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Mattia to succeed Hass as Edelman promotes global leadership

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Former Coca-Cola public affairs chief Thomas Mattia is to replace Mark Hass as Edelman’s president in China following a series of changes to senior management which sees Hass secure the company’s top role in the United States.

The move comes as current US chief Matthew J. Harrington moves to become global chief operating officer (COO) of Edelman, now the world’s biggest public relations company.

Hass, who is currently president of Edelman China, will transition to the new role by July and will focus on bolstering the company’s digital offering.

Commenting on the move, Richard Edelman said: “Mark is an industry pioneer who was one of the first to truly ‘get’ digital and the need for a more fully dimensionalized public relations offering. A focused business leader, Mark has doubled our China business in the past two years. With his global experience as CEO of MS&L Worldwide for five years, strong business acumen and focus on client service, I couldn’t be more pleased to have Mark coming back to the US to manage our largest geography.”

Commenting on his return to the US, Hass said: “Working in a fast-moving, and complex market such as China for the past two years has been an incredible experience. I’m excited and energized by the opportunity now to work closely with Richard, Matt, and the leadership team in the US I’m also looking forward to bringing additional global perspective to the US business and to helping build on the US team’s enormous recent success.”

In turn, Mattia, a former Cola-Cola Company senior executive, who most recently served as chief communications officer at Yale University, joins to lead the team in China and will report directly to David Brain, president and CEO, Asia Pacific.  

Mattia, who retired from Coca-Cola as SVP of global Public Affairs and
Communications in March 2009, has served as the senior communications
officer of two Fortune 100 companies, directly counseled four CEOs and
managed reputational issues for four major global brands – Coca-Cola,
Ford, IBM, and EDS.

“I have always been an admirer of Edelman and the highly innovative
and industry-leading work it produces for its clients,” said Mattia.
“I’m delighted by the opportunity and excited about returning to China
and APAC and contributing to the growth of Edelman China.”

After joining IBM in 1980, he helped launch
the original IBM PC and managed communications for the company’s
divestiture of operations in South Africa. After a five-year stint on
the agency side at Hill & Knowlton in Hong Kong, where he managed
the Asia Pacific region, Mattia joined the Ford Motor Company in 1995 as
director of a newly created international communications department.
There he also served as director of North American Public Affairs and
vice president of Lincoln Mercury.

“I’m pleased to have Tom join our stellar team in China as we continue to grow in the market,” added Edelman. “Tom’s CSR and corporate experience, coupled with his market knowledge and expertise will truly be an asset for our firm.”  

Edelman entered China in 1993. Since then it has grown the business from one office to five (Edelman Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and Pegasus Beijing and Shanghai) with a staff of 210 and affiliates in major second-tier cities including Chengdu, Dalian, and Wuhan.

In 2007, Edelman expanded its presence in the region via a merger with Pegasus, which was then one of the top 10 local PR Agencies in China, according to the China International Public Relations Association. Over the past two years, Edelman has nearly doubled its revenue in the market from almost $9 million to over $17 million.

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