Chicago Role Follows Transformative Role as Director of Healthcare at Edelman Australia
Will Collie, who has been director of Healthcare at Edelman Australia for the past three years, has been named general manager of health in the Edelman Chicago office, effective immediately. He will report to Jay Porter, president of Edelman Chicago.
At Edelman Australia, Collie led the Health team through a period of sustained and significant growth. He and his team focused on patient engagement, stakeholder relations, social media health strategy and digital pharmacovigilance in addition to delivering media relations and issues management programs. The Sydney team serves pharmaceutical, patient and consumer wellness organizations, including Allergan, Novartis, Takeda, Australian Food and Grocery Council Healthy Balance Program among others.
“With Will’s extensive experience and strong background in healthcare communications and issues management, he will bolster our offerings in the Chicago health sector,” said Porter. “He also will enable us to continue evolving our business to provide best-in-class services for our clients.”
In 2014, Collie was named across all industry sectors as the Australian Public Relations and Advertising industry CommsCon Public Relations Professional of the Year. He and his healthcare staff also received several major public relations awards for their work.
“Will has developed award-winning programs for numerous health clients in Australia by focusing on ideas that cut across communications channels to move their businesses forward,” said Susan Isenberg, global vice chair, Health. “We’re excited to combine Will’s fresh thinking and approach with an already highly experienced health team in Chicago on behalf of our clients in the region.”
Before joining Edelman in January 2012, Collie served as senior manager of external affairs for global pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Previously, he worked for Weber Shandwick’s Australian Health business as well as the Department of Health Services in the United Kingdom. Collie succeeds Edelman veteran Gina Hayes, who is taking on new responsibilities in the area of programming operations.
Collie received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and completed further communications and health policy studies at Sydney University and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. He serves on the Australian Communications Healthcare Committee.
About Edelman
Edelman is the world’s largest public relations firm, with more than 5,000 employees in 65 cities, as well as affiliates in more than 35 cities. Edelman was named one of Advertising Age’s “A-List Agencies” in both 2010 and 2011, and an “Agency to Watch” in 2014; 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 has been awarded seven Cannes Lions including the Grand Prix for PR in 2014. Edelman was named one of the “Best Places to Work” by Advertising Age in 2010 and 2012 and among Glassdoor’s “Best Places to Work” in 2011, 2013 and 2014. Edelman owns specialty firms Edelman Berland (research), Edelman Deportivo (creative), Blue (advertising), BioScience Communications (medical communications) and agency Edelman Significa (Brazil). Visit http://www.edelman.com for more information.
For more information, contact:
Michael Bush
michael.bush@edelman.com