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| Cindy Rose |
Layoffs, agency consolidations, client spending cuts and massive AI-related disruptions upended the PR business in 2025.
WPP imploded and turned to Microsoft executive Cindy Rose to right a sinking ship.
The Omnicom takeover of Interpublic resulted in thousands of pink slips and business opportunities for smaller and more nimble shops.
The PR chaos took place during a period of economic uncertainty as the new administration took office in D.C. and appeared to be more interested in retribution than governing the country.
Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs triggered the biggest stock market single-day loss as the S&P 500 tumbled 4.9 percent. The President ultimately lowered or postponed many tariffs, creating stock market whiplash.
Here are some PR highlights for 2025:
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| Nick Clegg |
Nick Clegg exits the global affairs president post at Meta after a seven-year run. The former UK deputy prime minister winds up as general partner at Hiro Capital investment firm and is looking to invest in European AI, space & defense & longevity companies.
Ballard Partners signs on the Anti-Defamation League to join its fight against antisemitism in the US, which is on the rise after Hamas invaded Israel, and the ensuing Israeli response.
Josh Isay, co-founder & former CEO of SKDK, moves to Orchestra as partner. He played key roles in the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Burson lands US communications support for Riyadh Air, which will be Saudi Arabia’s second national carrier.
Kate Bedingfield, President Biden’s communications director, takes post at Brunswick Group’s DC office.
Public Policy Holding Company acquires Trailrunner International, a Texas-based shop with 80 staffers, for $33M to boost its corporate affairs offering.
BGR Government Affairs provides strategic counsel to Panama after President Trump threatens to take over its canal.
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| Kevin McCarthy |
Kevin McCarthy, former Speaker of the House, launches Watchtower Strategy to help clients navigate high-stakes issues at the intersection of business, government and PR.
Interpublic targets $250M in cost savings for 2025 via an accelerated business transformation plan as it prepares to be acquired by Omnicom.
Joele Frank handles Honeywell split-up into three independent companies (aerospace, automation and advanced materials) in a move proposed by activist investor Elliott Management.
FTI Consulting CEO Steven Gunby looks to cut 330 people from the firm’s 8,300-member payroll following a 3.2 percent decline in 2024 fourth-quarter revenues to $895M and a 39 percent plunge in net income to $50M.
Franco takes over Bianchi PR in a transaction that joins two Detroit shops with robust positions in the auto and mobility markets.
Edelman suffers a 4.9 percent drop in 2024 revenues to $986M due to bum performances in the US (down 7.9 percent) and APAC (-11.5 percent).
Trump Media & Technology Group CEO Devin Nunes received compensation of $47M for 2024, the year in which the company chalked up total revenues of $3.6M and a $400.8M net loss. The former California Congressman announces a merger with a nuclear fusion outfit later in the year.
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| Jim Joseph |
FleishmanHillard hires Jim Joseph, who spent eight years as global president of BCW (now Burson), as global head of brand impact. He joins FH from Ketchum, where he was US CEO and global chief marketing officer.
SKDK delivers pitch for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to legacy media (Wall Street Journal, “60 Minutes,” BBC) and conservative outlets (Newsmax, Breitbart, Fox News).
Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s chief spokesperson Tom Corry quits after two weeks on the job after he reportedly clashed with the Department of Health and Human secretary over the handling of the measles outbreak.
FGS Global and Rubenstein handled the $6.1B sale of the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics to an investor group. It was the record price for a US sports team, until the Los Angeles Lakers were sold for $10B three months later.
Pennsylvania launches search for a tourism PR firm ahead of the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary in 2026. It is targeting the 72M people living within a four-hour drive to the Keystone State.
PR people sour on corporate social responsibility as only 52 percent of them believe companies have a duty to address CSR matters. That’s down from 85 percent in 2024, according to a study released by the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations.
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C Street Advisory Group handles Hooters of America’s Chapter 11 filing to pave the way for a buyout from the founders of the casual dining chain.
California begins hunt for a PR firm to run a statewide $7.5M five-year tobacco use prevention program. The state already boasts one of the lowest smoking rates in the US. Nearly 90 percent of Californians are smoke-free.
DGA Group lures Jennifer Granholm, former US Energy Dept secretary and two-time Michigan governor, as a senior counselor on infrastructure issues
Ballard Partners, which has close ties to Team Trump, agrees to provide PR and strategic counsel services to Saudi Arabia in a one-year contract pegged at $720K.
Bernie Kerik, who was commissioner of the NYPD, is hired by Qatar to help improve ties with the US. He also served as interior minister of the Iraqi Provisional Authority and was nominated to head the Dept. of Homeland Security.
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| Sharon Soderstrom |
Sharon Soderstrom, who was chief of staff to former Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, joins Brunswick Group. Politico credits her with having “an encyclopedic knowledge of the Senate’s rules."
Publicis Groupe acquires Adopt, a sports marketing agency, to strengthen the French firm’s ability to capitalize on the power of athletes and sports.
Continental Strategy, a Florida firm with Trump connections, picks up $6M contract from the Democratic Party of Albania. The firm is the home of Katie Wiles, daughter of Susie Wiles.
EdelmanSmithfield is called in by Kohl’s to handle media after it fires CO Ashley Buchanan for cause. A probe found that she violated company polices “for directing it to engage in vendor transactions that involved undisclosed conflict of interest.”
Moderna’s Kate Cronin moves to Medtronic Diabetes as CMO. The former Ogilvy Health CEO was Moderna’s chief brand officer, overseeing reputation, communications and enterprise strategy.
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| Michael O'Brien |
Highwire picks Ketchum alum Michael O’Brien for CEO slot, succeeding Carol Carrubba. The 23-year Ketchum vet joins Highwire after a brief stint as CEO at 5W Public Relations.
Denmark enlists Mercury Public Affairs for strategic counseling, marketing, communications and PR services work. The move comes as president Trump vows to “get Greenland,” which is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
Burson chair AnnaMaria DeSalva announces her departure from the firm via LinkedIn. With the overhaul of the WPP unit largely complete, “this is a natural and welcome moment to take advantage of the fleeting weeks of summer before continuing to build on my many professional interests,” she wrote.
Edelman recruits Ginger Porter, a 23-year Golin veteran, for COO slot of its US operations. She took over for Dan Webber, who slid into the global chief quality officer position.
Mark Read calls it quits at WPP after seven years at the helm. His exit comes as WPP reels from account losses (Coca-Cola, Paramount, Pfizer) and failure to keep pace with Publicis Groupe on the technology front.
Americans’ distrust of news organizations is especially apparent among conservative audiences, according to a report from Pew Research Media Tracker.
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| RFK Jr. |
RFK Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services scouts for a communications partner that can develop “a series of bold, edgy, national campaigns with innovative messaging” to empower Americans to reclaim control over their health.
Frances Fitzgerald, who was deputy prime minister of Ireland, takes a job at Teneo to counsel clients on geopolitical, regulatory and policy issues across Europe.
Former Ketchum CEO Barri Rafferty joins Anywhere Real Estate as chief communications officer and head of PA. Most recently, she was Americas CEO at Sodali & Co., stakeholder engagement firm.
Liz Truss, UK prime minister for 44 days, hires Gunster Strategies for three-month project, connected to outreach to US policymakers and opinion leaders.
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| Linda Beltran |
Public Relations Society of America taps Linda Beltran as chief communications officer. The VP-corporate communications at Holiday Inn Club Vacations in Orlando fills the post vacated by Karen Mateo.
Public Policy Holding Company picks up Pine Cove Strategies in a deal valued up to $13M. PCC is the firm co-founded by George P. Bush, ex-Texas Land commissioner and son of Jeb, and his wife, Amanda, who is managing director at PPHC’s Trailrunner International unit.
Cindy Rose, Microsoft COO-global enterprise and WPP board member, is tapped to succeed Mark Read on Sept. 1.
Mike Doyle, Ketchum president & CEO, steps down after 30 years at the Omnicom shop. He held the top job since 2020.
FTI Consulting is called in by Saudi Arabia to promote its climate action. It will provide support for the Kingdom’s Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company.
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| Sally Susman |
Sally Susman, who was EVP and chief corporate affairs officer at Pfizer since 2007, announces plans to step down. She emerges as a key advisor to New York’s 34-year-old mayor Zohran Mamdami.
Canada Goose Holdings, maker of luxury parkas and outerwear, hires APCO on issues related to trade with the US as Trump slaps tariffs on Canada.
Real Chemistry hires Brenna Terry as president within its integrated communications unit. She was global healthcare chair at Burson in charge of a 1,000-person unit spanning 50 countries.
Edelman is awarded communications strategy work for the United Nations’ COP30 climate change conference that kicked off in November in Brazil.
Hope Hicks, who served as White House communications director for Trump during his first term, joins Megyn Kelly’s media company. She had been running her own consulting shop after exiting from Fox Corp as EVP and CCO.
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| David Plouffe |
David Plouffe, who led Obama’s two winning presidential campaigns joins Orchestra as partner and co-leader with Josh Isay of its advisory practice.
DCI Group signs $3M pact to help Myanmar rebuild its relations with the US following a massive earthquake that killed at least 5,400 people, and the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development.
Tom Ryan announces plan to step down as CEO at ICR as soon as a successor is hired at the financial firm. The co-founder of the shop will transition to executive chairman.
Infinite, which focuses on the professional services sector, receives a strategic investment from ParkSouth Ventues, which is based in Charlotte.
Edelman provides crisis PR counsel to Cracker Barrel following the uproar over the restaurant’s chain’s decision to retire its old-timer mascot and revamp its menu.
Open AI names former Edelman US PA chair Aaron McLear as VP-communications. He joins from Bully Pulpit International, where he was senior counsel.
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| Roger Nyhus |
Roger Nyhus returns to the strategic communications arena via the launch of AMBO Strategy after serving as US ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. He had run Nyhus Communications in Seattle until merging it with Spokane’s DH in 2022. AMBO is short for “ambassador” or "chief of mission.”
Interluxe Group and North & Warren acquire Quinn, which specializes in upscale brands. Florence Quinn launched her shop in 1989. It has offices in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and London.
Aaron Kwittken, founder and global CEO of AI-powered communications tech suite PRophet, joins FGS Global as partner and global head of intelligence & engagement. It’s a new post.
Los Angeles looks for PR support for a campaign focused on addressing the underlying social and economic conditions that trigger crime and violence.
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| Bari Weiss |
Bari Weiss sells “The Free Press” to Paramount for $155M and becomes editor-in-chief of CBS News. She gets embroiled in a controversy that involved pulling a “60 Minutes” story that was critical of Trump’s White House.
Publicis Groupe reports 3.1 percent Q3 growth, bucking the downward trend suffered by its big competitors. CEO Arthur Sadoun boasts that the firm did not experience any material cuts in its marketing spend.
Public Policy Holding Company files documentation with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a listing on the NASDAQ. It already trades on the London Exchange.
WPP reports “unacceptable” Q3 financial results, says new chief Cindy Rose. She kicks off an extensive review of WPP’s operation to become “much simpler, more integrated and powered by data and AI.”
Ed Reilly will step down as CEO of DGA Group during the first-half of 2016. As part of the transition, DGA names Prem Kumar, head of the Middle East and Africa region, president.
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The Dept. of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit is gathering information from firms interested in supporting its marketing and recruiting initiative.
The glory days of PR are coming to an end, according to a report by Davis + Gilbert. Fewer firms expect gains in revenues and profits.
Kantar Media names ex-WPP CEO Mark Read chair of the measurement & analytics company. He is praised for deep strategic thinking and for having practical experience in transformation.
H/Advisors Abernathy CEO Tom Johnson departs for FGS Global as head of its private capital and financial services practice. Carina Davidson, a 29-year veteran of H/Advisors Abernathy moves into the interim CEO spot.
Grayling names former Ketchum partner Esty Pujadas as North America CEO as part of the British firm’s expansion in the region.
The London Stock Exchange boots WPP stock from the prestigious FTSE 100 index as the shares plunge in value. The firm had been a member of the FTSE for 27 years.
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| Eleanor McManus |
Eleanor McManus, who founded Washington strategic communications shop Trident GMG, has agreed to a buyout and is selling her equity stake to co-founders Josh Galper and Adam Goldberg.
Somalia hires Arsenal Government and Public Affairs Group to engage with White House officials. Trump has called Somalia “filthy, dirty, disgusting, and ridden with crime.
Fortune 500 chief communications officers earned between $50K and $100K more in 2025 than they did in 2023, according to a Korn Ferry survey. Median base salary stands between $400K to $450K.
H/Advisors Abernathy handled 2025’s biggest IPO as Medline Industries raised $6.3B. It topped the $5.3B IPO by Chinese battery maker CATL.
Netflix recruits Dani Dudeck as chief communications officer. She was chief corporate affairs officer at Instacart, CCO at Zynga and VP-global communications at MySpace.
Discovery Global names Adrienne O’Hara EVP, chief communications and public affairs officer, a newly created role. She was SVP of global communications and engagement. Discovery Global will become an independent company following its separation of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The New York Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America names Attention Comms CEO Paul Cohen as 2026 president of its board of directors. Cohen succeeds Ken Kerrigan, who has held executive posts at Bliss Group, Infinite and Weber Shandwick... Startr Co. of Los Angeles, marks its 10th anniversary with the launch of a renewed brand identity and redesigned website.... Michael Best Strategies, an affiliated consulting firm of national law firm Michael Best, is introducing a corporate advisory service.
Real Chemistry launches RC Resolve, a healthcare advisory practice... Seven Letter, a bipartisan strategic communications firm, adds offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Huntsville... GMMB founding partner David Mitchell died on Jan. 2 at 75. Mitchell’s career in communications began in June 1978, when he joined the staff of the United Auto Workers as assistant to the director of public relations and publications.
Berns Communications Group expands its advisory services and rebrands as Berns & Co... DVV Media International, a B2B media and events company serving the transport and logistics markets, sells its Road portfolio of products to Mark Allen Group... MAD Global Strategy of New Jersey launches a Washington presence. 
Motio is launched by former BPD chief strategy & innovation officer Sasha Boghosian and Ryan Colaianni, who was CCO at BPD as well as an SVP at Edelman... PMG acquires Digital Voices, an influencer marketing agency with a team of 70 employees across London, New York and Costa Rica... Gregory
Marketing Maven signs on to work with AI-native application platform Cogzia... Curtiss Partners, a consultancy dedicated to elevating executive communications, strengthening leadership effectiveness, and translating complex strategies into clear, actionable narratives, launches... Origin & Oak Creative, a marketing and communications agency specializing in culturally competent, community-centered messaging for B2B clients, opens its doors.
