Jeffrey Yu, former Publicis Worldwide CEO for China, has joined Edelman in that role.
He takes a post vacated by Steven Cao in 2014 amid his reported cooperation with a China corruption probe.
Yu is based in Shanghai and lead the largest PR firm's Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou operations.
The firm, which said its China operations have grown significantly in the past year to 320 staffers, said a key part of his role is developing Edelman China’s creative, planning and analytics capabilities, reporting to Bob Grove, CEO of Edelman North Asia.
Yu most recently led social marketing start-up RMConnect. He led Publicis Worldwide in China for two-plus years, consolidating its advertising, digital and marketing service offerings in a restructuring scheme.
He spent 25 years at the Bates ad agency, now WPP's Bates CHI & Partners, including 10 years as CEO.
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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