Making the World a Healthier Place

In a series of new oral histories, Real Chemistry founder Jim Weiss reflects on a career that transformed healthcare communications

Jim Weiss helped transform healthcare communications through data, digital innovation and entrepreneurship. In this Museum oral history, the Real Chemistry founder reflects on leadership, risk, relationships, and the “well-made mistakes” that shaped his career.

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PRMuseum Announces the 2026 NextGen Honorees

The PRMuseum is proud to announce the recipients of the 2026 NextGen Awards, presented in partnership with PRWeek, recognizing five emerging communications professionals whose character, leadership, creativity, resilience, and commitment to others exemplify the values that sustain the public relations profession.

The awards, presented annually by PRWeek and the PRMuseum, recognize high-potential communications professionals who embody the character, courage, and determination of the trailblazers whose contributions to public relations were long overlooked as part of the profession's "Hidden History." Through the NextGen Awards, the PRMuseum celebrates not only emerging leaders, but also the enduring values these pioneering communicators represent.

The strongest professions are built by leaders who take the time to recognize the promise they see in others. We are grateful to the sponsors, judges, mentors, and our partners at PRWeek whose commitment makes these awards possible.

**Amanda Chin** pairs strategic imagination with an instinct for seeing opportunities others overlook. Rising to Vice President before age 30, she has earned the trust of major clients while developing talent around her. A survivor of childhood leukemia, Amanda brings resilience, curiosity and optimism to her work—qualities that make creativity more than an idea, but a way of leading.

Amanda Chin
Vice President, Zeno Group
Recipient of the Inez Kaiser Creativity Award

**Paula Chirinos** has made healthcare communications a vehicle for greater understanding, access and inclusion. An immigrant from Peru who became her family’s interpreter as a child, she now helps healthcare organizations communicate with clarity, cultural awareness and empathy. Her commitment to ensuring overlooked communities are heard reflects the purposeful change-making that defines her work.

Paula Chirinos
Account Director, GCI Health
Recipient of the Bayard Rustin Change Agent Award

**Tram Nguyen** is the kind of leader colleagues turn to when the stakes are highest. After immigrating to the United States as a teenager, she balanced school, work and significant family responsibilities with remarkable determination. Today, that experience informs a leadership style grounded in empathy, calm judgment and generosity—building confidence in colleagues while guiding demanding client work.

Tram Nguyen
Account Supervisor, Burson
Recipient of the Esther Renteria Leadership Award

**Sena Pottackal** has turned barriers she encountered as a blind communicator into a determination to remove them for others. Through advocacy, research and consulting, she challenges the profession to rethink disability inclusion and accessibility. Her persistence serves a larger purpose: widening opportunities for people whose talents too often encounter unnecessary obstacles.

Sena Pottackal
Strategic Partnerships Fellow, Disability Belongs™
Recipient of the Wilma Mankiller Resolute Character Award

Raised on a small farm in rural Arkansas, **Marco Ramirez** is the son of Mexican immigrants and a first-generation college graduate who brings a distinctive cultural perspective to his work at Burson. His creativity and initiative are matched by a commitment to mentoring emerging communicators and opening doors for young professionals who may not yet see themselves represented in the industry.

Marco Ramirez
Account Executive, Burson
Recipient of the Lynne Choy Uyeda Trailblazer Award

PRMuseum Elects Six Industry Leaders to Board of Trustees

September 8, 2026, New York, NY — The board of Trustees of the Museum of Public Relations today announced the election of six industry legends to its board.

“We’re thrilled to be joined by such distinguished industry leaders, who have contributed significantly to the growth of the profession over the years,” said Dick Martin, chairman of the Board of Trustees. “These new trustees have been dedicated to ensuring the success of the next generation of professionals—one of the Museum’s top missions.”

**Brian Besanceney** is Principal Advisor to Alethea, an AI risk intelligence company helping organizations address disinformation and reputational threats. A two-time Fortune 50 chief communications officer, he previously served as CCO of Boeing and Walmart and held senior public affairs roles at The Walt Disney Company. Earlier, Besanceney served in the George W. Bush administration as Deputy White House Communications Director, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, and Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Brian Besanceney
Alethea

**Jason Dressel** is CEO of History Factory, the pioneering brand heritage and archives agency founded in 1979. Since joining the firm in 1999, he has helped leading organizations turn their history and institutional knowledge into resources for leadership, culture, growth, and transformation. He became CEO in 2022 and advises major enterprises on organizational memory, brand heritage, leadership transitions, and the growing intersection of AI and institutional knowledge. Jason is a graduate of The George Washington University.

Jason Dressel
The History Factory

**Kent Landers** leads global reputation and communications for Hilton, overseeing financial, development and enterprise communications, issues management, and global media relations. He joined Hilton in 2022 following more than a decade in senior communications and public affairs roles at The Coca-Cola Company and nearly 13 years at Delta Air Lines. His career has included communications leadership through major corporate transformations, mergers, leadership transitions, and reputation challenges. An accredited PRSA member, Kent is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Kent Landers
Hilton

As Chief Client Officer at Omnicom Public Relations (OPR), **Avra Lorrimer** delivers business impact for leading companies through curated solutions that bring together the best of OPR’s portfolio of reputation management, brand strategy, public affairs and specialty services. As a communicator operating at the intersection of brand building and brand protection, Avra has advised Fortune 100 companies across sectors and geographies. Prior to joining OPR, Avra spent 20 years at WPP agencies where she held positions including Office Head, U.S. Chief Growth Officer and global client leader. Avra has been recognized among PR Week’s Women of Distinction and PR News' Top Women in PR.

Avra Lorrimer
Omnicom PR Group

**Michele M. Moore** is Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at the Ford Foundation, where she leads global communications and brand strategy. A nationally recognized communications executive with more than 25 years of experience, she has held senior leadership roles at the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Urban League, Nickelodeon, and as press secretary to New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial. Renowned for advancing organizational reputation, audience engagement, and cultural influence, she has led communications through major crises, public affairs initiatives, Supreme Court cases, investor communications, and high-profile product launches. Inducted into the PRWeek Hall of Fame in 2019, she has also been named to PRWeek's Power List for her leadership in strategic communications, media relations, brand positioning, and team development.

Michele M. Moore
Ford Foundation

**Matt Neale** leads Golin Ketchum as CEO, overseeing the agency's global strategy, performance and culture, as well as sister agencies The Brooklyn Brothers, Virgo Health, MMC and DeVries Global. A global communications specialist, he has spent more than 20 years launching brands and services worldwide. Under his leadership, Golin has earned multiple Agency of the Year honors and made history as the first PR agency to win the Cannes Lions PR Grand Prix. Matt has been recognized as ICCO PR Leader of the Year and is an active leader across industry and academic organizations.

Matt Neale
Golin Ketchum

Introducing the PRMuseum Living Archive

A completely new way to experience history

Step into a conversation with Edward Bernays. Ask him about persuasion, public opinion, the influence of his Uncle Sigmund Freud, or the lessons he learned over a lifetime shaping the field of public relations. This is not a static archive—it’s a living exchange between you and Eddie, grounded in his own words and in his own voice. Not a document. Not a recording. A conversation.

What would Edward Bernays say today? Ask him now.

Looking Back | Moving Forward

Learning from the earliest days of our efforts to communicate to the most groundbreaking PR campaigns of our time.

The Museum houses documents pre-dating the official formation of the field, including primary research about the novel campaigns that arose in the early 20th century, shaping the public’s perception of the public relations profession. As the field of public relations continues to evolve and progress, the Museum is continuously collecting new artifacts, expanding and updating the collection while preserving fundamental movements. We proceed to write history while we pave the path to the future of PR.

PR History: A collection of intellectual property, documents, and oral histories

With over 5,000 artifacts, the Museum has the world’s largest collection of public relations memorabilia. With original documents from the founding fathers, including Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, to artifacts dated throughout Harold Burson’s career, the Museum has over a century's worth of documents reflecting the development of public relations. With its wide selection, the collection has artifacts across multiple niches, focusing on Financial PR, Medical PR, and Military Communication, to mention a few. Thanks to primary research conducted by the museum, parts of the collection uncover the Hidden History of PR, highlighting the diverse past of the industry.

Why a PR museum?

Public trust has never been lower. We’re not only suspicious of our government and other institutions, but we don’t even trust each other.

In that environment, the integrity of our communication with the public has never been more important. We all need to raise our game.

The PR Museum grew from the happenstance gift of one PR practitioner’s memorabilia into the world’s only repository of the practice’s history. That, combined with an unmatched capability to mine that history for actionable content practitioners can use, has made it a center of learning.

Of course, what we do today is tomorrow’s history, from which future practitioners can learn. So we continue to expand our collection, documenting leaders and work at the pinnacle of the practice, including the most ground-breaking PR campaigns of our time.

The Museum of Public Relations is a 501(c)(3) educational institution chartered by the New York State Department of Education to serve the world's growing community of public relations students, educators, researchers, and practitioners.

Our Mission

Our mission is to bring PR history to life—exploring its successes and failures, its heroes, heroines, and villains to draw lessons from which practitioners can learn. And to help business leaders understand that, at its best, public relations is a responsible tool of commerce and a powerful force for social progress. We believe that public relations done well is communication for the public good.

With more than 5,000 artifacts, oral histories, letters, photos and film, the PRMuseum houses the world’s largest collection of public relations memorabilia, documenting the practice’s history across different practices, including Financial PR, Medical PR, and Military Communication.

Visitors can consult rare first edition books about PR, as well as original documents by industry pioneers from Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays to Arthur W. Page and Harold Burson. And thanks to primary research conducted by the museum, the collection reveals the PR’S “Hidden History,” highlighting the contributions of practitioners who were overlooked because of their color, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

Visitors can also see how important social movements applied the underlying principles of public relations to change the course of history. Most importantly, they see how modern public relations evolved from press agentry to building beneficial relationships based on mutual understanding. They understand public relations as social science with a creative bent.

For Educators

Part of our mission is to contribute to the education of future generations of public relations practitioners. We have a long history of collaborating with college-level educators in public communication. Through museum tours, events, videos, and publications, the PRMuseum reaches more than 1,000 college-level students a year, putting current events in historical context, from diversity and inclusion to disinformation and antisemitism.

Dealing with today’s levels of technological change, media fragmentation, and political polarization requires a bedrock understanding of the practice’s evolution and enduring ethical principles.

Schedule a Visit

Unlike other museums, where exhibits are under glass and the original artifacts are kept under lock and key, each visit to the PRMuseum is tailored to the specific needs and interests of visitors. Rather than reading a description of past events pasted on a wall with a few illustrations, we open our archives to visitors and let them experience public relations as it was practiced by our field's founders from as far back as a century ago. Through hands-on exhibits of "ancient" media technologies, oral histories, and artifacts—some from the actual offices of early pioneers Ivy Lee, Edward Bernays, and Arthur Page—students learn firsthand the role PR has played in business, society, and culture.

Request a Virtual or In-Person Tour

Visit Online

The Museum's extensive digital archives include video interviews, important out-of-print books, classroom resources, and videos of Museum-sponsored events, including the first-ever events honoring the contributions to this field of African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, members of the LGBTQ community, and women. Explore the various social movements which were guided by the underlying principles and philosophies of public relations.

To allow time to tailor visits to your needs and interests, virtual and in-person tours are by appointment only, Monday through Friday, from 11 am to 5 pm.

If you’re reading this, you’re still at the museum’s front door. Follow the navigation bar at the top of this page to explore our collections. There’s no ticket booth, but donations are always appreciated.

You’ll be in good company. The PRMuseum is indebted to the following companies that support our work.

Founding Partners