KVBPR’s Aileen Katcher was named one of the 2012 Most Powerful Women by the Nashville Post for her leadership skills, influence and ability to affect positive change in the community.

The below profile on Aileen ran in the May 2012 issue of the Nashville Post.

Aileen Katcher ranks among Nashville’s most successful and admired business leaders.

However, the long-time local communications pro struggles to pinpoint a defining moment in her career evolution.

“I can’t say there was an ‘a-ha moment,’” she responded when asked at what point she realized she was prepared to oversee employees, budgets, company decision-making and the like.

But Katcher, a partner with Katcher Vaughn & Bailey Public Relations, does recall a situation that helped define the person she is today.

“Some years back, I did have a real leadership test in a non-profit leadership role for my congregation,” she remembered. “During my year as chair-elect, our beloved, founding rabbi announced he was leaving to teach. The next two years of searching for a replacement — serving as board chair and a consistent face of leadership to our members during the year of an interim rabbi — taught me many great leadership lessons.”

One of those lessons learned involved the importance of declining, even though tempted otherwise, to “triangulate.”

“If a congregant called me to complain about the rabbi, I redirected [the congregant] straight to him,” she said. “If necessary, I offered to go with them to discuss the issue.  But not to do it for them.”

Katcher tries to do likewise at KVB.

Click here to continue reading Aileen’s profile.

*Photo by the Nashville Post.

By Heather Schablik, APR

Have you ever found yourself watching the (insert name of choice) Awards and thinking, “Could this acceptance speech go any longer? How many people does this person possibly need to thank?” If so, you are part of the vast majority. And until recently, I was too.

A few weeks ago, as I heard KVBPR’s name announced as a Silver Anvil winner at the public relations equivalent of the Academy Awards, the first thing that came to mind wasn’t personal pride. It was pride of collaboration. It was the immediate desire to share this victory with my clients, my co-workers, our vendors…anyone who played even a small part in this huge victory.

That moment helped me realize that winning an award isn’t about the actual statue. Instead, it’s what it represents. Winning an award signifies successful collaboration and teamwork. After all, would BlueCross’ open enrollment campaign have been successful without BlueCross as a client? Absolutely not.  And what about without the team of professionals that contributed on both sides? Not at chance. And then there were all of those people who put blood, sweat and tears into assembling the award entry and ensuring it made it to PRSA in time to be judged – they played a key role, too. At the end of the day, awards show what we can really do when we all join forces for the greater cause of developing and implementing quality PR campaigns.

There has been an ongoing debate in our office about whether or not awards are worth the time and energy that goes into the actual entry process. What I’ve come to realize is that without awards, what other way do we have to physically showcase the top-notch work we do with our clients? What better way do we have to thank our clients for the opportunities they provide us each and every day? And what other way do we have to recognize the collaboration happening each and every day in our office space?

So I’ve come to realize something very important: awards ARE worth it. And next time KVBPR wins one, and I have the honor of accepting on behalf of our firm and clients, I can guarantee the first words out of my mouth will be, “I’d like to thank…”

by Holley Stein

Whether it’s counseling a client in preparation for a turbulent media interview or handling crisis communications, public relations professionals are known for their calm-and-cool demeanor and grace under pressure.

But what happens when you get a plaza full of professionals together to celebrate the work done on behalf of their clients? Cheers, camaraderie and immense pride–to the point of tears–for our clients.

KVBPR’s work was recently honored at the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Silver Anvil Awards ceremony, held on June 4 in New York City. Our firm received the Silver Anvil Award for excellence in internal communications for work done on behalf of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBST) and the Silver Anvil Award of Excellence in integrated communications for introducing Nashville Symphony’s new conductor, Giancarlo Guerrero. I had the pleasure of working with the Symphony and Locomotion Creative on the multi-channel communications campaign and was thrilled to hear we were a finalist for the award. Finding out I was going to New York wasn’t bad either!

The atmosphere of the ceremony was elegant, as expected. What I did not count on was what would happen to us once we were inside the auditorium and the award-presentation began. There was no polite applause, plastic smiles or stiff photos. There were whistles, cat calls, cheering and loud applause, not only for ourselves, but for each other. I actually screamed when my colleague, Heather Schablik, went onstage to accept the Silver Anvil on behalf of BCBST. (All-in-all, the internal communications program for BCBST won three national awards this year.)

However, the best part of the award ceremony was when master-of-ceremonies, Terry Stewart, president and CEO for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, announced the award for the Nashville Symphony. He mentioned a recent visit to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. He not only praised the building to a group of practitioners from around the U.S., he spoke directly to Ronda Helton, senior director of marketing for the Nashville Symphony, and acknowledged the caliber of its musicians and programming.  It was the only proverbial “shout-out” that was given that night.

Upon later reflection, I admit, I teared up. Something had really hit home.  Sure we were cheering for ourselves that night. We work hard on behalf of our clients. But more than anything, I believe we were really cheering for our clients. After working in the trenches with each other for so long, you feel like a member of your client’s team. In many ways, these awards act as a double honor.