Peter W. Thonis presented with the 2010 Communicator of the Year Award by NY/IABC

By Kelly Kass

As communicators entered the Metropolitan Club to attend the reception for the New York IABC Communicator of the Year Award on October 27th, a rainbow appeared over the horizon.

An occurrence this rare in Manhattan can perhaps be considered a symbol of the long and distinguished career of this year’s award recipient, Peter W. Thonis, Chief Communications Officer at Verizon.

In his role at the company, Thonis is responsible for all external communications and media relations strategy and execution across the organization. He also helps to oversee executive and employee communications. Prior to his current position, Thonis was Senior Vice President of External Communications for Verizon, and helped make the broadband and telecommunications company one of the most recognized brand in America.

According to IABC New York Chapter President, Bob Noltenmeier, Thonis was awarded the honor for his 25+ years of experience in the comms industry and for what he brings to the table:

“We wanted someone who has a lot of corporate experience. Peter’s been with IBM, GTE, Verizon. He has high standards of integrity, he’s worked for large organizations that are global so he’s aware of all the communications trends. Peter applies all the techniques and professionalism that we look for and aspire to and that we want our members to aspire to. He truly understands how employees, customers and stakeholders think.”

Incoming New York IABC chapter President Rob Drasin, and President of Trident Communications, says,

“Corporate communicators need to feel recognized. As communicators, its’ part of our role to celebrate those people who have made a positive contribution and to reward them and acknowledge them.”

The New York IABC Communicator of the Year Award has been presented since 2004, chosen by a distinguished panel made up of past New York IABC Presidents and senior practitioners in the corporate communications industry.

The committee looks for senior communication executives who have:

• Achieved business objectives through communication strategies and tactics over a sustained period;
• Adhered to the highest professional and ethical standards;
• Promoted the communication profession in a positive way;
• Inspired communication innovation and development;
• Made extraordinary, unique or pioneering communication contributions.

Past recipients of the honor include Catherine Mathis, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications for Standard & Poor’s, Jon Iwata, Senior Vice President of Communications for IBM, and Sally Susman, Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at Pfizer.

Taking one for the team

At this year’s gala, many of Thonis’ colleagues – past and present, from IBM to Verizon – were on hand were on hand to cheer him on as he received his award.

During his lively acceptance speech, the humble Thonis gave all the credit to his Verizon communications team. 

“Everybody expects me to say I couldn’t do this without my team. In this case, it’s actually true - I really couldn’t do this without my team. I have teammates who I’ve known for a long time – who are able to bring to the table what I don’t. There is a great level of intellectual diversity that enables me to get done what I need to get done in a hurry at a high quality level. You don’t do that without assembling a team you can really count on. I’m extremely lucky-I’ve told them many times – this is the best team of communications professionals I have ever worked with ever.” 

Thonis also acknowledged the ability of his staff to keep up with the rapid pace of changing technology and social media. Constant accessibility has also played a role in achieving successful internal communication. Thonis admits to speaking with his staff multiple times a day, even on weekends.

“Things happen that you don’t expect - we’re a big company, we have a lot of big brands, a lot of employees, a lot of complex things - things happen that are hard to believe sometimes, that you never read about probably because of my team. We are able to manage those things and work with the media. We know how to internally and externally, get our constituencies to be more or less on our side every minute of the day to do the right thing.”

But the main ingredient for effective communication: passion.

“Even though I wake up every day and I’ve been doing this for a very long time, I truly and utterly love it,” Thonis said.

About NY/IABC

With 400 members, the New York Chapter of IABC is one of the largest chapters within IABC, a global network of 15,000 communicators working in diverse industries and disciplines, including public relations, marketing, employee communications, nonprofits, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and institutions who seek to identify, share, and apply the world’s most effective communication practices.

What else is Peter W. Thonis passionate about? Social media. Hear why in our video interview below.