Every organization has the habit of continually recruiting or replacing personnel to strengthen its overall performance to achieve maximum productivity.
When a change in key staff position happens in most companies like having a new Chief Executive Officer, it is expected as a standard public relations procedure to produce a press release announcement. You will need to inform stakeholders like business partners, employees, customers, investors, and other relevant stakeholders, including the media.
Communicating an organization’s message and position is vital in expanding the organization’s reach, brand growing, and becoming more transparent.
Unfortunately, this responsibility, which is often that of a public relations officer (PR) of an organization, can sometimes be a headache when it comes to churning out standard media-friendly press releases periodically if not vast in the act of creating such.
Before we go further, what is a press release announcement? This is simply a written statement with the public interest in mind, similar to a news release that is given to the press by an entity saddled with the matter.
As a public relations officer of an organization that has just elected or appointed a new CEO, it is expected of you to come up with a solid CEO press release announcement, which can sometimes be burdensome.
This article aims to assist you with writing and circulating your new CEO press release announcement to staff, employees, media houses, and the general public with answers that addresses important questions like:
What is your story? (What is this all about)
Who is being replaced? (The predecessor)
Who is being elected or appointed? (The successor)
How was the election or appointment process done if any?
How did the organization’s board come up with the replacement decision?
Other details expected to be included in the press release announcement includes :
A compelling headline
Appointment details like the name, position, duties, and responsibilities, appointment process, appointment date, the reason for the change, previous positions held, experience, educational history.
One or two quotes from concerned parties like the CEO or a member of the organization’s board.
Few relevant images of the new CEO, owner, company logo, office building
Company website address
Date of release
Dateline
Boilerplate consisting of the company’s brief history, and the company contact information like the contact person, company official address, and phone number(s)
image by Pixabay
So how do you proceed with the above information?
The first step is to deploy the inverted pyramid style of writing, which entails vital information within the first few paragraphs (Typically one or two) on the press release announcement.
These sets of paragraphs are the most important and should consist of a ‘hook’ like the who, what, when, where, why, and how for the target audience.
The date of the CEO press release announcement should be written at the top left-hand corner of the release and should come after the headline.
Use one or two quotes from an important person in the organization that can speak about the press release announcement. The press release announcement should be engaging and detailed enough to avoid leaving your readers stranded for crucial information on the announcement.
Include some outstanding feats the outgoing CEO achieved for the organization. Add a brief professional biography of the incoming CEO like his or her major qualifications, previous positions held, and past work experience to make the press release well detailed for your target audience.
In the closing part of your write-up, you should include a brief history of your organization that can help make your target audience understand the company better and make journalists do less job trying to look up details for your write-up.
Bear in mind that a well-written press release should look like a news article needing little or no editing from any media houses to broadcast it.
New CEO Press Release Announcement Template
{Headline Of the New CEO Press Release announcement}
[Organization City] [Organization State} Release Date: [If it is not to be released immediately]
[Press release summary Section: Give a brief description of your announcement]
[Include one or two quotes from either the new CEO, the predecessor, or an important member of the company’s board of directors related to the press release]
[Include additional paragraphs (about one or two) to reveal more details about the press release: try to answer all the relevant W- related questions (Who, Where What, Why and When)]
[{Include other quotes that should shed more light into the details of the new CEO press release from the outgoing CEO, incoming CEO, Chairman or any other relevant member of the organization’s board]
{Include a website address where your audience and other stakeholders can explore more information about the company, the new CEO and other relevant details related to the press release}
{
Boilerplate – information about the company: include the following information:
Contact person’s name, phone number and email if available, company address and company’s phone number(s)}
If you properly make use of the above details and tips, you should be having a well written new CEO press release announcement in your hands.
Sample New CEO press release
Museum of Arts and Design To Present Major Exhibition Of Works By World’s Leading Stained-Glass Artist
WASHINGTON, June 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ —
SCORE
, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, is pleased to announce the confirmation of Bridget Weston as CEO. Weston will guide the organization in its mission to foster vibrant small business communities through mentoring and education, with an emphasis on accountability, transparency and consensus-building.
Brian Clarke, Flowers for Zaha, 2016. Photo: Fraser Watson.
Weston has spent the past 10 years working as a change leader for SCORE and has served as acting CEO since last August. During her tenure, she has led the marketing and communications team, overseen the centralization of field accounting functions and worked with congressional staff to secure continued federal funding. Most recently, she has led SCORE’s efforts to connect business owners with SCORE’s
business resilience resources
and tools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Weston earned her MBA from Temple University and a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
“In her ten years of serving SCORE, Bridget has displayed her passion for the small business community and for our organization. In her tenure as acting CEO, we have all come to appreciate Bridget’s dedication to creating an environment of accountability, transparency and consensus building,” said SCORE Chairman of the Board Larry Tucker. “Please join me in congratulating Bridget. Under her leadership, we look forward to a vibrant and flourishing future for our organization and for the tens of thousands of organizations we serve each year.”
“The SBA congratulates Bridget Weston on her selection as CEO of the SCORE Association, which has been an invaluable resource partner in helping to create stronger alliances with the small business community,” said SBA Associate Administrator for the Office of Entrepreneurial Development Allen Gutierrez. “SCORE has been a critical part of the SBA’s mission by helping entrepreneurs to gain access to the resources and assistance they need to start, grow and succeed in business. With her leadership and management experience, I am confident Bridget will help to move the association forward in continuing to assist our nation’s 30 million small businesses.”
About SCORE
Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 11 million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each year, SCORE’s 10,000 volunteer business experts provide free small business mentoring sessions, workshops and educational services to more than 260 chapters and 1,500 communities nationwide. In 2019, SCORE volunteers helped to create 29,681 new businesses and 67,706 non-owner jobs.
For more information about starting or operating a small business, or on volunteering with SCORE, visit SCORE at
www.score.org
. Follow @SCOREMentors on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest small business news and updates.
Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.
Contact Information
Betsy Dougert
800-634-0245