Industry veteran Stephanie Marchesi, who’s held key leadership positions at FleishmanHillard, Cohn & Wolfe and Ketchum, has moved to independent PR powerhouse WE Communications, where she’s been named health sector and eastern region president, a newly-created role at the agency.

Stephanie MarchesiStephanie Marchesi

Marchesi joins the Seattle-based firm from FleishmanHillard, where she was stationed for more than six years and served as senior partner, chief marketing officer and managing director of global client relations. She previously led GCI Group’s New York office, and played a role in that WPP unit's 2008 merger with Cohn & Wolfe, where she was named president of that agency’s New York headquarters. Prior to that, she was SVP and North America business and strategy development director for MS&L Worldwide, and a VP and group manager at Ketchum, where she led that Omnicom unit’s New York healthcare practice.

Marchesi will now oversee WE’s North American health division, as well as the agency’s Eastern region, which includes its Boston and New York outposts.

WE, formerly known as Waggener Edstrom, in 2015 accounted for nearly $99 million in net fees.