A Legacy Built on Networking: Ken Makovsky Reflects on Founding IPREX
By IPREX Global President Heidi Otway, APR, CPRC
Ken Makovsky recently retired after nearly five decades leading Makovsky & Co., the New York agency he built into one of the industry's most respected independent firms. But his impact reaches far beyond his own agency's walls. In 1983, Makovsky and two fellow independent agency owners created what would become IPREX, a global network that today spans more than 100 markets. In a recent conversation, Makovsky shared the origin story behind the organization and the lessons he hopes the next generation of PR leaders will carry forward.
Q: When you and the other founders created IPREX in 1983, what problem were you trying to solve?
There were three founders: myself, Sue Bohle from Los Angeles, and Lou Brum from Minneapolis. Sue called me out of the blue after overhearing PR agency owners discussing a similar network at a conference. I told her I'd just started my own agency and didn't have the bandwidth to take it on yet, so she asked if she could call me back in a year. She did, to the day. By then I had five clients, and I was ready to listen. The three of us met at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, and in a single day we came up with the concept of dividing the U.S. into thirds, with each of us responsible for recruiting agencies in our region, and building a network of independent firms that could refer business to one another.
Q: How did the network grow from a U.S. concept into a global organization?
We were deliberate from the start. We even sequenced the presidency so no single city, especially New York, would dominate the culture. Lou Brum was our first president, then Sue Bohle, and I was the third. By the time I took over, around 1989, I was eager to take the organization global. A member from Canada championed the idea, and in 1990 we held our first European meeting with seven countries represented.
We vetted and added agencies the same disciplined way we had built the U.S. network. By 1993, we had grown to roughly a dozen countries. Today, IPREX represents more than 100 markets, even more than I imagined when we started.
Q: You originally named the organization "PR Exchange." What led to the name IPREX?
We operated as PR Exchange for several years until we received a letter from an attorney saying the name was already in use elsewhere. We had to change it, and that's how we landed on IPREX.
Q: Looking back, what are you most proud of?
That we built a viable, meaningful organization that provided excellent service to clients and that it grew from three people in an airport conference room into something that spans the globe. Lou Brum and Sue Bohle both sold their agencies years ago, and I'm the only founder still connected to IPREX. But the friendships and the business we sent to one another over the years - that's what mattered most.
Q: What advice would you give the next generation of independent agency leaders?
Networking. If you're not naturally good at it, surround yourself with people who are, because it's essential to success. I also believe deeply in thought leadership by showing clients and prospects that you understand their business. At my own firm, each of our practice groups published a newsletter several times a year. I once won a pharmaceutical client purely because he'd followed our newsletter for three years and trusted our expertise before we ever pitched him. And above all: you have to love what you do. This field chose me almost by accident. I went to law school, hated it, and only found public relations after a chance phone call to a mentor, who just happened to be Alfred Fleishman, one of the founders of Fleishman Hilliard. I fell in love with PR, and that made all the difference.
Makovsky's contributions to the profession were formally recognized in 2025, when the Arthur W. Page Society honored him with its Distinguished Service Award for his role in building IPREX and advancing the communications profession over his career.
Now retired, Makovsky says he remains committed to the network he helped build and plans to stay engaged as an advisor and mentor to the leaders carrying it forward.
"I feel a real loyalty and a real commitment to what IPREX stands for," he said.