Jess Seilheimer, formerly senior VP/innovation & strategic planning at France's Havas, is now chief strategy officer at MWW in its New York outpost.
CEO Michael Kempner hailed Seilheimer as "a true rock star of our industry."
The 15-year veteran takes command of MWW's marketing communications and strategic planning capabilities.
At Havas, Seilheimer developed new revenue-generating opportunities and led its health & wellness digital marketing practice.
She has counseled Bausch & Lomb, Pfizer, Sanofi, Genentech, Walgreens, Nestle and AstraZeneca.
Most recently, Seilheimer ran her own consulting firm, Cretegic, which focused on digital business transformation for established consumer brands/services and start-ups.
Jersey-based MWW is O'Dwyer's No. 6 independent firm with 2013 fees of $48M.
DJE Holdings, parent of Edelman and Zeno, launches RUTH as an independent shop named after Ruth Edelman, mental health advocate, wife and longtime business partner of Dan Edelman.
New York City PR firms make up the largest slice of O'Dwyer's 147 firm overall ranking with 33 of 40 in the New York/New Jersey area either calling Manhattan their home or having a presence there.
Subject Matter+Kivvit, which joined forces in May, has rebranded as Avoq, an integrated shop with more than 200 professionals in Washington, New York, Asbury Park (NJ), Miami and Chicago.
While PR pros stationed at in-house comms. teams and those working for agencies share many of the same objectives, they also have markedly different top priorities, according to a recent report.
Edelman is cutting 240 employees or about four percent of its workforce to cope with the cooling down of the PR sector, according to a memo from CEO Richard Edelman.
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