Suthers named runner-up for Young Professional of the Year Award
This story originally appeared in Marcomm News
By Claire Brinkley — Wednesday, 16th March 2011 at 8:32am
Elliott Suthers, Vice President of Spector & Associates​, has been named runner-up for PRWeek’s Young Professional of the Year Award, making him the first Australian to be recognised by the US based PR title.
The award given last Thursday acknowledges the outstanding achievements Suthers has made in corporate communications in the three years he has been in public relations, in providing issue advocacy, legislative affairs programs and crisis management counsel for some of his agency’s largest international accounts.
A native of Sydney, Suthers joined the New York based business-to-business communications firm in 2009, and quickly moved up to the role of Vice President where he now serves as a senior communications counselor for the firm's global defense, financial and technology accounts.
Suthers told Influencing he “really wasn't expecting the award at all” but that being “recognised as somewhat of an industry leader is validating”.
“It's a pretty great feeling to be recognised by such a prestigious publication,” he said. “Especially as the judges are all industry experts. At Spector & Associates, we take a slightly unconventional approach to PR, we try and look beyond press releases and placements and see how what we're doing works into a clients bigger objectives, and I'm glad to see that PRWeektook that into consideration when they evaluated the entries.”
Moving to the USA in 2005 to work for Senator Joe Lieberman and then Senator John McCain a few years later, Suthers says his experience set him up for his transition in to PR.
“I've only been in the PR industry for three years, but previous to that I'd worked in politics and with the UN,” he said. “I've been lucky in that many of those skills have been directly translatable into the PR world. Many of our current clients are looking for a DC presence in addition to their PR support, so a lot of the contacts I have on the Hill still come in handy.”
Shelley Spector, President of Spector & Associates, calls Suthers “one of the most effective PR counselors in the business today”.
"The counsel offered by Suthers reflects a unique blend of international perspective, intellect and political insight-all increasingly necessary to clients looking to achieve distinctive branding and sales growth," she wrote in a press release.
But despite his high profile position, working on “multi-billion dollar contracts” still feels like a bit of a dream to the Sydney boy.
“Growing up in the Blue Mountains, I couldn't even dream of being involved in programs worth that much, but now to be leading communications in support of them, I find myself humbled but very driven to prove that I'm capable,” he told Influencing.
“This award is really a culmination of a great team effort from everyone at Spector. There's no chance that I could have achieved what I have in the past year without the hard work and dedication of a great team.”