West Virginia Pubic Relations Hall of Fame
West Virginia Public Relations Hall of Fame — Best of the Best
Induction into the West Virginia Public Relations Hall of Fame is the highest recognition the West Virginia Chapter of PRSA can bestow. It recognizes and honors distinguished public relations professionals for their career achievements, significant contributions in the field of public relations, mentoring and for exemplary community service. They are the best of the best.
The selection process is rigorous. Only the most qualified candidates are considered. Candidates must have at least 25 years of experience in a public relations field, with a significant portion of their employment in West Virginia. They must have demonstrated a commitment to the chapter, the profession and the communities they serve through service and mentoring. Unquestionable professional and ethical standards are also a requirement, and candidates must possess a portfolio of work that demonstrates leadership, innovation, and superior client/customer success.
2019 CLASS
William “Bill” Chadwick APR
F. David Cotten APR Fellow PRSA
2020-21 CLASS
Cathryn Gibbs Harris APR Fellow
Joe W. Gollehon APR Fellow PRSA
Charles “Charlie” Ryan APR
Diane Slaughter APR Fellow PRSA
2022 CLASS
Joe B. Long APR
Jeri Matheney APR Fellow PRSA
George Manahan
2023 CLASS
Linda B. Arnold
Bill Bissett EdD
Trevellya “Tee” Ford-Ahmed, PhD
2024 CLASS
Dr. Hal Shaver
Ginny Painter
2025 CLASS
Diana Martinelli
Karen Frashier APR Fellow PRSA
H. William Chaddock APR — 2019
Chaddock is a West Virginia native. He organized the formation of the first PRSA Chapter in the Mountain State. Chaddock was the right person for the job. Bill had been an active member of the Central Ohio Chapter of PRSA and served as its president. And, he was a past member of the PRSA national board of directors. He was Vice President of Communications for Columbia Gas Transmission in Columbus, Ohio, before transferring to Charleston in 1978. He reached out to longtime friends and PRSA members-at-large Jack Powers and David Cotton of Consolidated Gas Supply in Clarksburg for help. Their efforts resulted in 23 public relations professionals petitioning National to become a chapter.
On Nov. 10, 1979, the National Assembly meeting at St. Louis approved and the West Virginia Chapter was born. Bill was elected the first president of the new chapter, a position he held two years. In 1990, he transferred to Wilmington, DE as senior vice president and retired from Columbia in 1996. Today he resides in Delaware, OH with his wife Nola.
F. David Cotten APR Fellow PRSA
Cotten is a Kansas native who joined PRSA in 1973, and became accredited in 1974. David served as the first assembly delegate for the chapter and traveled to the National Assembly in St. Louis to receive the official charter. He later served as Director of the East Central District that represent six states. In 1990, David was in the first elected class of the College of Fellows and was the first West Virginian in the organization. There are 30,000 PRSA members, but only 350 are members of the College of Fellows.
In 1979, when Bill Chaddock called him to help organize the chapter, David was the Public Relations Manager for Consolidated Gas Supply in Clarksburg and a member-at-large. “I wanted one in my state. PRSA is so valuable for practitioners to network, brainstorm, learn and develop from the programs and each other. Conversing with your peers is priceless,” he said. David retired from CNG in 1995, and resides in Florida with his wife, Karen Frashier, APR, Fellow PRSA. They are both active Rotarians.
Joe W. Gollehon APR Fellow PRSA
Gollehon retired from TSG in 2016 but serves the firm in an of counsel capacity on special projects. He has been involved in public relations, internal and external communications, government affairs and crisis communications since 1973. Joe joined TSG Consulting as a co-owner in December 2010 following a 27-year career in various ownership and management roles with another West Virginia integrated marketing communications agency.
Gollehon is a 1973 graduate of the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University where he majored in Public Relations. He was accredited by the Public Relations Society of America in 1979 and elected to the PRSA's College of Fellows in 2011. He served as president of the West Virginia Chapter of PRSA in 1984-85 and was honored by that chapter as "Practitioner of the Year" in 2002.
Early in his career, Joe was employed by Union Carbide Corporation's Chemical & Plastics Division and its Nuclear Division where he served in several public relations, internal and external communications capacities. In addition, he was employed for four years by Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation as Manager of State Government Relations and was responsible for activities in several states. He has extensive experience in state government affairs, trade association issues, and the chemical, manufacturing, nuclear, oil and gas, coal, health care and financial industries.
Cathryn Harris APR Fellow PRSA
Harris is a state and national PRSA leader of more than 40 years after a distinguished career in healthcare and water utilities, and a champion of the public relations student student society, PRSSA. She was elected to the College of Fellows in 1997, a national honorary organization of more than 350 leading PR practitioners and educators nationwide. She is a founding member of the West Virginia Chapter of PRSA, serving in all chapter positions and was the third President, for one and a half terms.
She has been honored twice by the chapter as “PR Practitioner of the Year”. And she is believed to be the first person in West Virginia to be honored with two Gold Quills, presented by the International Association of Business Communicators. She was Marshall University’s professional advisor to it’s student PRSSA chapter for eight years. She gave back to her community as well. . Harris spent 27 years and thousands of hours assisting the Kanawha County fire departments and WV State Fire Marshall’s office to help coordinate and host fire safety, evacuation, and shelter-in-place seminars for county businesses.
Charles "Charlie" Ryan APR
Ryan is best known as the founder of Charles Ryan Associates. Starting in 1974 with a single-employee, one-client public relations firm, he built Charles Ryan Associates into a 70-employee, $30 million integrated marketing and communications business with offices in Charleston, Cincinnati, Lexington, and Richmond.
While he was at it, he spun off four divisions into successful stand-alone firms. CRA is recognized as one of the region's premier public relations firms serving a prominent list of clients including AEP, Dow Chemical, NTELOS, Toyota, and the state of West Virginia. His business partners became successes in their own right and included such well now individuals as Dan McGinn, Diana Sole, Harry Peck, Susan Lavenski and Caryn Durham.
Charlie is a native of Keyser, West Virginia and a graduate of Potomac State College and West Virginia University. He began his career as a broadcaster, his unique, resonating voice anchoring WSAZ TV and WCHS TV news. He was the founding dean of the University of Charleston School of Business. Today he is an author of more than five books, including Murder On Staunton Road: The Violet Death of Charleston Daily Mail.
Diane Slaughter APR Fellow PRSA
Slaughter formed Homestead Communications in 1993, one of the state’s first independent, female-owned firms. She created the executive director position for the chapter and headed it for more than two decades. She is also a Fellow, elected in 2006. She is a former adjunct professor at West Virginia State, where the Public Relations Research Laboratory is named after her. She continues to serve as professional advisor to the PRSSA chapter.
Diane is an Accredited Public Relations professional of more than 32 years. Her body of work has been recognized by more than 30 national, regional and state awards. Her expertise extends beyond public relations. She is also a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and was recognized as outstanding executive director of the year by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons for her work with the West Virginia chapter. She became a national leader in the creation of online awards judging and chapter administration. As past president, she led us to the chapter’s only National Chapter of the Year award.
Joe B. Long APR
Long retired as director of corporate communications at Verizon—West Virginia. His 28-year career at the “phone company” was diverse — demonstrating excellence in employee communications, consumer affairs, public speaking, community relations, corporate giving and technology. He became an Internet pioneer in 1992, championing corporate programs including one to connect more than 800 West Virginia schools to the resources of the Internet for the first time. He led employee programs on diversity and was the liaison for LGBTQ associates. His direction of Verizon Foundation contributions in the state championed literacy and domestic violence prevention. His second career was as an educator, teaching public relations for six years at the Reed School of West Virginia University (or 22,000 miles commuting from Charleston weekly) and five years at West Virginia State University. He was the first adjunct to be honored with the educator of the year award. His chapter service spanned 35 years as of his induction. He was chapter president in 1987, Practitioner of the Year. Twice honored with the chapter service award. The National Assembly delegate, and as Accreditation chair aided more than a dozen new accredited practitioners. He was the professional advisor to the West Virginia University and West Virginia State University of the Public Relations Student Society of America.
George Manahan
Manahan grew up in Morristown, NJ, and came to West Virginia in 1979 to attend Bethany College, fell in love with the state and stayed. He built a reputation for excellence as an on-air radio news announcer that landed him the role of press secretary for Governor Gaston Caperton in 1990. The experience gave him the confidence to form The Manahan Group in his garage apartment, an issue-oriented public relations, advertising and digital marketing agency with offices in Charleston and Elkins. “Our company statement—do good work, make money, have fun and give back—inspires me. I have tried to run my business and my life by those four principles,” he said. His leadership of West Virginia’s Parkinson’s community embodies those ideals. In 2013, the Charleston based Fox Trot for Parkinson’s Research was established. In its first 10 years, the event raised $450, 000. Manahan mentors students from University of Charleston and Bethany College. He has served on the board of directors for the Capitol Market, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, American Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic and American Lung Association in West Virginia and advised local charities on marketing, including Mountain Mission and WV CARES. Manahan served as the small business chairman of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and helped coordinate Leadership West Virginia’s Choose West Virginia campaign as a member of the Class of 2018. Manahan previously received a lifetime achievement award from the West Virginia Chapter of PRSA in 2013. He is a past president and was Practitioner of the Year in 2010.
Jeri Matheney APR Fellow PRSA
Matheney retired as director of communications for Appalachian Power Co. after 25 years and was employed by Bell Atlantic for 11 years. Her considerable experience in the utilities industry resulted in a masterful set of skills — crisis communications, event management, journalism and media relations. Her volunteerism with the Charleston YWCA included two years as board president. A educational leader as well, Matheney was has a Master's Degree focused in Corporate and Organizational Communications with a Social Media Concentration from Northeastern University, and a public relations journalism degree from Marshall University. Matheney is a past president of the West Virginia Chapter of PRSA, Practitioner of the Year and winner more than a dozen awards in the chapter’s annual Crystal Awards. She is a member of the elite College of Fellows.
Linda B. Arnold, MA, MBA
Today than a half million readers know Linda for her weekly syndicated column, “Live Life Fully,” published for over a decade and appearing nationally in newspapers and online (Linda 101). It’s a passion that she’s embraced, adding psychological counselor, certified wellness instructor and keynote speaker to her professional credentials. She made her mark in the pr profession as the founder and former CEO of The Arnold Agency, a West Virginia-based public relations, advertising and governmental relations company. Previously she was director of communications and press secretary for Governor John D. Rockefeller, IV. She is the author of two books on life skills and was television host and on-air personality for The Wisdom Network, focusing on health, wellness, mind, body and spirit issues. Arnold is the recipient of numerous awards over the years, including recognition as an Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year”, industry awards from the American Advertising Federation and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the West Virginia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.
Bill Bissett EdD
If you ask Bill Bissett what he is, he will respond, "I am a public relations professional." And for the last 25 years, he’s walked his talk. Currently he is the state director for the U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito but he’s enjoyed a diverse career. Bill held positions with Charles Ryan Associates (CRA) as their vice president, developing the Friends of Coal campaign, convincing Powerball multimillionaire Jack Whitaker to be a client and electing a Supreme Court justice than become the subject of a John Grisham book. He moved on to Marshall University as communications director, including chief of staff. At the Kentucky Coal Association in the 2010s, Bissett embraced the challenge of representing an industry not known as good communicators. And succeeded. In 2016, Bissett was hired as the president & CEO of the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce where he led the region’s 550 members through the COVID-19 pandemic before taking his current role with the United States Senate. Bissett is a PRSA WV Past President and was a member of East Central District Council. He was an adjunct professor at Marshall.
Trevellya “Tee” Ford-Ahmed, PhD
“Tee” is currently the communications and media director for the Mount Zion Black Culture Center in Athens, Ohio, yet another chapter in a long career. She is Professor Emerita at West Virginia State University (WVSU), joining the faculty at WVSU in 1990. It was she who received a Charter for the C. R. Byrd Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) in 1991. After retiring from WVSU, Tee dedicated her talents to reviving PR campaigns for the Black in Appalachia and Black by God West Virginia initiatives. Her published works include USAID’s Teaching through Radio Drama Guide and contributions to the cultures studies anthology “Generation to Generation, Maintaining Culture Identity over Time,” among others. Abroad, Tee has participated in numerous study tours and completed a lectureship at the University of Maiduguri in Nigeria and a cultural research project in China on a six-week fellowship with the University of Hawaii’s Southeast Asian Studies Center.
Dr. Hal Shaver
Ginny Painter APR
Diana Martinelli
The former dean of the Reed School of Media was a member of the WVU Chapter of PRSSA before embarking on a 36 year career marked by a profound commitment to public relations. She advanced the profession as the first Widmeyer Professor in PR and author of more than two dozen academic articles. Guided the school through reaccreditation. Martinelli is an advisory board member of the prestigious (Betsy) Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. A DEI champion. She led the Reed School forward in innovative programs for today’s profession including its merger with the College of Creative Arts.
Karen Frashier
Her career in health care started at Charleston Area Medical Center, as did her affiliation with PRSA. She is the consummate PR professional with broad skill sets in strategic marketing, branding, communications and government relations. Frashier was a pr leader for major hospitals and health care systems in Georgia and Florida Her career continues as chief strategist and CEO of Advocate Marketing PR. She was accredited in 1987 and earned the Society’s highest honor, Fellow PRSA in 2012. Frashier is a fierce advocate of reaccreditation for all PRSA members, including herself.
