Steven J. Harris
After a career of more than 40 years in automotive communications, Steve Harris is currently a senior counselor with McGinn and Company, a firm based in Arlington, VA, which specializes in crisis and litigation communications, trend analysis and issues around loyalty and risk. Prior to his affiliation with McGinn, Harris was head of global communications at General Motors (GM), where he led a team of professionals who provided a wide variety of communications services to GM’s 235,000 employees and in support of GM’s operations and brands in 12,000 communities and 200 countries around the globe.
In the spring of 2010, Harris also taught a graduate communications class at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications in Los Angeles.
Harris first joined GM in 1967 as a lecturer with GM’s Previews of Progress educational program after graduating from the University of Southern California with a BA in Journalism.
In late 1979, he joined American Motors as head of product public relations, moving on to Chrysler as the director of corporate public relations in late 1987. He was named vice president of communications for Chrysler in January 1998. Following the merger of Chrysler and Daimler-Benz in late 1998, he was named senior vice president of communications.
In early 1999, Harris returned to GM after a 20-year absence as vice president of global communications, a post he held until the end of 2003, when he retired and opened a communications consulting practice working with two agencies and a number of top U.S. companies. He was asked to return to GM in the same role in February 2006.
Harris has served on the boards of the Arthur W. Page Society, Institute for Public Relations, Foundation for American Communications and the University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Strategic Public Relations.
On November 5, 2008, Harris received the IPR Alexander Hamilton Medal for lifetime contributions to professional public relations. In February 2008, he was one of the first recipients of the SABRE Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Public Relations. In 2007, he was inducted into the Arthur W. Page Society Hall of Fame and named an Automotive News All-Star for automotive public relations for the eighth time. The Detroit Chapter of the Public Relations Society for America named him to their Hall of Fame in 2002, and he has also received awards from Inside PR for crisis management and the University of Southern California's Outstanding Journalism Alumni award.
Harris was born in 1945. He and his wife, Roddie, live Santa Fe, NM.
In the spring of 2010, Harris also taught a graduate communications class at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications in Los Angeles.
Harris first joined GM in 1967 as a lecturer with GM’s Previews of Progress educational program after graduating from the University of Southern California with a BA in Journalism.
In late 1979, he joined American Motors as head of product public relations, moving on to Chrysler as the director of corporate public relations in late 1987. He was named vice president of communications for Chrysler in January 1998. Following the merger of Chrysler and Daimler-Benz in late 1998, he was named senior vice president of communications.
In early 1999, Harris returned to GM after a 20-year absence as vice president of global communications, a post he held until the end of 2003, when he retired and opened a communications consulting practice working with two agencies and a number of top U.S. companies. He was asked to return to GM in the same role in February 2006.
Harris has served on the boards of the Arthur W. Page Society, Institute for Public Relations, Foundation for American Communications and the University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Strategic Public Relations.
On November 5, 2008, Harris received the IPR Alexander Hamilton Medal for lifetime contributions to professional public relations. In February 2008, he was one of the first recipients of the SABRE Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Public Relations. In 2007, he was inducted into the Arthur W. Page Society Hall of Fame and named an Automotive News All-Star for automotive public relations for the eighth time. The Detroit Chapter of the Public Relations Society for America named him to their Hall of Fame in 2002, and he has also received awards from Inside PR for crisis management and the University of Southern California's Outstanding Journalism Alumni award.
Harris was born in 1945. He and his wife, Roddie, live Santa Fe, NM.