Avril Lee Named CEO of Ketchum Pleon London

By Ketchum Ltd, PRNE
Monday, February 21, 2011

David Gallagher to Serve as Chairman of Ketchum Pleon London

LONDON, February 22, 2011 - The London office of Ketchum Pleon, one of the world's leading public
relations agencies, has appointed Avril Lee, partner and deputy chief
executive officer, to the role of CEO. In this role, Lee assumes
responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the London office, one of the
agency's largest and most important global hubs. Senior partner and former
London CEO David Gallagher assumes the role of chairman, Ketchum Pleon
London
, and continues serving as president of Ketchum Pleon Europe.

"Avril is the ideal choice to head our London operations. She is a proven
leader with a clear understanding of driving results for clients, the London
office and the agency as a whole," said Ray Kotcher, senior partner and CEO,
Ketchum. "In her eight years with Ketchum she's been a tremendous asset,
maintaining a keen focus on growth and helping to build on the agency's
heritage of excellence in client service and employee development."

Lee has served as London's deputy CEO for more than three years, working
with senior leadership to develop the office's healthcare, consumer and
corporate affairs practices. In that capacity she has successfully worked
with teams to meet client needs and facilitate the sharing of best practices
and the development of new client offerings.

"As deputy CEO, Avril helped usher in a new period of collaboration and
connectivity between practices, which was a big factor in the London office's
overall success over the past few years," Gallagher said. "Many of our
largest clients are now supported by more than one team, which is a
reflection of Avril's commitment to bringing the best services and people the
agency can offer to each and every assignment."

Gallagher continued: "Avril is respected in the industry and a deft
steward of our business. We're thrilled to have her in this new position."

Lee joined Ketchum London's healthcare practice in 2003 as deputy
managing director, where she was quickly promoted to MD. In 2006, she was
appointed to managing director of European Healthcare where she led the
London Healthcare team and serviced multinational clients. Prior to Ketchum
she worked for more than 15 years in a variety of healthcare communications
roles for international and U.K.-based pharmaceutical and diagnostic clients.
Lee graduated from London University with a Bachelor of Science degree in
biochemistry.

Ketchum Pleon London has been widely recognized throughout the industry
for its commitment to client service excellence and its creative and
collaborative culture. In 2010 the office won awards for work with clients
such as P&G, Philips, and KFC, was named one of the U.K.'s Best Workplaces
for the fifth time, and ranked tenth on PRWeek U.K.'s Top 150 PR
Consultancies list. In addition, the office won the Corporate Responsibility
Excellence Award from the Great Place to Work Institute U.K., and Gallagher
was honoured by the Public Relations Consultants Association as Personality
of the Year.

About Ketchum Pleon

Ketchum Pleon is one of the largest, most geographically diverse
communications consultancies and the established European market leader.
Worldwide, Ketchum has more than 2,000 employees in owned operations and
operates in 66 countries with more than 100 owned and affiliated offices.
Ketchum is a unit of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC; www.omnicomgroup.com).
Additional information on Ketchum Pleon and its award-winning work can be
found at www.ketchumpleon.com.

Contact: Robyn Massey, +44-(0)20-7611-3658, robyn.massey at ketchumpleon.com

YOUR VIEW POINT
NAME : (REQUIRED)
MAIL : (REQUIRED)
will not be displayed
WEBSITE : (OPTIONAL)
YOUR
COMMENT :