Evening With Linda Staley & Cayce Myers: Navigating Ethical Challenges in Public Relations with Artificial Intelligence

Linda L. Staley, APR, Fellow PRSA, is manager of corporate communications for Carilion Clinic, a $2.4 billion integrated health system based in Roanoke, Va. Linda provides leadership for the system’s corporate communications group, with specific responsibility for communication strategy, executive communications, corporate publications and the historical archive. Linda joined Carilion in 2009 and has held a variety of roles. As brand manager, she led naming and brand positioning for Carilion’s new urgent care, wellness, Medicare advantage and other offerings, signage and environmental branding projects, and the launch of a digital brand resource center. In 2016, she was named speechwriter and executive communications manager for president and chief executive officer Nancy Howell Agee, a nationally recognized health care leader and 2018 chair of the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees. Before joining Carilion, Linda served as senior brand marketing manager for Tetra, a world leader in aquarium products and a division of Cincinnati-based United Pet Group. Her background also includes extensive advertising and public relations agency experience, including six years at the helm of her own PR consultancy. Linda’s involvement in PRSA began as president of the Virginia Commonwealth University student chapter. She is a charter member of PRSA’s Blue Ridge Chapter and served as its second president in 1994. She currently serves on PRSA’s national Board of Professional Standards and in 2023 led the development of the Society’s AI guidance document, “Promise & Pitfalls: The Ethical Use of AI for Public Relations Practitioners.”

Cayce Myers, Ph.D, LL.M, J.D., APR is a professor of public relations and director of graduate studies at the School of Communication. His work focuses on laws, regulations and ethics that affect public relations practice. He is the author of Public Relations History: Theory Practice and Profession and Money in Politics: Campaign Fundraising in the 2020 Presidential Election. He is also the coauthor of the 4th and 5th editions of Mass Communication Law in Virginia and has also published over sixty peer reviewed articles, book chapters, law review articles, and trade press articles about public relations history, public relations strategy, political campaigns, and laws and policies that affect public relations practice.

In addition to his public relations scholarship, Myers is accredited in public relations, and is active in several public relations and communication organizations including the Arthur W. Page Society, Public Relations Society of America National Board of Directors, Legal Research Editor for the Institute for Public Relations, the National Press Club, the Higher Education Committee for the PR Museum, and the Commission on Public Relations Education. He was previously a member of the Universal Accreditation Board and the Board of Ethics and Professional Standards in PRSA.  He is also a frequent commentator about public relations, political campaigns, and legal issues, having been quoted in several media outlets including Time, Bloomberg, Fox News, the Los Angeles Times, the Hill, and the Associated Press.