Al Golin, a veteran of more than 50 years in public relations, was chairman of Chicago-based GolinHarris, before his death in 2017. PRWeek described him as one of the 100 most influential public relations people of the twentieth century.
In addition to handling the McDonald’s account for more than 50 years, GolinHarris represents such companies as Disney, Dow Chemical Co., Florida Dept. of Citrus, General Mills, GlaxoSmith Kline, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Nintendo, Owens Corning, Playtex, Sony Ericsson, Texas Instruments, Toyota, Unilever, and Walmart.
Golin was public relations advisor to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a member of the board of trustees of The Goodman Theatre of Chicago and Roosevelt University, and a founding board member of Ronald McDonald House Charities. He is also a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, the PR Seminar, and the Public Relations Society of America.
For Golin’s work with McDonald’s, the company has named two awards after him: the Al Golin TrustBank Award, given annually to one of McDonald’s worldwide public relations firms that best reflects Golin’s commitment to community service, and the Al Golin Public Relations Award of Excellence, presented annually to the McDonald’s franchisee and/or organization that best exemplifies the commitment of building trust through community involvement.
Golin received the Arthur W. Page Society’s 2004 Hall of Fame Award for “Career Achievements and Outstanding Contributions to the Profession, and the Public Relations Society of America’s 2005 Gold Anvil Award, the Society’s highest individual award, and the Plank Center’s Milestones in Mentoring Legacy Award in 2010. Golin has also received the Alexander Hamilton Medal from the Institute for Public Relations and lifetime achievement awards from the Publicity Club of Chicago and Inside PR magazine.
Golin has lectured at Princeton, Dartmouth College, Yale, Northwestern, New York University, and the Annenberg Communication School at USC. He is the author of the book, Trust or Consequences.
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