Edelman today announced the appointment of Brian Ellner as executive vice president and group head of Public Affairs in the firm’s New York office. Ellner, who was the senior strategist for the Human Rights Campaign’s successful effort to win marriage equality in New York in 2011, will lead Edelman’s 35-person New York Public Affairs group. He will report to Ron Guirguis, managing director of Edelman New York’s Corporate & Public Affairs practice.
“Brian is an exciting addition to our team in New York and further demonstrates the firm’s commitment to investing in and growing the Public Affairs practice,” said Guirguis. “He’s a proven leader who has successfully managed major public affairs campaigns in the city, the state and nationally. Brian will deepen our ties to New York, while at the same time helping our entire division adopt a more campaign-style approach to our client engagements.”
During his time at HRC, Ellner launched New Yorkers for Marriage Equality, a communications campaign featuring iconic New Yorkers — from Julianne Moore, Anna Wintour and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Barbara Bush, Sean Avery and Russell Simmons — expressing support for equal marriage rights. After the New York win, Ellner created HRC’s Americans for Marriage Equality campaign and provided strategic and communications counsel on the successful legislative and ballot marriage wins in Maryland, Minnesota, Maine and Washington State. He also co-founded the national social media campaign “The Four” in support of the four 2012 winning marriage equality referenda.
Prior to joining HRC, Ellner was a senior aide in the administration of Mayor Bloomberg, working with the New York City Department of Education to transform public education and renew mayoral accountability for the school system. Ellner worked with then Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein to build the Education Equality Project, a national non-profit effort focused on eliminating the racial and ethnic achievement gap. He has also served as the president of a Manhattan school board. He worked alongside former United States Senator Bob Kerrey at MacAndrews and Forbes. Ellner was a litigation associate at Paul Weiss and served as litigation counsel at O’Melveny & Myers LLP. A native New Yorker, Ellner graduated from Datrmouth College and received his law degree from Harvard Law School.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Edelman at this exciting and pivotal time in our City,” said Ellner. “Edelman has set the gold standard for independence, creativity and digital innovation and I’m looking forward to being a part of an exceptionally talented and well-connected global public affairs team to help our clients navigate my hometown.”
Edelman New York’s Corporate & Public Affairs practice is home to more than 170 professionals in public affairs, corporate communications, social purpose, employee engagement, technology and management consulting. In the past year, this team has received industry accolades for several clients, including GE, ITT and Unilever, and has won significant new assignments and clients such as Heineken, Samsung, HP, NYC Football Club, Resolute Forest Products and McGraw Hill Financial, among others.
About Edelman
Edelman is the world’s largest public relations firm, with 67 offices and more than 4,800 employees worldwide, as well as affiliates in more than 30 cities. Edelman was named Advertising Age’s top-ranked PR firm of the decade in 2009 and one of its “A-List Agencies” in both 2010 and 2011; Adweek’s “2011 PR Agency of the Year;” PRWeek’s “2011 Large PR Agency of the Year;” and The Holmes Report’s “2013 Global Agency of the Year” and its 2012 “Digital Agency of the Year.” Edelman was named one of the “Best Places to Work” by Advertising Age in 2010 and 2012 and among Glassdoor’s top ten “Best Places to Work” in 2011 and 2012. Edelman owns specialty firms Edelman Berland (research), Blue (advertising), BioScience Communications (medical communications), and agencies Edelman Significa (Brazil), and Pegasus (China). Visit http://www.edelman.com for more information.
For more information, contact:
Michael Bush
michael.bush@edelman.com