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Hill+Knowlton Strategies has announced that Beth Balsam will be joining the firm this autumn as President and CEO of its U.S. operations. The award-winning strategic communications leader brings to the top U.S. post nearly three decades of experience in consumer branding, lifestyle marketing, issues management and corporate social responsibility, as well as a reputation for being an excellent counsellor, team-builder and connector.
“From the moment that I met Beth, I thought she had the right mix of confidence, empathy, warmth and toughness to take Hill+Knowlton Strategies to the next level of success in the U.S.,” said Mike Coates, President and CEO of the Americas region of H+K. “Our business plan stresses integrated content alongside a diversified offering, and Beth’s expertise in consumer marketing is a tremendous complement to H+K’s U.S. strengths. She is a proven leader, a trusted advisor to colleagues and clients, a font of knowledge about the dynamic integrated communications landscape, and quite simply a wonderful person to be around.”
Balsam comes to H+K following 11 years at Citizen Relations, most recently as a Managing Director in its New York office, with responsibility for managing the firm’s global relationship with Procter & Gamble. She previously served as general manager of the firm’s New York office. Prior to Citizen, Balsam was a senior Vice President at FleishmanHillard, where she spent eight years, after serving in-house at Revlon. Through her career, she’s led teams that have won every major marketing industry award, yet admits to still carrying the disappointment of coming in second for Scrabble’s 50th Anniversary, which lost to the launch of Viagra.
“I’ve known it would take a truly special opportunity to take me away from the wonderful colleagues I’ve spent the past 11 years with, and that’s exactly what I’ve found with this chance to work with Mike and the rest of his Hill+Knowlton Strategies team,” said Balsam. “Over the last year I’ve seen H+K take bold actions with the expansion of its award-winning content offering that brilliantly dovetails with its traditional offering, creating a 1+1 = 3 win for clients. They have also taken a progressive approach with employees, for example, launching an industry-leading parental leave programme. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be joining this agency to carry its vision forward in the U.S.”
Balsam assumes the U.S. CEO duties from Coates, who stepped into that role and the Americas CEO role concurrently when the latter was created in July 2014 as part of a global realignment. She will report to Coates and be based in New York.
Coates continues in his roles as a member of H+K’s global council, head of the firm’s global practices, and President and CEO of the Americas, based in New York. In addition to the U.S. operations, the Americas region includes the firm’s operations in Canada, led by President and CEO Goldy Hyder, and Latin America, led by President and CEO Claudia Gioia.
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