 |
| Charlene Wheeless |
Charlene Wheeless, most recently VP-global corporate affairs at Bechtel Corp., is now senior advisor for equity and justice issues at independent firm APCO Worldwide.
She will advise APCO and its clients on equity, justice, diversity and inclusion issues. Wheeless also will counsel clients on purpose, crisis management, internal communications and organizational change.
“Finding ways to address racial and systemic inequalities must be an integral part of every company’s corporate strategy,” said Margery Kraus, APCO founder/executive chairman. “Now is the time to act, and Charlene bolsters an already-strong group of experts at APCO dedicated to helping organizations seize this moment and make meaningful change.”
At Bechtel, Wheeless handled worldwide communications, issues, reputation management, sustainability and PA.
Before joining the engineering giant, she was VP-communications at Raytheon’s intelligence & information systems unit, senior VP global communications & marketing at American Management Systems and VP-communications at DynCorp.
Wheeless, who joined APCO’s international advisory council in August, chairs the Arthur W. Page Society.
APCO is No. 3 on O’Dwyer’s rankings of PR firms with 2019 fees of $142.3M.
It's easy to spot whether a company's commitment to DEI is genuine or merely performative. Just as companies face backlash for neglecting DEI, they're now under scrutiny for their lack of proper understanding and action.
Executing DEI is not just a nice to do for agencies today, but a critical need for their business success, according to Ben Finzel, president of RENEWPR and founding partner at the Change Agencies. 
Public corporate boards in the 21st Century need major change if they want to mitigate big risks in 2024.
Latondra Newton has quit her chief diversity officer job at Walt Disney Co. to pursue other endeavors.
Simply changing your corporate logo to a rainbow and remaining silent on the continued attacks on the LGBTQ community won’t cut it this year. Companies and organizations are going to have to take a side in this conversation.
Have a comment? Send it to 
No comments have been submitted for this story yet.