AWC 2006 Annual Professional Conference, September 14-16, 2006 Kansas City, MO

The Heart of It All

Headliner Anita Parran

Anita Parran

Headliner Winner
Anita Parran

Anita K. Parran, associate state director for public affairs for AARP Missouri, has been named the Headliner Award winner for 2006 by the Association for Women in Communications (AWC).

The AWC Headliner Award recognizes an AWC member who has recent national accomplishments, as well as consistent communications excellence.  The award was established in 1939 and over the years has been given to over 200 AWC members. Parran will be presented with the award at the Headliner Awards Luncheon on Saturday, September 16, 2006, at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City, Mo.

Parran works at AARP Missouri, which is based in Kansas City, MO. She is responsible for all of the organization’s communications efforts in Missouri and special projects and events. She is also responsible for supporting AARP’s national communications strategies in the areas of legislative advocacy, economic security, and the organization’s Social Impact Agenda.

Parran has been active in the Greater Kansas City Professional Chapter of The Association for Women in Communications since 1991. She has held a variety of leadership positions within the chapter, including president, vice president-programs, program committee chairman and vice president of membership.

Parran has also served as an International Conference Delegate for the AWC Kansas City chapter. She was the chapter’s 1995 Leading Change Award recipient and the 1999 recipient of the chapter’s Unsung Hero Award.

A native of St. Louis, Parran earned a Master of Arts degree in Business Management from Webster University in St. Louis, Mo. and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Stephens College in Columbia, Mo.

She is involved with several professional groups and devotes much of her time serving on Boards of Directors for organizations including The Central Exchange, Harvesters, Community Blood Center, and is the Public member on the Missouri Board of Pharmacy. She is the immediate past president of the Kansas City Association of Black Journalists and volunteers for organizations including Junior Achievement and the Urban League.