March 25, 2024

Judy Phair

JTP-SmJudith T. (Judy) Phair is president of PhairAdvantage Communications, LLC, an independent consulting firm founded in 2002.  She is a seasoned public relations executive with extensive experience in strategic planning, branding, global public relations and marketing, media relations, fund raising, and legislative relations. From 2006 until March, 2010, Judy served as vice president, communications, for the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), an association of 182 top graduate business schools around the world and the owner of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). Judy led the Council’s worldwide strategic communications planning, overseeing marketing, advertising, media relations, and print/electronic communications activities. She headed a major branding initiative for GMAC and the GMAT as well as the redesign of the GMAC website, and implemented an extensive international media relations and advertising campaign, with a special focus on European and Asian markets.

Judy and PhairAdvantage Communications have consulted on branding, public relations,  marketing, and media relations for numerous clients, including the American Council on Education, Council of Independent Colleges, the University System of Maryland/Universities at Shady Grove, National Association of College Admission Counseling, Graduate Management Admission Council, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Tennessee, and Drexel University, among others.

Earlier, Judy was vice president for public affairs at the Council on Competitiveness, a nonpartisan, nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based association of corporate chief executives, university presidents, and labor leaders.  She also has served as vice president for institutional advancement at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, assistant dean of external relations at Johns Hopkins University, and vice president for public relations at Goucher College, in addition to positions at the University of Michigan and University of Cincinnati. Judy began her career as a newspaper reporter in the Chicago area. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Goucher College, developing the college’s first public relations course, and at Towson University.

Judy was 2005 President and CEO of the 22,000-member Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the largest organization of public relations professionals in the world. In October 2010, she received PRSA’s highest individual award, the 2010 Gold Anvil Award.  It is considered PRSA’s Lifetime Achievement Award and is presented to an individual “whose work significantly advanced the profession and set high standards for those engaged in the practice of public relations.”  In late 2013, PRSA’s largest chapter, the National Capital Chapter, inducted Judy into its Hall of Fame.  Earlier, the Maryland Chapter of PRSA honored Judy with its Lifetime Achievement Award, and her work has been recognized with numerous other awards in public relations, publications, marketing, and crisis communications.

Judy is a frequent speaker on public relations and marketing issues, with appearances in China, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Croatia as well as the United States. She also writes extensively in the field. She is past chair  of PRSA’s prestigious College of Fellows, co-chair of its Educational Affairs Committee and PRSA representative on the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). Judy has been a member of the University of Maryland Alumni Association Board of Governors and Chair of the University of Maryland Arts and Humanities Alumni Association Chapter Board and member of the board of directors, American Red Cross, Central Maryland Chapter. She has been active in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), chairing regional and national events and judging in the national awards program. Judy received her B.A. in communications from Simmons College in Boston and M.A. in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park.

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