Robert Phillips, chief of Edelman’s EMEA operation, has exited the company a week after adding newly minted duties of global chair-public engagement and future strategies.

Susan Eastoe, COO of EMEA, is assuming Phillips’ responsibilities on as interim basis as Richard Edelman and senior management review the structure of the operation.

Phillips joined the No. 1 independent shop in 2004 after it acquired his Jackie Cooper PR. He was named U.K. He became CEO of Edelman/U.K. in 2007 and CEO of EMEA January 2011.

Edelman praised Phillips for recruiting “many of the industry’s most talented people” to the shop and overseeing 150 percent growth in the U.K to the $60M range.

Phillips, who is a visiting professor in London, is working a sequel to of “Citizen Renaissance,” which sees the world shifting from rampant consumerism to citizen-based values.