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| Geoff Redick |
Baker Public Relations launches a public affairs practice. The practice will assist agency clients in such areas as winning bond votes, mounting successful election campaigns, earning public support for legislative priorities, garnering attention from key policymakers and recruiting volunteers. “By formalizing a public affairs practice, we will bring all of those important public relations campaigns under one roof and offer expanded strategy capabilities to other clients who have similar priorities for the future,” said Baker Public Relations founder and CEO Megan Baker. The practice will be led by Geoff Redick, who has been promoted from senior account executive to public affairs manager. A former political correspondent for ABC 6 News in Columbus, OH, Redick also spent several years as a general assignment and part-time political reporter at the New York State Capitol and across the Capital Region. He works with clients in the agency’s Albany, N.Y. and Pittsburgh, PA offices.
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Bader Rutter, a Milwaukee-headquartered B2B marcom agency, opens an office in Chicago. The new office on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago is intended to strengthen the services the agency provides to a client roster featuring such food and beverage brands as McCain Foods, Tetra Pak and Seaboard Foods. “Chicago is the food and beverage capital of the United States,” said Bader Rutter president David Jordan. “Expanding to our new home on Michigan Avenue cements our position as a destination for the industry’s leading brands and professionals.”
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PRSSA is establishing a chapter at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Support for the chapter will be provided by PRSA Boston and Douglas Haslam, account director at Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, who will serve as professional adviser. Jennie Donohue, senior lecturer & director of the Public Relations Concentration at UMass Amherst, will serve as faculty adviser. “UMass Amherst, the largest public research university in New England, is a terrific addition to the growing number of PRSSA chapters, and a stellar institution for students studying public relations and related fields,” said 2023 PRSA chair Michelle Egan.
Page launches the Polansky Future Leaders Fund, which was established through a gift from 2025 Page Hall of Fame inductee and former Weber Shandwick Global CEO Andy Polansky... Ruder Finn reintroduces its website, ruderfinn.com, which will now feature a large language model (LLM) as its primary user interface... Higher Plane Media is launched by former Sloane & Company CEO Darren Brandt.
Champion, which specializes in restaurant, franchise and consumer brands, opens a Miami office, adding to its operations in Dallas and Los Angeles... Violet PR, a Montclair, NJ-based firm that focuses on economic development, commercial real estate and place branding, opens a second office on Park Avenue South in New York... Inflection Point, a founder-led, senior growth systems partner for startups and growth-stage businesses, launches... PRSA announces the recipients of its inaugural Women of Impact Awards. Honorees honorees were recognized during the PRSA Women of Impact Summit & Awards at the Union League Club of Chicago.
FleishmanHillard is shuttering its 20-member Dublin office as Omnicom Public Relations reorganizes its global operations... Vested acquires Watermark, a D.C.-based public affairs and special situations firm.... Matter earns two Pinnacle Awards 2026 Marketing & Communications honors for its clients.
Quad/Graphics launches Direct, a Quad Agency to help marketers create, execute and measure direct marketing campaigns in one connected offering... InnoVision Marketing Group SVP/senior creative director Giselle Campos and SVP/general manager Alanna Markey are among the first-ever winners of the San Diego Business Journal’s Indispensables Awards, which recognizes professionals who make the greatest impact within their organizations and across the San Diego business community... Park Place Technologies, an IT infrastructure services firm that works with Feintuch Communications, releases the second episode of its “The Savvy CIO” podcast. 
Ripley PR is named a silver winner in the TITAN American Business Awards’ Outstanding PR Campaign category... Excellera, a corporate-advisory firm, came in at number one in deal count, as well as fourth in deal value, in Mergermarket’s list of top EMEA firms... Thunderly is telling the stories of military veterans who transferred the discipline, organization and leadership skills developed in service to their country into successful post-military careers as franchise business owners, as part of its year-long "American Dreamers: The Stories of Franchising" effort.
