PR Talent Wars: Counsel, Citizen Relations, Narrative, MDC, Weber [Report]

April 5, 2016


Every man has his own vocation, talent is the call. – Ralph Waldo Emerson


Talent WarOur first edition of PR Talent Wars was well received as we reported on Canadian public relations agencies such as APEX, Faulhaber Communications, GCI Group and High Road. So we are back again and will take a look at some of the senior level changes with Canadian public relations agencies last month.  In this edition of PR Talent Wars we are going to talk about Citizen Relations, Counsel Public Relations, Narrative PR, Weber Shandwick and MDC Partners.

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Citizen Relations – gave birth to a sister agency back in February as they launched Colony Project, to head up operations they have entrusted one of their fastest rising stars Amanda Shuchat (Amanda was one of the recipients of PR In Canada’s 2014 Top 30 Under 30).  Amanda has progressed very quickly at Citizen Relations, and now having been  handed the reigns to run and grow her own agency is a big step in what we predict will be a long and exciting career in public relations.  Citizen Relations has been aggressively growing it’s business over the last two years, and been on a consistent hiring path. By that we do not mean replacing people, their new growth has resulted in talent being lured away from other agencies.  For Citizen Relations and its President of Canada Nick Cowling the best is still yet to come.

Counsel Public Affairs – We broke the news that Counsel appointed Tara Wood as a Vice President to this Toronto-based agency, and we expect to be hearing a lot more from them in the coming months.

Narrative PR – appointed ex-High Road President Sarah Spence as the agency’s new Managing Director.  This was a surprising move to see on Sarah’s part as High Road is a larger agency and almost a “family” feel towards it.  We do expect to see some High Road’ers follow Sarah in the coming months.  Under the agency’s previous leadership it operated predominately as a boutique agency, focused mainly on lifestyle clientele base. We’ve heard that part of the goal with bringing on someone new is to grow that client base.‎

Weber Shandwick – Expanding their management team in Montreal, Weber Shandwick appointed Rachel Yates as Senior Vice President.  ‎Weber Shandwick under the leadership of Greg Power has been very methodical in its growth. Instead of being a flash in the pan Greg has been building the agency story by story. He’s someone who gets that ‘traditional pr’ is dead, and agencies now need to offer more to their clients. Their Toronto office has certainly grown faster than Montreal, but perhaps with the addition of Rachel things will change in la bell province.

MDC Partners (parent of Kwittken and Veritas) – plugging a major whole in their corporate image, of course this one is also interesting as MDC is the holding company for a number of global agencies, and specifically here in Canada they are home to Kwittken and Veritas. MDC appointed Stephanie Nerlich as Chief Marketing Officer, Managing Director Canada.
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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 15 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses.
He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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