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News Release

Contact: Dr. Lois Self, Department of Communication
(815) 753-7028

October 15, 2003

Public relations expert to lecture at NIU
on ethics, corporate culture

DeKalb, Ill.--Robert Kornecki, an NIU alum, will return to campus Friday [Oct. 17] to speak to students, faculty and staff about ethics and the corporate culture.

The presentation, titled "Character, Ethics and Contemporary Corporate Culture," will take place at noon in Gabel Hall 126 (Caven Auditorium). The public speech is co-sponsored by the Department of Communication and the NIU Consortium on Ethics.

Prior to the presentation, the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) will host a coffee hour from 10-11:30 a.m. in Watson Hall 233. Students interested in public relations and related careers will have the opportunity to participate in a careers discussion with Kornecki, former global director of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, the largest independent public relations firm in the world.

Kornecki, who resides in Georgia, graduated from NIU in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He has more than 30 years of leadership and communications consulting experience at two of the world's largest public relations firms, Edelman and Burston-Marsteller.

At Edelman, Kornecki served as president of the Chicago headquarters from 1996 to 2000 and garnered three "Office of the Year" awards from the company management for overall achievement and outstanding financial results. In October of 2000, Kornecki relocated to the Atlanta office to serve as the regional president. He became the global director in 2002 and established Edelman as one of the top five public relations firms in Atlanta.

Kornecki worked on various public relations campaigns at Edelman including Alston & Bird, General Motors, The Home Depot, Marcus Foundation, Motorola, Southern Center for International Studies, Southern Company and UPS.

He serves as board member of The Resource Opportunity Center (The ROCK), dedicated to helping the homeless in Atlanta, and the World Trade Center in Atlanta. In addition, Kornecki is a member of several organizations including the Public Relations Society of America, the parent organization to PRSSA, and the Marketing Committee for the Atlanta Area Council of Boy Scouts of America.

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