The Executive Board is composed of eight students who work with the members to run a successful PRSSA chapter. Student officers volunteer their time and work closely with a faculty adviser and two professional advisers to run every element of our organization. Elections are held every April and are open to all students.
Abram Jones, President
Abram Jones is a proud Burley, Idaho native. He enjoys the study of public relations and is in his second semester in the program and his second year serving on the E-board for BYU PRSSA. Last year he served as the VP of Fundraising. He is also an avid follower of politics and is pursuing a minor in political science. He enjoys working with nonprofits and political groups and has experience with both. He has volunteered for two presidential campaigns and completed an internship at a chamber of commerce. He hopes to make a career in the nonprofit sector and is excited to become more prepared to do so through opportunities for learning at BYU, especially PRSSA.
Eric Lafferty, Vice President of Public Relations
Eric is a senior from sunny Valencia, California. Eric started his college career at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. While attending Snow, he took a introduction to PR course and the rest is history. He served as VP of the Communication Club at Snow and is a member of Sigma Chi Eta, the official community college honor society of the National Communication Society. He transferred to BYU in the fall of 2008 and plans to graduate in December 2010 with an unprecedented 190 credits! He is currently an account executive for the Bradley Agency and loves the challenges it brings everyday. When he is not working in PR, he enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife Kendra, fishing, watching movies, longboarding and snowboarding. Upon completion of his degree, he will be pursuing a masters degree in Public Administration.
Hilarie Laukat, Vice President of Professional Development
Hilarie Laukat has always had a love for writing and a passion for the performing arts. She hopes to one day practice PR in the entertainment and music products industries. Over the past several years, she has had the opportunity to attend music trade shows and contribute to promotional efforts for an international musical instrument manufacturing company. In July 2007, she served as culutural ambassador for the City of Sandy, Utah, visiting Sandy's German sister city, Riesa, and later coordinating travel plans, valley tours and performance schedules for the Riesa youth band's visit to Utah. This summer she is interning with the Utah Symphony and Opera assisting with events planning, marketing, publications and media relations for the Deer Vally Music Festival in Park City, Utah. Hilarie hopes that as this year's VP of Professional Development, she can help PRSSA students prepare to secure internships and graduate with marketable skills, professional connections and an understanding of why they are so important.
Boston Blake, Vice President of Membership
"PRSSA and Bradley have given me many opportunities to network with professionals in the area, to learn from mentors, and to gain valuable experience." - Boston Blake
Scott Christofferson, Vice President of Community Relations
Ryan Bytheway, Vice President of Finance
Ryan hails from Glenwood, Utah. His quaint hometown has a population of approximately 450 people, and it was in this humble abode that Ryan learned the importance of open communication. As the sixth cousin of humorous motivator John Bytheway, Ryan has also deveoped a dry sense of humor that those who know him best say eclipses John's sense of humor. Ryan is currently involved with Habitat for Humanity and is exploring options for a summer internship. He hopes to graduate in Decemebr 2010.
Laura Peers, Vice President of Fundraising
Laura Peers is a senior from just outside of San Francisco, California. She will be starting her second semester in the public relations program this fall and her second year on the BYU PRSSA executive board; she served last year as VP of Membership. Laura plans to minor in management. Laura had an internship with the Orem Owlz minor league baseball team and is hoping to pursue her career in sports PR. She has just finished a summer internship with the Stanford University Athletic Department. Laura is currently working for Bradley PR and has found that she has a true passion for public relations. Laura loves to wakeboard, snowboard and go to home to California to spend time with her family. She hopes to one day end up in New York or back in San Francisco. Laura looks forward to another great year serving with PRSSA.
Lauren Lytle, "The Professional" Editor-in-Chief
Lauren Lytle is a junior majoring in communications with a public relations emphasis with a minor in psychology. She is from Sammamish, Washington and misses the trees, lakes and rain while she is away from home. Lauren is the oldest of four children and enjoys reading, singing, dancing, learning and serving. Since arriving at BYU, Lauren has volunteered to do PR for three campus organizations. As a freshman, she handled all of the PR for the Residence Halls Association. Lauren is currently the Executive Director of Public Relations for BYUSA, where planning and conducting focus groups, coordinating with local media and working on general PR campaigns has provided her with valuable hands-on experience. She has been a member of PRSSA since winter 2008 and previously wrote for The Professional. Lauren loves PR because of the many opportunities there are to serve others while still accomplishing corporate goals.
Susan Walton, Faculty Adviser
Susan Balcom Walton, associate professor of communications and associate chair of BYU's Department of Communications, is the BYU PRSSA faculty advisor. Professor Walton comes to BYU with nearly 20 years of corporate communication and public relations experience in Fortune 500 companies. After holding a full-time, tenure-track assistant professorship in English and professional communications at Monroe Community College, State University of New York, she joined the Dow Chemical Company. While at Dow, Walton held a variety of communications positions, including a two-year assignment in Switzerland as the communications leader for Dow's plastics businesses. She subsequently joined Boise Cascade Corporation as the company's director of corporate communications, where she oversaw the company's rebranding efforts and directed the company-wide communications for Boise's acquisition of OfficeMax. Most recently, she served as director of Corporate Communication at Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Walton has served on a number of nonprofit boards and was a 2003 recipient of Idaho's tribute to Women in Industry award. Her research interests include employee engagement, financial communications and disclosure issues, and PR ethics. Walton received a bachelor's degree in independent studies and a master's degree in English from BYU. She is currently chair of PRSA's national member research task force. Walton and her husband, Mark, are parents of three daughters and grandparents of five.
Jeff DuBois, Professional Adviser
Jeff DuBois is the current manager of the Bradley Public Relations Lab and teaches the writing and production class in the PR sequence here at BYU. He comes from the agency public relations community were he served as media/analyst relations specialist for clients in the wireless/telecom industry. Jeff provided senior counsel and PR strategy implementation for such clients as IBM Pervasive Computing, IBM Microelectronics, various wireless and mobile computing companies including AirPrime Inc., and brand transition support for MediaOne and AT&T Broadband. He is also a licensed principla broker in the state of Utah and owns a real estate brokerage in Salt Lake City. He has been married to Bonnie DuBois for nine years and they have three children.
Mike Judson, Professional Adviser
Mike Judson is currently a manager in the Area Relations Division of LDS Church Public Affairs. While studying for his BA degree in Communications from BYU (Public Relations ‘87), Judson began a career in high-tech public relations which lasted nearly 15 years at various companies including Novell, Folio and Ancestry.com. In October 2000 he joined LDS Church Public Affairs where he has been primarily involved in providing support and/or on-site training to public affairs workers throughout Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands, and along the west coast of the United States and Canada. A native of northern California, Mike is a prior president of the Association of Latter-day Saint Public Relations Professionals and a current board member of the LDS International Society. Mike and his wife Debbie are the parents of five children, two of whom are current BYU students. He is also an avid distance runner and gardener.
This is our second year in a row with two BYU students serving on the PRSSA National Committee. These positions are competed for by students from schools across the country and are elected in March at National Assembly. We are excited to be so well represented on the national level and allow BYU students more opportunities to get involved through FORUM and national committees.
Vice President of Internships/Jobs Services
Michael J. Wilson, 2009–2010 vice president of internships and jobs, is a senior studying French and public relations. Wilson has held multiple internships and cultivated a wide variety of work experiences. Summer 2008, he worked as a communications intern at the Scottish Parliament with the Scottish National Party's Press and Research Office in Edinburgh. Fall 2008, Wilson interned with Collins & Associates, a large, California-based insurance company, where he worked with other communications students to generate business proposals and develop communications strategies for the growing company. During the 2008-2009 school year, Wilson also worked as an account executive with Bradley Public Relations. As an account executive, he directed account efforts for the Utah Department of Transportation, BYU’s Department of Communications and Lincoln Academy.
Wilson currently works as a public relations intern with the Brigham Young University College of Fine Arts and Communications where he serves on multiple college committees and oversees many of the college’s public relations efforts. In 2008, Wilson began doing some extensive freelance public relations work which led him to establish Wilson & Company Communications Consulting (Wilcom). Earlier in his academic career, Wilson worked as Executive Director of Internal Communications for BYUSA and also served as the 2008/2009 Vice President of Community Relations for BYU PRSSA.
Currently he is also working on the editorial board of A cappella Zoo, a print journal and e-zine of magical realist and experimental writing from around the world. Wilson has also been the recipient of an Oscarson Discovery Grant and the Charles Leschine Memorial Endowment for service to the community. Wilson served an LDS mission in Quebec, Canada, where he became fluent in both dialectic Quebecois and international French. In his free time, Wilson enjoys cleaning, being with friends and family and anything French. He takes any and every opportunity to sing and play the piano and, when time permits, make art in any of its many forms. Favorite quotation: "I have learned to look beyond the ordinary to see the extraordinary." — Rembrandt
FORUM Editor-in-Chief
This year, BYU is hosting Forum, the national publication of the Public Relations student Society of America, which you can read online here.
Patrick Hernandez, 2009–2010 FORUM Editor in Chief, is a senior at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He is majoring in communications with a public relations emphasis and is also pursuing a minor in editing. Hernandez gained an appreciation for the importance of strategic communication on a global scale while serving a mission to Tonga for the LDS Church. When he returned to BYU in 2008, he decided to pursue public relations. Hernandez jumped headfirst into the communications program at BYU. He began working for the University’s Web communications department and became heavily involved in BYU’s PRSSA Chapter firm, Bradley Public Relations, where he is currently an account executive. A first-generation American, Hernandez is interested in world affairs and hopes to practice public relations internationally. He speaks Spanish and Tongan and is currently studying French. He also hopes to become fluent in Italian, German and Chinese. Hernandez usually spends free time with friends, cooking, reading, listening to different types of music, playing tennis and racquetball, and just relaxing.