James Lukaszewski

Lukaszewski is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and ASIS International. He served on ASIS International's Crisis Management and Business Continuity Council (CMBCC) until 2014. Lukaszewski is a member of the PRSA's College of Fellows (Fellow PRSA) and the PRSA's Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS). He has been a members of BEPS since 1992, and they named him a emeritus member in 2015. He was also selected as an IABC Fellow and began serving on the IAB Communication Certification Council (GCCC) in 2015.

He was a Ben Bronstein Lecturer at Pennsylvania State University in 2013 and received the Drew Middleton Award for Distinguished Service in support of the U.S. Marine Corps E. Coast Command.

In 2010, he dissolved The Lukaszewski Group Inc. and returned to Minnesota to become the founding president of The Lukaszewski Group division of Risdall McKinney Public Relations.

Honored a multitude of times by business leaders, companies, colleges, and universities for his work in the field and as a Public Relations Educator, Mr. Lukaszewski received many honors from the PRSA, including President's Citation Award in 2000 and every year since, the Donald G. Padilla Distinguished Practitioner Award, a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2013, and the John W. Hill Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

Lukaszewski is a member of the Boards of Professionals of The Public Relations Review, a contributing editor to Public Relations Quarterly, a member of the Editorial Board of Case Studies in Strategic Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill, and a contributing columnist to PR News. He has published 19 monographs on communication subjects since 1994, twelve manuals and books, including Why Should the Boss Listen to You, The Seven Disciplines of The Trusted Strategic Advisor, and Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication: What Your CEO Needs to Know About Reputation Risk and Crisis Management and has written numerous articles. Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication was one of Soundview's Best Business Books of 2013.

Lukaszewski became an adjunct associate professor of Communications at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies in 1987-2009.

In 1986, he moved to New York City, where he became a partner at Chester Burger Company, the nation’s first communications management firm. He also served as senior vice president and director of executive communication programs at Georgeson & Company. He founded The Lukaszewski Group Inc. in 1989, in White Plains, New York.

In 1978-1983, with his wife, Barbara, Lukaszewski founded the Minnesota-based Media Information Systems Corporation, a public relations firm that specialized in crisis management and media training. He also served as President of the ExecuCom Division of Brum and Anderson Public Relations.

In 1974-1976, Lukaszewski served as an adult intern in the Press Office of former Minnesota Governor Wendell R. Anderson. Following his internship, Lukaszewski became the Director of Publicity and Publications for the Minnesota Department of Economic Development. He later became the agency’s Deputy Commissioner in 1976-1978.

In 1960, he graduated from Robbinsdale High School in Minnesota, and enrolled at Macalester College, leaving the school in 1961, and returning in 1962. Later, he pursued a pharmacy degree at the University of Minnesota, before eventually enrolling at the Minnesota Metropolitan State College (MMSC). In 1974, he earned his B.A. degree in political public relations from MMSC. He is currently in graduate school at MMSC.

James E. Lukaszewski was born on August 27, 1942 in Kewaunee, Wisconsin.