Heidi Otway’s, President and Partner at SalterMitchell PR recent appointment as IPREX’s Americas Region President is a personal achievement and a testament to her unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I).

IPREX is a global network of over 1,100 communication professionals spanning 100 markets worldwide. In the Americas Region, comprising more than 30 firms and 1,000 professionals across North, South, and Central America—from Quebec to Santiago, Honolulu to New York City—IPREX empowers member agencies with resources, best practices, and educational opportunities. This collaborative platform supports projects such as major medical device campaigns, consumer brand marketing, community health initiatives, advocacy programs, media engagement, and local event coordination during back-to-school seasons nationwide.

Otway’s rise to Americas Region President will be one of her latest accomplishments. Her 21 years of experience in PR and prior work in television news have equipped her with a deep understanding of media dynamics and communication strategies.

“I’ve been able to accomplish what I’ve accomplished in my careers because I focus on what I’m really good at and try not to be like everybody else.” - Heidi Otway, President + Partner at SalterMitchell PR and IPREX Americas Region President

Otway's journey in IPREX leadership began with her role as co-chair and subsequent chair of the DE&I committee.  George Floyd's murder highlighted the pressing need for greater diversity within the PR industry. Otway's leadership in this arena was about more than just token gestures and equipping IPREX agencies with the tools and strategies to foster genuinely inclusive workplaces. She said, "It wasn’t just to say we have a DE&I committee and check the box. It was ‘How do we help our agencies in the Americas diversify their workforce?’"

Under Heidi Otway's guidance, the DE&I committee organized numerous webinars featuring experts who shared insights on creating inclusive work environments and effectively attracting diverse talent. These sessions provided actionable strategies and communicated the importance of intentionality in diversity efforts. Otway's leadership also led to the development of comprehensive toolkits to help agencies build inclusive workplaces, including best practices, materials, and resources to support diversity initiatives. 

As DE&I Chair, Otway facilitated open discussions on diversity and inclusion, ensuring that DE&I topics were included in IPREX’s agenda. She presented at several conferences, offering practical resources and sharing the successes of the DE&I committee’s work. Her approach was not just theoretical but about equipping IPREX agencies with tangible tools and knowledge to create lasting change.

She emphasized the importance of intentionality in recruiting diverse talent, for example, advocating for outreach to historically Black colleges and Hispanic associations to bridge the gap between academia and professional practice. She said, “In every conversation, I talked about FAMU(Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University), the #1 HBCU in the country.”

Otway’s tenure as DE&I chair positioned her well for the role of Americas Region President. Many of her responsibilities as DE&I chair overlapped. Her experience developing and implementing strategies to diversify the workforce directly translated to the broader responsibilities of supporting IPREX agencies across the Americas. She said, “A lot of the work that I was doing was what the Americas president does, which is providing agencies with resources to identify, retain talent to generate new business and to grow as an agency.” 

Otway’s perspective on global PR practices was broadened while attending a leadership conference in Paris, where she engaged with PR professionals worldwide. Otway shared, “Attending the leadership conference in Paris was eye-opening. Agencies from Australia, India, London, Russia, and Germany were all discussing their best campaigns. It made me realize how similar our practices are globally.” 

This experience showed the universality of PR strategies across different regions and reaffirmed the value of her contributions to the field. “I’m sitting there, and I’m watching four or five agencies from all over the world present their case studies of this work they did for a client, and I’m like, ‘That looks a lot like what I do here in America here in Florida.‘“

Otway believes it is important to take risks and create doors for yourself while focusing on personal strengths rather than comparing yourself with others. She said, “I’ve been able to accomplish what I’ve accomplished in my careers because I focus on what I’m really good at and try not to be like everybody else.”