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.
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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.
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