Kelly Williamson is strategic advisor and an entrepreneur at-heart. As a member on APCO’s Global Leadership Team, she is accustomed to exploring new territory and capturing opportunities. From creating APCO’s global key client initiative, to founding of our Raleigh presence and helping grow it into a flourishing business; to regularly galvanizing new and creative ideas from around the world; or simply challenging herself, her clients and her managers to think bigger and act more boldly, Kelly is a force of nature who challenges the status quo. She is president of APCO’s North America region.
Her dedication to improving the firm’s culture and infrastructure of APCO is laudable. After beginning her APCO career as an intern in 1999, Kelly now helps global companies transform their business and be prepared for what’s next.
Kelly’s tenure features career highlights across diverse industry sectors and regions. She created our Accelerate What’s Right program that addresses systemic racism and builds inclusive cultures for our teams, clients and community. She’s a specialist in issues and corporate reputation, particularly for regulated industries. She built and initially led APCO’s key client initiative that trains colleagues globally on how to provide exceptional client service.
In recent years, Kelly was honored several times for her significant career accomplishments. She was named an Industry Game Changer 2023 by Ragan Communications. She also won a 2022 Top Women in Communications Award in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion category; was named a Champion in the 2018 PRWeek Hall of Femme; and was named a 2018 Top Women in PR by PR News.
Kelly is on the board of advisors at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in the Media and Journalism School as well as the board of the Institute for Public Relations and prior to joining APCO she served as a financial management consultant for the Principal Financial Group. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in communication with a concentration in public relations and business from James Madison University.
