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Edelman names new global VC, country head

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW YORK, USA: Edelman, the world's largest independent global PR firm rated “PR Agency of the Year 2009” by PRWeek, announced that Roger C B Pereira, CEO & managing director of R&PM: Edelman has been appointed global vice chairman for Edelman effective from July 1, 2009. Edelman established a presence in India in October 2004 through a joint venture with Roger C B Pereira. 

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The first person to be appointed to this position from an emerging market, Roger will serve as a voice of ‘BRIC’ and emerging markets in Asia for the firm in Europe and North America. He will work closely with Edelman’s Global Client Relationship Managers (GCRMs) and large-client leads to provide an emerging markets perspective to global stakeholder engagement and communications strategies.

Richard Edelman, President and CEO of Edelman, said: “As we continue to work with and invest heavily in emerging markets, we believe it is important to have a strong representative voice for those markets in a global position within Edelman. Roger has been an inspiration for excellence in communications through his long and distinguished career and I cannot think of a better person to join me in our quest to not only be present in these markets, but also to be able to drive conversations around opportunities- to understand, advise and engage our clients on their presence in these areas.”

Edelman also announced the appointment of Robert Holdheim as managing director and country head for India, effective July 1, 2009. A veteran of Edelman Frankfurt and London and current head of Edelman New York’s Corporate Communications Group, Robert Holdheim will succeed Roger C B Pereira.

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He will have a two-month transition period with Roger, starting May 1, 2009. Roger, will continue to be closely associated with key clients in India as non-executive chairman for Edelman in India.

lan VanderMolen, President, Asia Pacific, said: “With his experience in Europe and North America, as well as his practice experience in Corporate and Technology, Rob is the perfect person to lead our business in India through its next phase of growth. His appointment further underscores the firm’s confidence in emerging Asian markets broadly, and India specifically.”

Robert will be supported in India by the firm’s strong line-up of market heads, practice specialists and communications veterans including Roma Pereira (Healthcare, Consumer  & Lifestyle), Sachin Talwar (Corporate) and Allwyn Fernandes (Media, Crisis and Social Engagement) as well as Ophira Samuel (Mumbai Head) and Amit Misra (Delhi Head).  Rob will be based at the firm’s office in Gurgaon.