Weber Shandwick Financial Set for Further International Growth

- Ian Bailey to Assume Expanded Role Including U.S. Financial Communications
Brief -

NEW YORK and LONDON, June 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Ian Bailey, UK Managing
Director of Weber Shandwick Financial, will be taking on additional
responsibility for growing Weber Shandwick's international financial
communications and investor relations capabilities. In his new role as
Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Weber Shandwick Financial,
Bailey will relocate to New York in July 2008 and will work closely with Weber
Shandwick's U.S. Corporate Issues Group and Corporate Practice to further
develop and market Weber Shandwick's international financial communications
and investor relations capabilities.
Bailey will divide his time between London and New York operations and
will have joint reporting lines to UK CEO & EMEA co-CEO Colin Byrne and
Executive Vice President & New York Office General Manager Paul Jensen. Bailey
will continue to lead Weber Shandwick Financial in the UK and serve as a
member of Weber Shandwick's UK senior management team, while the 40-strong
UK-based team and day-to-day financial practice operations will be led by
Weber Shandwick Financial's Deputy Managing Director, Steve McCool.
Commenting on the appointment, Weber Shandwick President Andy Polansky
said: "The need to consistently and effectively engage with financial
stakeholders across multiple markets has never been a more critical challenge
for participants in today's global economy. In such an environment, a clear
opportunity exists to build on Weber Shandwick's market-leading position in
corporate and financial communications on a global scale. Ian will focus on
further developing Weber Shandwick Financial's capabilities to meet our
clients' growing financial communications and investor relations needs
wherever they and their stakeholders may be located."
The move follows a period of sustained diversification and growth in Weber
Shandwick's international financial communications business and client
portfolio, with an increasing number of companies and organizations from
around the globe appointing Weber Shandwick to assist with local and
international financial markets-related communications activities. In the past
two years, Weber Shandwick Financial has managed both local market and
international financial communications and investor relations programs for
clients in a wide variety of locations including: Australia, Austria, Bahrain,
Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia,
Singapore, UAE, Ukraine, Vietnam and Zambia. Additionally, the New York and
London financial teams are working together on a growing number of
transatlantic clients, projects and transactions.
Bailey joined Weber Shandwick in London in 2005. He has more than 17 years
of finance, financial communications and investor relations experience,
including senior agency positions with leading agencies in London, Chicago,
San Francisco and New York.
Ian Bailey commented: "Weber Shandwick Financial's proven expertise in
communications relating to international capital flows, coupled with the power
and reach of our highly effective international network is proving to be a
compelling market proposition. There are clearly many opportunities which
Weber Shandwick Financial is uniquely qualified to capture. I look forward to
working with the U.S. and UK teams to build on our many successes to date and
develop even closer ties and collaboration between the agency's operations in
the two of the most important financial centers in the world."
About Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick is one of the world's leading global public relations
firms with offices in major media, business and government capitals around the
world. The firm specializes in strategic marketing communications, media
relations, public affairs, reputation management, and crisis and issues
management. It also offers corporate communications counseling services. The
firm provides specialized integrated services including Web relations,
advocacy advertising, market research and visual communications. Weber
Shandwick received the highest client-satisfaction honors in the 2007 Agency
Excellence Survey by PRWeek U.S. and in 2006, was named Large PR Firm of the
Year (PR News U.S.), European Consultancy of the Year (The Holmes Report) and
Network of the Year (Asia Pacific PR Awards). The firm also won the 2005, 2006
and 2007 United Nations Grand Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public
Relations. To learn more, please visit http://www.webershandwick.com .
Weber Shandwick is a unit of The Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), which is
one of the world's leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing
services companies.
Contact:
Jennifer Norton
Weber Shandwick
212-445-8314
jnorton@webershandwick.com

SOURCE Weber Shandwick

Jennifer Norton of Weber Shandwick, +1-212-445-8314,
jnorton@webershandwick.com