Starbucks executive to present prestigious Aspire Award to ASU PR student

Starbucks Senior Vice President Corey duBrowa is the featured speaker of the annual Public Relations Lab Mentorship Lecture at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

As part of the fifth annual event, duBrowa, senior vice president of global communications and international public affairs at Starbucks, will examine the power of mentorship and present Cronkite senior Caitlin Bohrer with the 2017 Aspire Award at 7 p.m. Monday, April 10, in the Cronkite School’s First Amendment Forum on the Downtown Phoenix campus.

The Aspire Award was established in honor of Enid R. Pansky by her son Scott Pansky, co-founder of the global public relations firm Allison+Partners, and his wife Yovita. The award pairs the winner with a nationally recognized communications leader who spends a day with the recipient at the Cronkite School.

“This is a fantastic opportunity that really complements Caitlin’s skill set,” Pansky said. “She is an award-winning student, and to be able to provide her with an opportunity like this is unparalleled. The PR Lab really prepares students like Caitlin for the real world.”

Prior to the Mentorship Lecture, duBrowa, who leads the development and execution of communication strategies at Starbucks, will meet with Bohrer, reviewing her portfolio, discussing career goals and offering advice. He previously spent a decade as president at WE Worldwide, in addition to individual consulting assignments for such clients as Microsoft and T-Mobile. He also served as director of employee communications for Nike.

Bohrer is a senior team leader in the Cronkite School’s PR Lab, an immersive learning environment in which students plan and execute professional public relations and communication campaigns for clients that range from Fortune 500 companies to nonprofits. She also is working as a public relations intern at LaneTerralever, an advertising agency in Phoenix. In 2016, she was named Student of the Year by PR News.

“It is definitely an honor after four years to see all that hard work pay off,” Bohrer said, “and to know that I have a mentor going forward as I move into the workplace. There’s someone I can talk to and bounce ideas off of and give me advice.”

Cronkite associate professor Fran Matera, the PR Lab’s founding director, said the Aspire Award and PR Lab Mentorship Lecture have played an important role in helping inspire the next generation of public relations professionals. She said Bohrer was an outstanding leader on lab projects, including the promotion of “Hooked Rx: From Prescription to Addiction,” a Cronkite School documentary on prescription opioid abuse, which reached 900,000 Arizonans in January.

“Caitlin has some real strengths,” Matera said. “Clients have remarked on her maturity and her willingness to learn about them. (They) said she demonstrates an extraordinary sense of professionalism.”

Launched in 2013, PR Lab Mentorship Lectures have featured Gail Adams-Jackson, director of communications for the International Association of Geophysical Contractors; Glen Broom, professor emeritus at San Diego State University; Ashleigh Gardner, head of writer and publisher partnerships at Wattpad; and John J. Nicoletti, vice president for internal communications at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.