PR Masters Series Podcast, Episode #69 – Eric Mower, Chairman, & Chief Executive Officer, Mower

PR Masters Series

About the Podcast

The Stevens Group has been presenting the PR Masters Series Podcast for more than two years now. This series is part of the ongoing partnership between The Stevens Group and CommPRO to bring to PR, digital/interactive and marketing communications agencies the wisdom of those who have reached the top of the PR profession. Today’s special guest is Eric Mower, Chairman, & Chief Executive Officer, Mower.

About Our Guest

Eric Mower has guided the privately-held Mower (formerly Eric Mower + Associates) over the past 54 years, growing it from a single location with a staff of four to one of the largest independent, digitally integrated, full-service marketing, advertising and public relations firms in the United States. Mower functions from ten US cities: Albany (New York), Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York City, Rochester (New York) and Syracuse.

Earlier this year Mower was named Midsize Agency of the Year for B2B by the Association of National Advertisers.

In the last decade, Ad Age magazine twice-named the agency one of the Top-10 “Best Places to Work.”

In addition to serving as Mower’s chairman and CEO, Eric served the Business Council of New York State as co-chair of the board for two years followed by two years as chair of the board. He and his firm joined the Business Council in 1986.

Eric is chair emeritus of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council (ASRC) and a past director and secretary/treasurer of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), and he continues to serve in his 30th year as chair of the 4A’s Government Relations Committee.

0ther board leadership positions include seven-years as president of the International Network of Advertising Agencies (IN); director of the International Council of Better Business Bureaus; director of the American Advertising Federation; eight years as the Founding Chair of the federal Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission.

In addition to being inducted into the Association of National Advertisers’ B2B Hall of Fame in 2019, Eric has been recognized by Ernst & Young as a Master Entrepreneur of the Year, and by City & State Reports, which bestowed on him the Lifetime Achievement Award and later named him to its “Responsible 100” list. In 2022 City & State Reports designated Mower as number 14 on “The 2022 Political PR Power 50 in New York.” Also in 2022, 100 Black Men of New York honored him with its J. Bruce Llewellyn Excellence in Philanthropy Award.

Over many years Eric provided leadership to, and was recognized by, numerous community philanthropic and civic organizations in Upstate New York, including the SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse, United Way, Community Foundation of CNY, Centerstate CEO, Syracuse Stage, Everson Museum, Boy Scouts, Junior Achievement, the Syracuse and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and others.

Eric earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences in 1966 and a master’s degree in public relations from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1968. And he serves as a Life Trustee of Syracuse University and sits on several of its committees (Academic Affairs, Advancement and External Affairs, Athletics, and Facilities). He is also a member of the university’s Subcommittee for Marketing and Communications. Mower joined SU’s board in 1990 and served as Vice Chair from 1997-2001. In 2018 he received the Dritz Life Trustee of the Year Award for outstanding Board service. His Syracuse University service includes ongoing membership on the Newhouse Advisory Council and he is a former member of the Whitman School of Business Advisory Council. Mower is a 2015 recipient of the George Arents Award, the University’s highest alumni honor, and a 2012 co-recipient with his wife, S.U. trustee Judith C. Mower, of the University’s Orange Circle Award. He also received the University’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 1995.