Andy Polansky, Hall of Fame Inductee, 2025 Page Annual Conference

Andy Polansky's acceptance Speech at the Awards Dinner. View full Press Release.

Public relations industry veteran Andy Polansky, former CEO of Weber Shandwick, is being inducted into the Page Hall of Fame during the Page Annual Conference on September 28. The Hall of Fame honors a lifetime of leadership in the profession. Members have had a significant impact on the enterprises they have served, not only through communications strategy but on business strategy and policy. They are leaders in the mold of Arthur W. Page, who was the first senior public relations executive to influence the fate of the enterprise he served.

Polansky is one of the most respected communications leaders in the world. During his seven years as CEO of Weber Shandwick, the firm was recognized repeatedly by peers and trade media as the best PR agency in the world. Polansky then served as Executive Chairman of Weber Shandwick and Chairman & CEO of IPG DXTRA for three years before his retirement in 2022.

Prior to becoming CEO in 2012, he served as president of the firm for eight years. Under his leadership, Weber Shandwick became an industry leader in digital, social, and content marketing, while consistently being named a “Best Place to Work” by Advertising Age and PRWeek.

"Andy has been a friend and colleague for many years, and I’ve had the privilege of working alongside him," said Gary Sheffer, president of Spokesman Communications and nominator. "He is an innovative and empathetic leader, deeply committed to developing talent and to promoting diversity in our profession. His calm, open, and values-driven approach has set an extraordinary example for communicators everywhere."

Polansky has also made significant contributions to the broader profession. He has served on the boards of the Page Society, the Institute for Public Relations, the PRSA Foundation, the Arthur Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication and The Ad Council. He chaired the Council of Public Relations Firms from 2010–2012 and has been a frequent lecturer at leading communications schools.

"Andy Polansky has set the standard for leadership in our profession," said Maril Gagen MacDonald, founder and CEO of Gagen MacDonald and chair of the Page Honors Committee. "His career exemplifies the Page Principles—acting with integrity, listening to stakeholders, and leading with the future in mind. His impact on clients, colleagues, and the next generation of professionals is remarkable, and we are proud to welcome him into the Page Hall of Fame."

Polansky has been widely recognized for his achievements, including the PR Week Hall of Fame, the Plank Center’s Milestones in Mentoring Award, The Holmes Report Individual Achievement Award, and PRWeek’s Global Professional of the Year (Agency). In 2016, he topped PRWeek’s Power List.

With his induction, Polansky joins a distinguished list of Hall of Fame honorees, including Gary Sheffer, Ginger Hardage, Madan Bahal, Ofield Dukes, and Maril Gagen MacDonald.

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Transcript

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Gosh, how lucky

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am I to get to talk about Andy Polansky?

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So good evening, everyone.

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And it truly is an honor
and a personal joy

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to be here to introduce Andy.

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And it's he.

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He is more than just a leader.

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He is a friend.

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And he is someone
who has made this community

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so powerful for more than three decades.

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Andy has been one of the defining leaders
in communications.

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As CEO of Weber Shandwick

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and later as chairman of IPG Dextra.

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He guided global brands
through moments of complexity

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and challenge
like they'd never experienced before.

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Although we have experienced them since.

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While he did that,
he shaped Weber Shandwick

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into one of the most respected agencies

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in the world,
and this leadership resulted in

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Weber Shandwick
being named agency of the year many times.

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In fact, we were so honored to be
named agency of the decade.

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But for Andy,

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it was never about the trophies.

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It was always about the people.

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And when I think of Andy,
I think of collaboration

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because he set as a business strategy

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to build work together.

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While some agencies may see

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internal competition
as a way to get to growth.

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Andy believed that bringing together
diverse

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perspectives
led to the best ideas for our clients.

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So he cultivated the expectation
that we wouldn't just support each other,

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but that we'd actively build
shared business together.

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And that mindset became foundational
to Weber Shandwick.

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It became foundational with our partners
across Dextre at Golan,

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and for me, it became foundational
in who I am as a leader.

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Andy has always been
someone who makes time for others.

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He offered me time tonight.

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He has to ask the questions
that shows he's truly listening,

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and who gives advice that stays with you
long after the conversation ends?

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And that style of leadership
is what Paige stands for integrity,

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truth, and the power of communications
to build trust.

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Andy embodies those values.

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So Andy,
thank you for all you have done for me.

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So for
so many of our colleagues and clients

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and of course, for the industry overall.

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So congratulations
to Andy and back to you, Kelly.

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Thank you Susan.

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So Gary

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Schaeffer nominated Andy and skillfully

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summarized his testimonial
about Andy's career.

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He brought the highest level of integrity
to his work

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and backed up everything he said
with action.

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Like many of you,

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I experienced these attributes in action
as a client of Andy.

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You truly define trusted advisor.

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It is my pleasure

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to welcome our 2025 inductee
into the Paige Hall of Fame.

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A remarkable colleague
and a pretty fine boat captain to

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Andy Polansky.

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You. All.

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Good evening.

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And, thanks so much, for that kind
introduction.

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Both Kelly and Susan.

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One of the things that you plan for

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and hope for after spending so many years
and it was so many years

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in my working life with the same firm,
is that when you retire,

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you have great people
like Susan leading the company forward

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with integrity and a fresh vision.

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I'm delighted that you're now at the helm.

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Susan,
and I'm sure we'll continue to see Weber

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Shandwick and its people
continue to thrive in the years ahead.

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Thanks as well to Rochelle Ford,
Kelli
Parsons

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and the Page Board and the Page Honors
and Awards Committee for this recognition.

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I feel truly honored to be counted
among all the distinguished

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previous recipients whom I greatly admire.

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I'd also like to congratulate tonight's

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other honoree, Ken Markowski.

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I've long respected Ken, his firm,
and his impact on the industry.

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So thank you. Can

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one of the many things
that has always resonated with me

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about the Paige community,
beyond sharing best practices

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and being inspired by the enormous talent
represented here,

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is that we often forge close relationships
that transcend the industry,

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and those relationships
have certainly enriched my life.

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And it's nice to see so many of you,
my Weber Shandwick, IPG

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colleagues, industry friends
and client partners in the room tonight.

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And I'd like to give a shout out
to my good friends.

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Ellen Ryan Mardiks
Chair of Golinand former CEO Fred Cook.

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I'm very proud of everything they, Matt,
Gary and the Golan team have accomplished.

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And I really value
the time we spent together at IPG.

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My most important person in this room

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and every room is my wife, Maria.

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So more than 40 years ago,

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as a college sophomore at was,
what was then

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Trenton State
College is now the college in new Jersey.

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I met Maria Grasso,

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and I knew immediately
that I hit the jackpot.

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Seven years later, we got married
and we went on to have two awesome sons,

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Jason and Steven, and they're married to
two amazing women, Charlotte and Lauren.

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And now we have a new member
of the Polansky Hall of Fame.

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Our granddaughter,
Maggie, was born a month ago.

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Pretty cool.

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I hit the jackpot

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in my professional life as well.

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I had the honor of working a line

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alongside a number of Weber
Shandwick leaders and industry greats,

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including my longtime partners
Harris Diamond,

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Jack Leslie and Gail Hyman.

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Together with them and so many others.

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We built a firm that attracted
and retained

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many of the brightest
and creative minds in the industry.

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We had the aspiration of being the best

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and we worked hard to make that happen,

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but we also had a lot of fun along
the way, and I have some fun memories.

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Certainly of all the time
we spent traveling together.

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And a lot of moments stand out.

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I'll just mention a couple.

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I still laugh out loud, for example,
about walking the cobblestone

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streets of Cannes during the International
Festival of Creativity

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with gal in her very high heels.

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So picture that cobblestone street, and,

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or there were the many

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times that I had, long and very,
I could tell you

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very unproductive debates
with Harris Diamond about lots of things,

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but including whether our young creatives
could wear jeans

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to the office.

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There were mind blowing, moments as well.

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Like the time Nelson
Mandela asked me what he should say

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to the audience at a factory
opening in Cape Town.

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In that moment, it was pretty clear to me
that sometimes the best advice to give

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someone is to simply say,
I think you got this.

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I never thought

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I'd build a career in the PR business,
going all the way

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back to my elementary days
as sports editor of the Peewee Post.

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I wanted to be a journalist.

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And after college, I did start my career
in the journalism world.

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But following a few brief stints
with newspapers,

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I left my Pulitzer Prize dream behind
and joined a New York City

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public relations firm,
then known as Bozell and Jacobs

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Public Relations
as an assistant account executive.

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I knew very little about the PR industry,

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and it showed that

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I had, quite the first few months

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for one of my earliest case
history projects.

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I went underground into a coal mine
to document

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how equipment was being utilized
to stabilize the roof.

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I showed up in a three piece suit

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from the coal miners on site that day.

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Were laughing so hard
about what I was wearing.

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I barely got through the interviews.

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My first big press conference
was for a lighting company

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introducing new compact fluorescent bulbs.

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I thought we were all set
for a successful event.

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We even had one of the actors
from the Gilligan's Island

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TV show slated to attend Big Draw.

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It was Ginger, in case you're wondering,

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nobody showed up,

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but I did a great job
stuffing the press kit.

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Well, these can be career defining moments
for some, perhaps in all the wrong ways.

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I started to get my footing
and gain new responsibilities.

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And during that time,
and for the following two decades,

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I had the opportunity
to work closely with Dick Johnson,

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the senior communications
lead at Ingersoll.

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In our relationship
had a transformative impact on my career.

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Yes, I learned a lot about our craft,

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but what really struck me about observing

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was observing how Dick worked with people
and advised his executive leadership

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as a senior communications officer.

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He was an active listener, a compelling

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storyteller, an empathetic leader.

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And those were all qualities
that resonated with me.

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And then I tried to
emulate throughout my career,

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in fact,

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through all my experiences
telling the truth.

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Proving it with action.

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Listening to stakeholders.

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Managing for tomorrow.

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In fact, all of the page principles
always served as a clear guidepost

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for how to advise the companies
we represented and how to lead our firm.

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The page principles were centering force,

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informing how and what it takes
to solve problems for clients,

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and how to support our teams that create

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the ideas
that bring our important work to life.

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How we do what we do is paramount.

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Weber Shandwick became an industry
leading firm focusing on the

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how we built a collaborative culture
that we nurtured over time.

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It's what made us different.

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It's why our people joined the firm
and stayed with the firm.

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And it's what attracted many clients
to work with us.

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Our collective
focus on how we do, what we do,

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and how we made people feel
about working at the firm.

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That was the foundation for our success.

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And I'm proud that we've

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had a positive impact
on thousands of people's careers.

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Many of those individuals
have risen into top agency positions

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and into CCO roles
at major organizations around the world.

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The talent in this room is extraordinarily
impressive.

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Your voices in the boardroom
and the C-suite,

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providing leadership and advising
leadership on how to navigate risk

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and how to engage stakeholders
with strikingly different views

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are critical in these polarized times.

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Embracing our role
guiding leaders in building

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or rebuilding
trust has never been more important.

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As we tackle those challenges.

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We need new voices.

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We need to focus on
how to develop our future leaders.

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Most of my time
these days is spent with young people

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offering advice about their careers.

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And I would encourage all of you
to spend a good chunk

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of your time
in engaging with young professionals.

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They can bring fresh thinking
and healthy perspective.

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Many of them have not had the experience
of working in offices,

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so they always

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have face to face access
to potential mentors.

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They worry about missing opportunities
to gain experience,

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to learn and to lead.

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They worry
that AI adoption will result and result

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in fewer positions
for professionals early in their careers,

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and they worry that some environments
have become less inclusive.

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I believe strongly that organizations
should, as a priority,

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stay true to their values and continue
to focus on Dei and take meaningful steps

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to create more diverse
and inclusive environments

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for all.

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Embracing different points of view

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not only gets us toward
establishing more trust in common ground.

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It also leads to business success.

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Arthur Paige reminds us
we must manage for tomorrow.

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And with that,
and in the spirit of paying it forward,

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I'm pleased to be working with
the Paige team to establish a scholarship

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to support and further develop Paige's
Future Leaders Experience programs.

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These
Paige professional development programs

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prepare our industry's next generation
of leaders, and at the same time,

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have the important goal
of increasing diversity in the industry.

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In closing, I'm thankful.

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Very thankful to have had the opportunity

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to meet and partner
with so many extraordinary people,

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reminding me always how fortunate

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and proud I am to work in this profession.

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Thank you again for this wonderful honor.

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Thank you.