®.
2022 TEAM OF THE YEAR
Denver Water Public Affairs
Denver Water’s Public Affairs vision is: To inspire trust in us and a personal commitment to water.
Denver Water’s Public Affairs connects water, the lifeblood of our community, to the people we serve through media relations, social media, marketing, web development, internal communications, government affairs, community relations and youth education for Colorado’s oldest and largest water provider, responsible for ensuring 1.5 million people in the Denver area always have clean, reliable, great-tasting water.
We believe life is better with water, and we aim to make that connection for people day in and day out.
In 2021, the team focused its efforts on communicating with Denver Water’s customers, stakeholders, partners and employees about crucial projects, like the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project, an integral part of the water puzzle in the Denver metro area, instilling behavior change from more than 100,000 people through the Lead Reduction Program’s outreach and education initiative, and continuing to create a generation of informed, prepared and efficient water users through relevant and dynamic engagement and learning opportunities.
2022 NEWSPERSON OF THE YEAR
Anusha Roy | Multimedia Journalist/Anchor, Channel 9 KUSA-TV
Anusha Roy is an Anchor and Reporter at 9NEWS in Denver, Colorado. She joined 9NEWS in December 2016 and has previously worked in Washington, Idaho and Texas.
Anusha started her career in the Tri-Cities and in the shadow of the Hanford Nuclear Site covered fears of nuclear debris reaching Washington following a massive tsunami that hit Japan. During her work in Spokane, Anusha found herself digging into an environmental controversy that pitted supporters of endangered wildlife against communities that depend on logging to survive. She then moved back to Seattle, her hometown, to work as a writer and associate producer for KIRO-TV before moving to Texas. In San Antonio, she worked to raise awareness about sex trafficking, reported in Waco after a biker shoot-out resulted in 177 arrests and nine deaths. In addition, Anusha anchored the Saturday morning news. She received the Excellence in Media Award from the Texas Veterans Commission.
As she worked toward her journalism degree at the University of Washington, she co-produced and filmed a documentary on arranged marriages that was screened at the Independent South Asian Film Festival in Seattle. She also narrated the award-winning documentary Threads. The film is about a Bangladeshi artist who taught a type of quilting that turned into a livelihood for hundreds of destitute women.
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