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Gretchen's APR

Congratulations to Gretchen Roufs, APR, who recently earned her accreditation in public relations. To receive this honored designation, Gretchen successfully completed a peer review panel and rigorous exam that measures a professional’s knowledge, skills and abilities in the practice of public relations, including communication theory, management science, strategic planning and ethics. In passing the exam, Gretchen joins an elite group of more than 4,300 active accredited professionals in the United States and abroad.

“Gretchen has been a wonderful asset to the public relations community in San Antonio and now brings an even higher level of expertise to share with us,” said PRSA San Antonio APR Chair Michelle Baker, APR. “In just a few of months, she has already been instrumental in furthering the profession by being an unwavering advocate of the benefits of the APR program. We are very grateful for her commitment and know that many other professionals will be blessed by her support and dedication in the future.”

 Gretchen is currently president of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) San Antonio chapter and owner of Auxillary Marketing Services. Her company is a certified woman-owned, small, DBE and HUB business that specializes in designing and managing programs that build relationships between an organization and its publics.  As a public relations consultant, Gretchen provides training services and develops strategic messages and content that make complicated subjects easy to understand.

Gretchen’s thoughts on the APR: 

A couple of years ago I decided to pursue the “Accreditation in Public Relations” (APR) credential, just for the heck of it.  The more I looked into it, I realized that it would be nice to have the “APR” behind my name. Then I started to seriously study (sometimes only because of peer pressure from my study group), and at some magical point, I realized that after all of these years of being a PR practitioner, what I was personally missing was the formal theory behind the practice of public relations. As a result, I feel like I’m a much better PR professional, and I think my clients feel the same. In addition to the studying, all of the things I experienced along the way, from the discipline of preparing a portfolio, to getting feedback during my Readiness Review from a panel of peers who had already earned their APRs, to working with my APR mentor, were wonderful professional opportunities I would not have experienced in any other setting. I am so glad I went through the APR process, and if asked “would you do it again?” my answer is a resounding “YES!” 

If you are interested in learning more about enhancing your career and personal development with accreditation, please contact Michelle Baker, APR, at [email protected] or (806) 626-2650.