Laurie Roberts has more than 30 years of media and media management experience. As the crisis communications practice group chair for Parris Communications, Laurie has developed and executed proactive and reactive communications strategies for a number of companies, non-profits and municipalities.

Laurie has spent much of this year developing and activating COVID-19 communications plans for clients in infrastructure, municipal government, construction, healthcare, banking, grocery and other essential businesses. 

Roberts was a television anchor and investigative reporter for 17 years prior to joining the public relations industry. She has shaped internal and external communications campaigns for The New Single Terminal at Kansas City International Airport (Edgemoor), AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, the City of Lenexa, Johnson County Government, CityPlace (Block Real Estate Services), Overland Park Chamber of Commerce, Polsinelli, Hallmark, AMC Entertainment, Sprint, QuikTrip, Cerner, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, and Cosentino’s Foods.

Laurie was named by the Kansas City Business Journal to the 2016 class of “Women Who Mean Business” and was named one of Kansas City’s Most Influential Women by Kansas City Business Magazine. She is a graduate of Centurions, an intensive two-year Kansas City civic leadership development program.

Laurie was honored as the 2016 recipient of the Bernard Powell award by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and Centurions, recognizing her significant community service. She is a founding member of the Starr Women’s Hall of Fame, having served as co-chair, and is currently serving as a member of the Board of Trustees for the United Way of Greater Kansas City and the Board of Directors for the Urban Neighborhood Initiative.

A three-time Emmy-award winner from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Laurie was also honored by the Alliance for Women in Media, with the nationally-acclaimed Gracie Allen Award, in recognition of her co-development of a local television news magazine series, “Smart Women.”

Laurie is a past President of the Kansas City affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, served as Vice President of the Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri, and has served in leadership positions for the College Basketball Hall of Fame and Camp Quality, a nationwide network of camps for children with cancer.