Minneapolis, Minnesota
President
Spong Public Relations
BS in English, Iowa State University, 1981
Doug Spong is the founder and president of Spong Public Relations (formerly Carmichael Lynch Spong). Recognized as one of the top PR agencies in the U.S., it was named 2013 "Creative Agency of the Year" by a leading industry trade publication.
An accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and a member of the society's College of Fellows, Doug is a past president of the 500-member Minnesota chapter. He is a member of PRSA's Counselors Academy; two-year chair of PRSA's Honors and Awards Committee; past co-chair of PRSA's international conference; founding member and former treasurer of the Council of Public Relations Firms; and a member of the Arthur W. Page Society.
During his career, Doug has received many of the PR industry's highest individual awards. Recently he was inducted in to the highly select PRSA College of Fellows. In 2011 he received the SABRE Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement from the Holmes Group and the Donald G. Padilla Distinguished Practitioner Award from the Minnesota PRSA. Over the years, he has received six presidential citations from PRSA for extraordinary service to the society. His leadership has earned hundreds of Silver Anvil, Bronze Anvil, SABRE awards and regional PRSA awards for his firm's client work.
In addition to the demands of running a world-class PR firm, Doug teaches an upper-level undergraduate course in strategic communication management as a professional adjunct instructor at the University of Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts School of Journalism.
Currently, Doug serves as the chair of the Iowa State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences dean's advisory board; the University of Minnesota School of Journalism master in strategic communication advisory board; chair-elect for Adopt-A-Classroom.org board of directors; and board member of the Page Education Foundation.
Doug founded Carmichael Lynch Spong in September 1990 after nine years at Colle+McVoy as senior vice president, managing director of public relations, and a member of the parent agency's board of directors. Carmichael Lynch Spong was renamed Spong in 2014 to distinguish its services from it’s sister company Carmichael Lynch.
Doug earned a bachelor's degree in English from Iowa State University in 1981.
