Media, Law & Policy

Newhouse School establishes Mower Advertising Forum in honor of alumnus Eric Mower

Wednesday, October 21, 2009, By Wendy S. Loughlin

The Department of Advertising in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications has announced the establishment of the Eric Mower Advertising Forum in honor of Eric Mower ’66, G’68, chairman and CEO of the advertising and public relations firm Eric Mower and Associates (EMA). The announcement was made by advertising department chair James Tsao at the close of a lecture Mower gave to SU students.

“Mr. Mower’s impressive advertising career is an inspirational model for our students,” says Tsao. “He built not only a sustained career, but also one that has had a significant impact on the community and on education. He has nurtured more than 100 Newhouse students as interns and provided invaluable counsel to their professional careers. We thank him.”

The forum will support a speaker series that will provide students and faculty with practical, workshop-oriented learning experiences.

Mower serves as EMA’s senior strategic and tactical consultant and heads the agency management groups that address the overall policies, standards and practices of the organization. During the last 40 years, he has guided the agency’s growth from a staff of four to more than 270 across seven offices, and capitalized billings from less than $1 million to $220 million in 2008. Today, EMA is among the top 20 independent agencies in the country, and ranks in the annual “Top 100” lists of Adweek, B to B Magazine, PROMO Magazine and PR Week.

Mower’s experience ranges from television advertising to crisis communications and encompasses areas including banking, consumer electronics, franchising, grocery products, office equipment, professional service industries, quick-service restaurants, retail and utilities.

He is a member of the Newhouse School Advisory Board and an emeritus member of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees. He is vice chair of the New York State Business Council; chair of the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Government Relations Committee and is a member of its national board of directors; chair of the National Advertising Review Council; and just completed his seventh year as president of IN, the 90-nation International Network of Independent Advertising Agencies.

For more information about the Mower Forum, contact James Tsao at (315) 443-7362 or jctsao@syr.edu.