News
November 4, 2015Eric Mower Receives Highest Alumni Honor from Syracuse University
Eric Mower, chairman and CEO of Eric Mower + Associates, was honored with an Arents Award—Syracuse University’s highest alumni honor—for his extraordinary achievements in advertising and public relations. Mower was among four prestigious alumni recognized at SU on Friday, October 23.
The Arents Award is named for George Arents, a successful manufacturer who served on the SU Board of Trustees from 1930 until his death in 1960, and is given annually to SU alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their chosen fields. Mower is being honored alongside Emmy Award-winning media executive Erica Branch-Ridley; scholar, teacher and administrator Donna Shalala; and sports marketing guru Brandon Steiner.
“Eric is an inspiring and creative leader who led his company to national prominence and established himself as a model for wise and principled leadership,” said Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud. “He has had an enormous impact on his industry, his community, and on Syracuse University. Eric’s great achievements inspire all of our students and alumni.”
Mower, originally from New York City, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Syracuse University. In 1968, he stayed in Syracuse to join Silverman Advertising, which became Silverman & Mower in 1975. In 1980, the firm became Eric Mower + Associates. Over the last four decades, Mower has guided EMA from a staff of four in one office to more than 250 employees in nine cities across New York State, in New England, along the East Coast, and in the Midwest and Southeast.
Mower is an active alumnus, serving as a life trustee and on the Advisory Council of the University’s renowned S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He has served as vice chair of the SU Board, a member of the Executive Committee, and chair of the Board’s Academic Affairs Committee and the Facilities Committee. He is a long-time member of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Advisory Council and is a past member of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management Corporate Advisory Council. In 2009, SU’s advertising department established The Eric Mower Advertising Forum in honor of Mower. The forum supports a speaker series that provides students and faculty with practical, workshop-oriented learning experiences, as well as exposure to many of the advertising industry’s most celebrated professionals.
At EMA, Mower serves as senior strategic counselor, and guides the agency’s overall policies, standards and practices. He was an early industry advocate for integrated marketing communications, and an early practitioner of utilizing advertising, sales promotion, and public relations in client programs and campaigns across a range of B2C and B2B categories.
Mower is active in industry affairs, and contributes to a number of professional, public and community service organizations. He served for more than 20 years on the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) board of directors; continues to chair the 4A’s Government Relations Committee; chairs the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council (ASRC) and is a board member of the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Mower is currently board member and vice chair of The Business Council of New York State; was an advisory council member for New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “New York Open for Business” marketing initiative; and was founding chair of the federal Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Council of Better Business Bureaus (USA, Canada and Mexico).
