A self-starter with a philanthropic heart wins our PR Daily’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Ilene Adler started her career in a tech company 20 years ago and saw that her company’s marketing and PR material was poorly written. That’s because nobody at her firm’s PR agency understood the technology well enough to write competently about it. So, she decided to write about it herself—and she liked writing about it so much, she started her own PR agency. 

PR Daily’s 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Adler because she’s a pioneer in the technology PR industry. Her leadership style and the way she gives back to her employees and the community are radically different, too. 

In 1990, she founded Vantage Communications, a company built around bringing increased awareness of technology companies in both domestic and international markets. Clients have included Samsung, Microsoft, Panasonic and Ericsson. 

One of her best qualities is her ability to discover interesting facts about clients to use in their branding or messaging. For example, while working on Samsung’s launch of a new handset that was viewed by marketing as “standard,” Adler figured out the handset was the world’s smallest and lightest handset—and promoted this with great success.

Her experience in the international market (she was the director for software exports at the Israel Export Institute) has helped her company broaden its international reach. About one-third of Vantage’s clients have their headquarters in countries outside the U.S. 

She’s a mentor and role model to employees. Vantage management’s open-door policy for all employees is her innovation. Her good will extends beyond the business. She’s a philanthropist who matches every donation her employees make to charities. When one of her employees fell sick, she organized a walk to support research and treatment in the employee’s disease and paid her medical bills to the fullest extent allowed by the insurance company.

For these reasons and more, we are proud to honor Ilene Adler, CEO of Vantage PR, as the Lifetime Achievement Award winner. 

Congratulations!

Want to get recognized? Find out about Ragan and PR Daily’s award programs here.