Global PR giant Burson-Marsteller has named Henry Engleka chair of that agency’s U.S. healthcare practice.

Henry Engleka Henry Engleka

Engleka’s appointment is effective immediately. He succeeds U.S. healthcare practice chair David Zitlow, a former CBR Systems and GolinHarris executive who exited the WPP unit earlier this year to head the new Chicago outpost belonging to Washington, D.C. healthcare and life sciences agency Spectrum. That office opened in September.

Engleka was previously at Porter Novelli, where he served as Executive Vice President and led the Omnicom giant’s New York Health and Wellness practice. Prior to that he was CEO and Founder of New York-based strategic health communications agency P4 Strategy Group and co-founder of mobile health solutions provider Zibbel Inc. He was also with Washington-headquartered Widmeyer Communications, where he served as principal and managing director of that agency’s New York office.

Engleka was most recently stationed at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, where he served as senior consultant and marketing steering committee member. He was also previously COO for the Mount Carmel Guild Behavioral Health System and an assistant executive director and staff director for the American Psychological Association.

As healthcare chair, Engleka will be responsible for leading and growing the practice across the U.S. He’ll be based in the agency’s Washington, D.C. office and will report to B-M U.S. CEO Michael Law.