SAN DIEGO, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) will bestow the distinguished title of Fellow on Diane Gage Lofgren, senior vice president of Brand Strategy, Communications and PR for Kaiser Permanente, tonight at a ceremony at PRSA's 2009 International Conference in San Diego.

"Being inducted into the PRSA College of Fellows is one of the profession's highest individual honors," said Michael Herman, APR, SAGE, Fellow PRSA, and 2009 chair of the College of Fellows. "It is with great pride that we recognize the lifetime career work and leadership of outstanding professionals who exhibit exceptional personal and professional qualities and have significantly advanced our profession."

Ms. Gage Lofgren has been in her current position at Kaiser Permanente for three years, where she is responsible for managing national communications, issues and brand management, and public relations functions. In this role, she leads the critical work of positioning Kaiser Permanente in the hearts and minds of the organization's key stakeholders, and leads all work associated with stewardship and oversight of the Kaiser Permanente brand.

The results of Ms. Gage Lofgren's hard work have been dramatic; there was a 246 percent increase in positive media news mentions 2006 over 2008, and a 191 percent increase from 2007 to 2008. She established a national speakers' bureau and issues council for Kaiser Permanente, and created an overarching message architecture to ensure consistency across the organization. She encourages the use of social media to communicate with external audiences, and under her leadership Kaiser Permanente instituted company pages on Facebook and YouTube, and the media team became active in the use of Twitter to reach key audiences. Early in her tenure, Ms. Gage Lofgren completed a re-organization of the communications functions to better align communications with operational efforts and organizational priorities. She and her team launched the Kaiser Permanente News Center to serve as a go-to source for internal and external stakeholders with timely responses to issues as well as broad-based information about the organization.

Ms. Gage Lofgren has focused on informing and inspiring employees, creating new venues to promote business literacy among her team members. She is an executive sponsor of KP IdeaBook, an internal social media platform to increase employee collaboration and productivity. Recently, Kaiser Permanente was recognized by PR News Online as one of the "Best Places to Work in PR."

"I am honored to be accepted into the College of Fellows because PRSA has played such an important part of my career," Ms. Gage Lofgren said. "I look forward to continuing my work for Kaiser Permanente, where public relations is clearly viewed as a critical asset in achieving the organization's business objectives and building our brand."

During Ms. Gage Lofgren's impressive career she has worked in many public relations and health care communications roles, including serving as senior vice president of marketing and communications at Sharp HealthCare in San Diego, and as vice president of customer and market strategy for Catholic Health Initiatives' national office in Denver. Additionally, for 10 years, she owned The Gage Group, a full-service public relations and marketing agency in San Diego

She is a past president of the San Diego Chapter of PRSA, and became accredited in public relations through PRSA in 1989. Currently she is a member of the PRSA San Francisco Chapter.

In addition to her day-to-day role, Ms. Gage Lofgren contributes to the profession in other ways, having published seven books and written scores of national magazine articles discussing topics ranging from business and personal relationships to management and marketing. She speaks regularly to communications and business audiences and is also a community volunteer, serving on the Keep Oakland Beautiful board.

In the mid-90s, Ms. Gage Lofgren taught public relations classes at San Diego State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and master's degrees in mass communications, and she continues to advance the profession through guest lectures at her alma mater.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 8.6 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente