Learn from the 2018 Silver Link best in show winner Christopher Payne, APR and Fellow. Payne is chief communications officer at Union Public Schools, which earned top honors for the district's 2018 “Believing in U” Bond Campaign and #UBeThere attendance campaign.

Save the date and come prepared to hear great insights from a highly decorated, local PRSA Tulsa member!

About Christopher Payne, APR, Fellow PRSA

Chris Payne joined Union Public Schools in January 2017, and was recently named Chief Communications Officer. He previously served as Executive Director of Communications for Tulsa Public Schools.

Payne comes to Union with more than 25 years of experience in public relations and strategic communications experience. He and his wife, Susan, have had three daughters who are graduates of Union Public Schools. His wife is a minister at First Christian Church in downtown Tulsa. Payne began working for Tulsa Public Schools in 2011, where he was instrumental in the success of Project Schoolhouse, an initiative that consolidated a number of schools resulting in more than $6.3 million in savings. Payne also helped TPS pass a $415-million school bond initiative – the state’s largest – as well as a $33-million technology bond in 2013.

He has previously served as vice president and general manager for the Tulsa office of SAXUM, an integrated communications firm, before joining Tulsa Public Schools. Prior to that, he was senior manager of corporate communications for Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc., the parent company of Thrifty Car Rental and Dollar Rent A Car. He worked at the company for nearly 17 years, having started as a manager of corporate communications for Thrifty Car Rental. He previously lived in Dallas, where he spent four years working for public relations and political consulting agencies, leading a number of regional and national accounts.

In 2014, Chris was one of 16 individuals inducted into the PRSA College of Fellows, which recognizes those who have left a significant footprint on the public relations profession. In 2012, he received a national Silver Anvil Award from PRSA for his roundbreaking work in issues management, and a 2012 Award of Excellence for his work on Project Schoolhouse. In 2002, he was named “PR Professional of the Year” by the Tulsa Chapter of PRSA.

He has served on the board of directors for the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa and has been actively involved in The Kennedy Center’s Any Given Child program in Tulsa, which provides live art experiences to TPS students in kindergarten through the 8th grade. He is past board president of Tulsa’s Susan G. Komen for the Cure and past president of the Tulsa Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. He has also served on the marketing committee for the Tulsa Area United Way.

Payne has a master of arts in mass communications from the University of Oklahoma and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. He is accredited in public relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America and is also a member of the National School Public Relations Association.