AARP Head Receives GSPH’s 2003 Porter Prize
Lecture on healthy aging to be delivered April 7

William Novelli

By Kathryn Duda

The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) will recognize AARP Executive Director and CEO William Novelli as the recipient of the 2003 Porter Prize, an award established in 1983 by Milton and Adrienne Porter to recognize outstanding and exemplary performance in the field of health promotion.

Novelli will address the topic of healthy aging in an address titled “2011: A New Vision for a Healthy America.” The free lecture will be held at 2:30 p.m. April 7 in GSPH auditorium.

Numbering around 76 million, American Baby Boomers represent the largest single sustained growth of the population in the history of the United States, and the oldest members of that group are now in their late 50s. As the leader of the nation’s largest membership group devoted to people age 50 and over, Novelli recognizes that the subject of healthy aging is more important than ever.

A Pittsburgh-area native, Novelli is a recognized leader in the international practice of social marketing and managed programs in cancer control, diet and nutrition, cardiovascular health, reproductive health, infant survival, pay increases for educators, charitable giving and other programs to promote health.

He joined AARP in January 2000 as associate executive director of public affairs and became the group’s executive director in 2001. Previously he served as president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and as executive vice president of CARE, the world’s largest private relief and development organization.

He also cofounded and was president of Porter Novelli, an international marketing communications corporation. He retired from the firm in 1990 to pursue a second career in public service.

Novelli began his career at Unilever, a worldwide packaged goods marketing company, moved to a major ad agency, and then served as director of advertising and creative services for the Peace Corps. In this role, he helped direct recruitment efforts for the Peace Corps, VISTA, and social involvement programs for older Americans.

Novelli holds the B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania and the M.A. degree from Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication. He has pursued doctoral studies at New York University.

He taught marketing management for 10 years in the University of Maryland’s M.B.A. program, where he also taught health communications. He has lectured at other institutions and has written articles and chapters on marketing management, marketing communications, and social marketing in journals, periodicals, and textbooks. Novelli serves on a number of boards and advisory committees.

The Porter Prize was established in 1983 by the Health Education Center Inc. also to heighten awareness of health promotion and disease prevention. It is named in honor of Milton Porter (1910-1996), founding chair of the Health Education Center, now an affiliate of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. Porter also served as director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Carnegie Institute. The award is supported by The Adrienne & Milton Porter Charitable Foundation.

Former recipients of the prize include Fred M. Rogers, Senator H. John Heinz III, C. Everett Koop, Gordon H. DeFriese, and Steven A. Schroeder.

For more information, call 412-624-3001.