Jan has been a member of CAPIO for many years now. To many of us, she is not only a colleague and mentor but also a friend. A true supporter of CAPIO and embodying a passion for publci service, Jan has participated yearly in the conferences and has also lended her PIO skills to give back to the profession as a judge the annual Awards of Excellence. In addition, she's an alumnus of CAPIO's prestigious J.Lindsey Wolf PIO Institute.

She has also received serveral awards from CAPIO as well as from the America Water Works Association, California Special District's Association and a project of the year award, from the Sacramento Chapter of the American Public Works Association.

Jan just retired from her career in public service with this CAPIO Awards of Excellence Dinner being her last. She'll be joining SportaFence Marketing Enterprises as teir marketing director shortly after retirement. She also plans to continue traveling the world, piloting helicopters (again), racing snow dogs and continuing her commitment to public service with community volunteer projects.

“Karen has contributed tremendously to the profession and to CAPIO and was incredibly deserving of this award,” said CAPIO President Krista Noonan. “She definitely encompasses all the CAPIO Board of Directors looks for in bestowing the award to an esteemed colleague”

Terrill has more than 35 years experience in serving the public as a PIO and working with the media. First, serving as a broadcast news anchor and then at CAL FIRE and now through her own company, Media Survival Group.

While spending the first 15 years of her career in broadcast, Terrill developed an admiration for the work of PIOs. She watched in her newsroom as reporters treated a story differently when they respected the PIO behind it. She would look back on those instances years later when she decided that PIO training was her true calling.

After leaving the broadcast arena, Terrill served as the chief PIO of CAL FIRE for more than 20 years. She began to teach and accept speaking engagements to help other PIOs learn the ropes. Humbly, she would admit to them that “no one is born knowing this stuff” and “don’t make the same mistakes I made.”

Through her career, Terrill has worked diligently to form relationships with other public sector agencies and create innovative PIO crisis communication programs—which have even been endorsed by the US Department of Homeland Security.

PIOs who have been trained through Terrill’s programs have gone on to respond to important events like Hurricane Irene and the Crescent City Tsunami.

Terrill also created the pocket-sized award-winning Go Book—which serves as a checklist for setting up and operating a NIMS compliant Joint Information System/Joint Information Center. The Go Book has been used nationwide as a tool to support and document a jurisdiction’s efforts in crisis response.

In addition as a lead PIO for CAL FIRE, Terrill created several award-winning CAPIO programs, such as the Tahoe Re-Green, which encouraged public response to clear dead and dying trees and replace them with new, appropriate tree species in the Lake Tahoe area. She served as lead PIO for several multi-agency programs, such as the Boarder Agency Fire Council that created an international land management/public safety agreement, which remains intact today.

Terrill has been an active member for nearly 10 years and has been a speaker at previous CAPIO conferences, sharing her knowledge of crisis communications and communications law. She has also served as a sponsor at several CAPIO conferences.

She has also been a trainer with the California Specialized Training Institute, including their inaugural training program in 1986. And, she has taught mass media at UC Davis.

Through her career, Terrill has been lauded for her work and has won more than 40 awards for writing and communication program development. In addition to CAPIO’s Paul B. Clark award, she has also received a lifetime achievement award from the California State Information Officers Council.

View News Release here.

Communications professional Gail Ortiz received the prestigious Paul B. Clark award from the California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO) at its recent annual conference in Sacramento. Ortiz was honored with this top award for her outstanding service to the public, her profession and the CAPIO organization.

"Gail has contributed tremendously to the profession and to CAPIO and was incredibly deserving of this award," said CAPIO President Jenny Peterson.

Ortiz has more than 30 years of experience in public relations and government communications. She is currently the communications manager for the City of Santa Clarita, one of California's top 25 largest cities. She has held the position for the last 21 years.

She has also served as the media manager at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center and as the public information officer for Lakeview Medical Center.

As the first public information officer for the city, Ortiz worked to build the communications department up in to the award-winning department it is today. Her responsibilities have included public affairs and marketing roles, in addition to traditional communication functions.

She has helped the City of Santa Clarita achieve regional and national media attention with creative programs, media and special events, including the "Hairdresser's Luncheon," "Milk and Cookies with the Mayor," the "Healthy Santa Clarita" program, and the "Extreme Neighborhood Makeover" program.

As technology has changed the world of public relations, Gail has been at the forefront of emerging technologies in order to communicate with the Santa Clarita community. The city was one of the first in the state to adopt social media, including a city Facebook page, Twitter accounts and an online blog called Santa Clarita City Briefs.

During the last 20 years, Ortiz worked diligently to support the CAPIO organization, serving both on committees and the board of directors.

The quality of Ortiz's work has been recognized by CAPIO through its Excellence in Communication Awards. In addition, she has received numerous SAVVY Awards from the City/County Communications and Marketing Association and the League of California Cities Helen Putnam Award of Excellence.

Ortiz was also instrumental in the creation of the Santa Clarita Valley Public Information Officers' group, which has been around for more than 10 years and addresses regional issues of crisis communications, intergovernmental relations and mutual assistance. The group boasts more than 50 members in a 200-square mile geographic area and includes public information officials from major agencies in the area, including health care, utilities, county and state government, and fire and law enforcement.

In her current role, Ortiz has mentored more than 15 young professionals with a hands-on internship program that readies graduates for an entry level communications job. Many of Ortiz's mentees have gone on to secure communication jobs in the private and public sector.

Ortiz is also actively involved in her community and serves as the vice president for the local Domestic Violence Center, where she has been on the board for seven years. During her tenure at the Domestic Violence Center, she created "Boys Night Out," an annual event that raises thousands of dollars for the center as well as awareness among community men for issues related to domestic violence. She has also helped balance the agency's budget, hiring a new executive director and helped create a scaled down budget with reserves for the non-profit.

In addition, she serves on the advisory board for the Santa Clarita Valley Family Promise, an organization that provides shelter and services to homeless families. Previously, she has served on the board for the Child and Family Center of the Santa Clarita Valley for eight years.