Peter Harris, CEO of Grayling US, is resigning Aug. 31 to launch his own firm. He told O’Dwyer’s that he’ll open for business Sept. 1 to advise senior clients.
|
|
Peter HarrisHarris joined Grayling Jan. 1, 2014 from MSLGroup, where he served as senior VP in charge of the corporate and technology practices and headed the United Technologies account.
Earlier, he held key posts at Ketchum, Access and Peppercomm, counseling clients such as IBM, Citibank, Visa and HP.
Paul Taaffe, CEO of Grayling parent Huntsworth, will head the US from New York as acting US chief.
The US CFO position, which was held by MSLGroup alum Tony Confone, was eliminated in July as part of Huntsworth's ongoing strategy to consolidate IT, HR and finance functions.
In reporting first-half results, Huntsworth noted that Grayling, which has most of its business in Europe and Middle East, returned to profitability.
While the US unit reported red ink, Taaffe anticipated the US would be profitable in 2018 due to a robust performance of its DC lobbying unit and a broadening of the overall client portfolio.
DJE Holdings, parent of Edelman and Zeno, launches RUTH as an independent shop named after Ruth Edelman, mental health advocate, wife and longtime business partner of Dan Edelman.
New York City PR firms make up the largest slice of O'Dwyer's 147 firm overall ranking with 33 of 40 in the New York/New Jersey area either calling Manhattan their home or having a presence there.
Subject Matter+Kivvit, which joined forces in May, has rebranded as Avoq, an integrated shop with more than 200 professionals in Washington, New York, Asbury Park (NJ), Miami and Chicago.
While PR pros stationed at in-house comms. teams and those working for agencies share many of the same objectives, they also have markedly different top priorities, according to a recent report.
Edelman is cutting 240 employees or about four percent of its workforce to cope with the cooling down of the PR sector, according to a memo from CEO Richard Edelman.
Have a comment? Send it to 
No comments have been submitted for this story yet.