The North Carolina Chapter of Public Relations Society of America (NCPRSA) has selected Tracy Lathan, APR, as the 2016 recipient of the Michael L. Herman Award for Excellence in Mentoring.

Lathan is an account strategist with Clairemont Communications, an award-winning, full-service public relations and marketing communications firm, and has been practicing public relations in the Triangle for more than fifteen years. In 2009, she received the Accreditation in Public Relations designation from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the profession’s only national post-graduate certification program in the field of public relations. For the past five years, Lathan has served as accreditation chair on the NCPRSA board of directors to mentor nearly a dozen other PR professionals in the Triangle to achieve this important designation.

Additionally, Lathan mentors team members at Clairemont on day-to-day account management best practices and leads regular client service lunch-and-learn sessions for the agency. She has been directly involved in developing the strategy and executing public relations programs that have earned Clairemont numerous awards for excellence in PR by NCPRSA and Raleigh Public Relations Society (RPRS). It is because of these things, as well as her previous leadership roles with RPRS, NCSU Alumni Association and the Raleigh Chamber, that NCPRSA recognized Lathan for her mentorship.

“It is a true honor to receive this award since Mike Herman was my first employer and mentor,” said Tracy Lathan, account strategist, Clairemont Communications. “Mike had a tremendous impact on so many PR professionals during his career, and I am grateful for the opportunity to share what he taught us with the next generation of practitioners.”

The Michael L. Herman Award for Excellence in Mentoring is presented to an individual who best exemplifies the ideal image of a mentor through hands-on instruction and support. It is given in memory of the late Mike Herman, APR, whose years of work and dedication to the public relations field made a lasting impression on the profession. He was inducted into the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) College of Fellows in 1998 and received PRSA’s highest individual award, the Gold Anvil for lifetime career achievement, in 2009.

Herman was a beloved mentor to both students and professionals, having served as an adjunct professor at N.C. State University, chair of the PRSA Counselors Academy and ethics chair of NCPRSA. He influenced PR professionals on a global scale, serving on the International Public Relations Association’s (IPRA) Governing Council and as keynote lecturer at the Russian Public Relations Association in Moscow and at the International Conference of Latin American Public Relations Professionals. He was also a role model in his community as an active member of his church, a Master Mason and a member of the Amran Shrine.