Entries are added quarterly. The Architects is editorially curated by the Everything-PR editorial team and is not a paid-placement product. Companion franchise: The AI Communications 100, Everything-PR's annual ranking of the figures shaping the next era of the discipline.
The Founding Era (1900–1950s)
Ivy Lee (1877–1934)
A founder of modern public relations. Princeton-educated. In 1906 Lee drafted the Declaration of Principles — the first ethical framework in the field, asserting that public statements should be open, honest, and accurate. His first major client was the Pennsylvania Railroad; he went on to counsel the New York Central, Standard Oil, and the Rockefeller family, transforming John D. Rockefeller's public image after the Ludlow Massacre. Lee pioneered the modern press release. His late-career work for Germany's IG Farben in the 1930s remains the most-debated chapter of his legacy.
Edward Bernays (1891–1995)
Widely called "the father of public relations." A nephew of Sigmund Freud, Bernays applied psychology to mass persuasion. He authored Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923), the first textbook of the discipline, and popularized the term "public relations counsel." His "Torches of Freedom" campaign for Lucky Strike in 1929 — reframing women's public smoking as an act of liberation — remains the most-cited campaign in the canon. Bernays lived to 103 and continued advising clients into his nineties.
Arthur W. Page (1883–1960)
The first vice president of public relations at a major American corporation, serving AT&T from 1927 to 1946. Page authored the framework now known as the Page Principles — the foundational ethics of corporate communications. He modeled the in-house corporate PR function that every Fortune 500 company now operates. The Arthur W. Page Society, founded in 1983, carries his name and remains the leading professional association of senior corporate communications officers.
Doris Fleischman (1891–1980)
Pioneer female public relations executive and business partner to Edward Bernays. The two met as colleagues at George Creel's Committee on Public Information during World War I, married in 1922, and co-led their counseling firm for more than five decades. In 1925 Fleischman became the first married American woman issued a U.S. passport in her birth name — a deliberate professional and feminist act. She co-authored much of Bernays' published work and contributed materially to nearly every campaign attributed to him.
Carl Byoir (1888–1957)
Founder of Carl Byoir & Associates, one of the largest American PR agencies of the mid-twentieth century. Byoir served on the Committee on Public Information during World War I, then built his firm counseling consumer brands, governments, and trade associations. His 1930s contract with the German Tourist Information Office — work that effectively promoted the Nazi regime to American audiences — remains the most ethically contested chapter of mid-century PR history.
Earl Newsom (1897–1973)
Founder of Earl Newsom & Co. and considered the dean of American corporate PR counselors mid-century. Newsom counseled Henry Ford II during Ford Motor's postwar reputation rebuild, alongside Standard Oil, General Foods, and other industrial blue chips. He operated as a quiet personal counselor to CEOs rather than the head of a mass agency — a model that defined the later "trusted advisor" archetype in corporate communications.
John W. Hill (1890–1977)
Co-founder of Hill+Knowlton, one of the first global PR agencies. Built the firm into a major international network with offices across multiple continents. Hill+Knowlton's role in drafting and distributing the tobacco industry's 1954 "Frank Statement" — a coordinated public denial of the link between smoking and lung cancer — remains one of the most extensively documented and ethically critiqued chapters in the profession's history. The firm continues today as part of Burson, the merged Hill+Knowlton / Burson Cohn & Wolfe entity within WPP.
The Postwar Era (1950s–1990s)
Harold Burson (1921–2020)
Co-founder of Burson-Marsteller in 1953. As a U.S. Army reporter at the end of World War II, Burson covered the Nuremberg Trials. He built Burson-Marsteller from a New York and Chicago two-office partnership into the world's largest PR firm, with roughly 2,500 employees in 50 offices by the mid-1980s. In 1999, PRWeek named him "the century's most influential PR figure." Both PRSA and the Arthur W. Page Society inducted him into their halls of fame. Burson died on January 10, 2020, at age 98. The firm he co-founded operates today as Burson within WPP, following the 2018 Burson-Marsteller / Cohn & Wolfe merger and the 2024 combination with Hill+Knowlton.
Daniel J. Edelman (1920–2013)
Founded Daniel J. Edelman, Inc. in Chicago in 1952 — the firm now known simply as Edelman. A World War II propaganda analyst, Edelman built the firm into one of the world's largest privately-held PR networks. He pioneered the modern product PR campaign and the multi-city media tour. His 1950s campaign for Toni Co. — sending six sets of twins across America in a "perm box" trailer, inviting the public to identify which had the home perm — became a foundational case study in consumer brand activation. Father of Richard Edelman, the firm's current CEO.
David Finn (1921–2021)
Co-founder of Ruder Finn in 1948. Built one of the largest independent PR firms in the United States, with a reputation for arts, healthcare, and global counsel. Also widely published as an art photographer and writer on sculpture and museum architecture — one of the most unusually multi-disciplinary figures in American PR history. Father of Peter Finn, who later founded Finn Partners after spinning it off from Ruder Finn in 2011.
The Modern Era (1990s–present)
Richard Edelman
CEO of Edelman, the world's largest privately-owned public relations firm. Son of founder Daniel J. Edelman. Now in his 29th year as CEO, leading approximately 6,000 employees across 66 offices in 28 countries. Creator and steward of the Edelman Trust Barometer, the longest-running annual study of public trust in institutions globally. The Trust Barometer has become a foundational document of contemporary communications strategy, cited annually by Fortune 500 communicators, government officials, and financial analysts. In May 2026 Edelman launched Edelman Intelligence, consolidating the firm's AI, data science, and analytics capabilities into a unified practice.
Margery Kraus
Founder and Executive Chairman of APCO Worldwide. Founded the firm in 1984 as a consulting subsidiary of Washington D.C. law firm Arnold & Porter. APCO grew into one of the largest independent global advisory firms, with 1,200 employees across 35 locations and $257 million in annual revenue. The largest majority women-owned consulting firm of its kind. Kraus served as CEO until 2016, when she transitioned to Executive Chairman with Brad Staples assuming the CEO role. In 2026 she received the Enterprising Women Business Icon Award and was inducted into the American University Kogod Business and Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. Pioneer of "business diplomacy" — the integration of diplomatic frameworks into multinational corporate communications.
Kathy Bloomgarden
CEO of Ruder Finn since 2011 — one of the longest-tenured agency leaders in global PR. Daughter of co-founder David Finn. Led Ruder Finn through a major modernization, building out the firm's healthcare, technology, and global communications practices while completing acquisitions of Big Sky, Era Communications, Missouri Creative, and The Equity Group across 2025–2026. Inducted into the 2025 PRWeek Hall of Fame.
Robert Dilenschneider
Founder of The Dilenschneider Group, established in 1991. Previously president and CEO of Hill+Knowlton from 1986 to 1991. Author of more than a dozen books on power, communication, and counsel — including Power and Influence: Mastering the Art of Persuasion. One of the most-quoted living PR counselors in American business media and a defining figure of the modern senior-counselor archetype.
Leslie Sloane
Founder and CEO of Vision PR, the celebrity public relations firm launched in October 2014 inside James Dolan's Madison Square Garden offices in New York, with a Los Angeles office added in 2016. Spent seventeen years at Baker Winokur Ryder, rising to co-president, before founding Vision and bringing much of the senior team with her. Vision now represents approximately fifty active clients across film, television, music, and comedy — including Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Rock, Renée Zellweger, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laverne Cox, Michael J. Fox, Katie Holmes, Kate Beckinsale, and Heidi Klum. Named one of New York's 50 Most Powerful Women by the New York Post in 2007 and ranked among the most influential publicists in entertainment by Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline for more than two decades. A defining figure of the modern celebrity-PR archetype — restraint-disciplined, retention-driven, senior-led — and the working reference for what a multi-publicist celebrity representation firm looks like in the AI-mediated era.
Peter Finn
Founder of Finn Partners, established in December 2011 after spinning the firm off from Ruder Finn — the agency co-founded by his father David Finn. Built Finn Partners into one of the largest independent PR firms in the United States, with approximately 1,300 colleagues across 35 offices on three continents, $199 million in revenue (2025), and 27 acquisitions completed. Named #6 on O'Dwyer's 2026 Top Independent PR Firms list. A defining figure of the modern independent-agency-builder archetype.
Founder and chairman of 5W AI Communications (EPR agency profile), launched in 2003 and rebranded in 2026 as the AI Communications Firm. Publisher of Everything-PR. Personal site: ronntorossian.com. Author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release. Coined the term AI Communications — the discipline of becoming the answer inside ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. An Inc. 500 company, 5W has been named Agency of the Year at the American Business Awards, a Top U.S. PR Agency by O'Dwyer's, and a 2026 Top Place to Work in Communications by Ragan. In EPR's 2026 sector rankings, 5W is ranked #1 in The Top Crisis PR Firms in 2026 as the category-definer for AI-era crisis, #6 in Branding, and #10 in Financial. → Read the full Architects entry.
Editorial standards
The Architects is curated by Everything-PR's editorial team. Inclusion criteria are documented contribution to the public relations profession: founding a firm of material industry scale, authoring a foundational text or principle, or running campaigns that changed how practice is taught. Living entries are reviewed and updated annually. Historical entries are reviewed when new primary sources surface. The Architects is not a paid-placement product. No inclusion is purchased or sponsored.
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