Stuart Smith, chief of Ogilvy PR's EAME region has taken over for CEO Christopher Graves effective immediately. Graves, who spent 18 years at Dow Jones' news & business side, took the Ogilvy CEO slot in 2009. He's upped to chairman.
Smith joined Ogilvy in 2010 as global managing director of its corporate practice. He'll relocate to New York early next year.
Miles Young, CEO of parent Ogilvy & Mather, said in a statement the move is designed to "adapt our management structure" as PR "continues rapidly to evolve and unlock fresh opportunities.
He said Ogilvy's EAME operation enjoyed "phenomenal development in scale and creativity" under Smith's guidance.
O&M is part of WPP.
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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