Patrick Yu becomes general manager, Kitty Lee appointed deputy general manager

ST. LOUIS, 29 January 2019 – FleishmanHillard has promoted Patrick Yu to general manager of its Hong Kong operations, effective immediately. Yu succeeds Geoff Bilbrough who has stepped down to return home to New Zealand. Yu will report to Rachel Catanach, FleishmanHillard’s senior partner and president of Greater China.

Yu previously served as deputy general manager of FleishmanHillard’s Hong Kong office and will remain the Financial and Professional Services sector lead across Asia Pacific. A trilingual Hong Kong native, he started his career with the agency in 2005 and in 2011 was awarded its prestigious John D. Graham Award for Excellence for outstanding leadership. He delivers guest lectures for The University of Hong Kong and is a sought-after presenter throughout Asia Pacific on financial and fintech communication trends.

“FleishmanHillard is thriving in Hong Kong and the team is poised to achieve another successful year,” said Catanach. “Geoff led with warmth and integrity, earning the admiration of clients and colleagues alike. We are grateful for his contributions, including ensuring a smooth handover to Patrick, and we wish him continued success back in New Zealand.

“Patrick is a highly experienced leader with a proven ability to drive growth for our company and clients. He is well-prepared to lead Hong Kong as general manager, having already served as deputy general manager. Patrick’s tireless commitment to his work is matched only by his strong network of industry contacts across the Greater China region. He is the natural choice to ensure the continued success of our company.”

To support Yu, Kitty Lee is promoted to deputy general manager. Lee started her career with FleishmanHillard in 2004 and was promoted to senior vice president in 2015. In addition to her new role, she will continue to co-lead the award-winning Asia Pacific consumer practice and enhance her unique expertise in consumer aviation communications. A trilingual Hong Kong native, and a John D. Graham Award for Excellence recipient, Lee serves as a Full Council Member of the Hong Kong Consumer Council. She also delivers guest lectures for Hong Kong Baptist University and mentors students.

“Throughout her 15-year career at the company, Kitty has distinguished herself as a generous leader in both the PR industry and the Hong Kong community,” said Catanach. “As deputy general manager, one of her key roles will be to coach and lead the next generation of PR practitioners, while instilling the culture of collaboration and excellence that is FleishmanHillard’s hallmark.

“Under the new management of Patrick and Kitty, we demonstrate our company’s commitment to offering unlimited career opportunities and providing clients with local expertise on a global scale. I congratulate them on their achievements and am confident that their complementary skills and expertise will further extend our company’s leadership across Greater China.”

 About FleishmanHillard
FleishmanHillard specializes in public relations, reputation management, public affairs, brand marketing, digital strategy, social engagement and content strategy. FleishmanHillard was named Agency of the Year at the 2017 North American Excellence Awards; 2017 ICCO Network of the Year for the Americas and EMEA; PRWeek’s Best Places to Work 2017; PR News’ Best Places to Work in PR 2016-2017; Human Rights Campaign Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality for 2018; PR Awards Asia 2017 Greater China Agency of the Year; and NAFE’s “Top 50 Companies for Executive Women” for 2010-2018. The firm’s award-winning work is widely heralded, including at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity. FleishmanHillard is part of Omnicom Public Relations Group, and has more than 80 offices in 30 countries, plus affiliates in 43 countries.

 About Omnicom Public Relations Group
Omnicom Public Relations Group is a global collective of three of the top global public relations agencies worldwide and specialist agencies in areas including public affairs, marketing to women, global health strategy and corporate social responsibility. It encompasses more than 6,300 public relations professionals in more than 370 offices worldwide who provide their expertise to companies, government agencies, NGOs and nonprofits across a wide range of industries. Omnicom Public Relations Group delivers for clients through a relentless focus on talent, continuous pursuit of innovation and a culture steeped in collaboration. Omnicom Public Relations Group is part of the DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) that includes more than 200 companies in a wide range of marketing disciplines including advertising, public relations, healthcare, customer relationship management, events, promotional marketing, branding and research.

We are at the beginning of a revolution that is fundamentally changing how we live, work and relate to one another and that has been the focus at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos. Many of the sessions covered a myriad of areas relating to this topic, including the impact on how mental health, under the theme Globalisation 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and spanned from how technology is changing lives to environmental issues such the impact of ocean pollution.

”In this setting, the world’s top leaders in politics, business and think tanks, converge to problem-solve the world’s most pressing issues within half-hour time frames,” said Jan Rasmussen, FleishmanHillard’s Americas lead for the Global Media Council, “making it critical for communications experts, such as FleishmanHillard, to break through the clutter and ensure our client’s voices are heard.”

Many may say that this is just another talk shop but with FleishmanHillard having been at this year’s meeting, a number of significant elements worth noting about the WEF platform have been discovered.

Indeed WEF aims to improve the state of the world by bringing together heads of states, high ranking government officials and leaders of multinational businesses across the globe to address the problems facing the world. If you disagree, the question to ask yourself is, why would such a busy group of important people take time off to fly and spend three days in an extremely cold climate to achieve nothing?

“I believe it starts with a conversation. The more we talk about problems facing the world, the more we are prompted to act, however little it may be. Rome was not built in a day. The meeting is smartly curated in order to get the best out of each session, meeting and engagement opportunity”, exclaims Trevor Chueu, associate director in FleishmanHillard’s Johannesburg office.

While this may seem like a science, there are scientists behind all of the action and those scientists, in this case, are the public engagement team members and their communications role.

The communications department of an organisation is equally important as any other department, such as operations or finance, yet many professionals take it for granted. It was the communications department that was responsible for the crafting of the conference programme, the compilation of the session structures, briefing of the spokespeople as well as speakers, procuring media partnerships and shaping the messages that were supposed to be communicated to respective stakeholders, including the media.

“I can confirm that without the communications personnel of WEF, the conversations at the gathering would have not been structured and packaged as effectively as they were to help shape a narrative that can ignite action,” said Chueu.

If you have ever doubted the significance of the communications function in an organisation or at a talk shop, now you no longer have a reason. The communications team are the backbone of not only starting the right conversation but influencing a thought process that encourages change not only during the event but in the months following and into the next year’s conference.

“The highest skill in media relations is required as the conversation shifts by the moment and by the leader, making it all the more critical to know how the attending media cover the variety of topics and strategically inserting your client into the conversation at the right time and at the right moment with the right message,” Rasmussen said.

Lauren Walters to lead FleishmanHillard Austin and Dallas as combined Texas offering

ST. LOUIS, January 22, 2019 – FleishmanHillard today announced the appointment of Kristy Wilson to general manager of its Chicago office.

“Kristy is an experienced leader within FleishmanHillard, known for relationship building and energizing teams,” said J.J. Carter, FleishmanHillard chief operating officer and president, Americas. “She’s a natural innovator – always experimenting with fresh approaches to solve our clients’ toughest problems. We’re excited to have Kristy share her talents with a new market.”

Previously, Wilson served as general manager of FleishmanHillard’s office in Austin. That location will begin reporting to Lauren Walters, who will serve as general manager of a combined Texas offering that also includes the Dallas office. Walters has led FleishmanHillard’s Dallas office with distinction since 2012.

“Chicago is one of the greatest cities on Earth and a highly competitive PR market where FleishmanHillard has been serving clients for decades,” Wilson said. “I’m excited to work with our team to build the office to the next level, adding to our existing foundation in brand marketing and reputation management capabilities across a range of important industries, to bring our clients the high-impact, award-winning work for which FleishmanHillard is known globally.”

Wilson joined FleishmanHillard’s Dallas office in 1998 and has served in multiple leadership and account management roles at the agency, including leading the work for one of the agency’s top 20 clients. Her expertise spans industries, including telecommunications, financial services, energy, travel and healthcare. Before joining FleishmanHillard, Wilson was a member of the public affairs team with Sprint in Florida. She began her career at Kidd & Driscoll (now Kidd Group), a full-service advertising and public relations agency.

About FleishmanHillard
FleishmanHillard specializes in public relations, reputation management, public affairs, brand marketing, digital strategy, social engagement and content strategy. FleishmanHillard was named Agency of the Year at the 2017 North American Excellence Awards; 2017 ICCO Network of the Year for the Americas and EMEA; PRWeek’s Best Places to Work 2017; PR News’ Best Places to Work in PR 2016-2017; Human Rights Campaign Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality for 2018; PR Awards Asia 2017 Greater China Agency of the Year; and NAFE’s “Top 50 Companies for Executive Women” for 2010-2018. The firm’s award-winning work is widely heralded, including at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity. FleishmanHillard is part of Omnicom Public Relations Group, and has more than 80 offices in 30 countries, plus affiliates in 43 countries.

About Omnicom Public Relations Group
Omnicom Public Relations Group is a global collective of three of the top global public relations agencies worldwide and specialist agencies in areas including public affairs, marketing to women, global health strategy and corporate social responsibility. It encompasses more than 6,300 public relations professionals in more than 370 offices worldwide who provide their expertise to companies, government agencies, NGOs and nonprofits across a wide range of industries. Omnicom Public Relations Group delivers for clients through a relentless focus on talent, continuous pursuit of innovation and a culture steeped in collaboration. Omnicom Public Relations Group is part of the DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) that includes more than 200 companies in a wide range of marketing disciplines including advertising, public relations, healthcare, customer relationship management, events, promotional marketing, branding and research.