Dick Pope/Polk County FPRA Chapter, John McShaffrey Win Statewide PR Awards; Kris Keprios New FPRA State Officer

Monday, August 17

The Dick Pope/Polk County Chapter of the Florida Public Relation Association (FPRA) and member John McShaffrey were presented with statewide awards, and Kris Keprios was inducted as an FPRA state board member, during FPRAs recent 2009 State Conference in Boca Raton.

The local chapter was presented with the President's Award for Financial Management by FPRA State President Lanette Hart, APR, CPRC during the annual FPRA Presidents Luncheon on the opening day of the conference. Keprios accepted the award in his role as chapter president. He will be succeeded in September by Cindy Rodriguez.

"Knowing the economy would be a major factor in the coming year, (Kris Keprios) and his team planned several strategies to be successful financially as a chapter. After several strategic moves such as securing a new meeting location, the chapter doubled the size of its treasury and for the first time ever was able to offer ten partial membership scholarships and three conference scholarships. This has stood out as this leaders hallmark accomplishment, Hart said in presenting the award to Keprios and asking the nearly 200 delegates to join her in congratulating him and the entire Dick Pope/Polk County Chapter.

McShaffrey was presented with a prestigious FPRA Golden Image award during the Golden Image Banquet for writing and distributing a press release that generated exceptional results.

In addition to accepting his chapter's award, Keprios, whose term as president is winding down, was inducted as the state Vice President for Planning and Research. He also introduced keynote speaker Tom Hoof of the Tampa Bay Rays, as well as the annual Dillin Dessert, which is served every year by the Dick Pope/Polk County chapter at the Presidents Luncheon in memory of the late FPRA founder John Dillin of Lake Wales .

Keprios and McShaffrey were among 13 members of the Dick Pope/Polk County chapter who attended the 2009 conference. The others were Cindy Rodriguez, Katy Martin, Jenny Baker, Melea Gernert, Bob Gernert, Josh Hallett, Gay Finkelman, Angie Birdwell, Suleima Salgado, Meredith Spresser and Rachel Bulman. The latter three attended on membership scholarships provided by the local chapter.

Back to News