MITCH LEFF OF LEFF ASSOCIATES RECEIVES PRSA GEORGIA'S JULY CHAPTER CHAMPION AWARD

ATLANTA – July 19, 2016 – Mitch Leff is the recipient of the July 2016 Chapter Champion Award from the Georgia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) (prsageorgia.org). This award recognizes his dedicated volunteer work for the Georgia chapter.

Leff has served as co-chair of the Chapter’s Independent Counselors Special Interest Group for the past three years, where he has coordinated the topics and speakers for the group’s meetings. Additionally, Leff has assisted with the Chapter’s Annual Media luncheon programs. In his early career, he served for several years as the chair of PRSA Georgia’s Young Professionals Group.

“I became involved with the Georgia Chapter early in my career – in the early ‘80s -- as a way to network with my peers and expand my understanding of what PR really meant,” said Leff. “In 2003, when I launched my own independent agency, I learned about the Independent Counselors Special Interest Group and quickly realized what a valuable resource that would be for me.”

A graduate of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School with a BBA in Finance,, Leff started his career in 1988 at Cohn & Wolfe as an Account Coordinator working on the 1990 Goodwill Games and rose to become Media Relations Director for the Atlanta office. He worked at Edelman and GCI Group before leaving agency PR (temporarily) to become Director of Public Relations for Turner Learning, the educational division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. At Turner, he was responsible for public relations and public affairs for educational programs across a number of AOL Time Warner networks and entities, including CNN, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, HBO, The WB, and the Atlanta Thrashers. In 2003, he founded Leff & Associates, an independent public relations agency. As president of his own agency, he’s built a team that works on a range of clients locally, regionally and nationally.

Because of this type of volunteerism and commitment, the Georgia Chapter ranks as the second-largest chapter in the nation and has been recognized for its best membership practices among PRSA chapters across the country.

PRSA Georgia (prsageorgia.org), the second-largest local chapter in the national society, consists of more than 900 professionals throughout Georgia. Its mission is to enhance the profession, provide continuing education and offer networking opportunities for its members. The Chapter hosts regular monthly meetings and seminars, an Annual Conference for professionals and an annual Real World PR collegiate conference day.

The Chapter includes eight Special Interest Groups (Corporate and Employee Communications, Healthcare, Independent Counselors, Leader Board, Nonprofit, Technology, Travel and Tourism, and Young Professionals) that meet at various times.

It also supports eight PRSSA (student society) groups at the following colleges: Berry College (Rome), Columbus State University (Columbus), Georgia College & State University (Milledgeville), Georgia State University (Atlanta), Georgia Southern University (Statesboro), Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw), University of Georgia (Athens), and University of West Georgia (Carrollton).

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