APCO Worldwide Builds on Surge in Client Demand, Launches Regional Hubs for Growth and Innovation

Washington – September 21, 2020: Organizations around the world are navigating unprecedented levels of change and disruption, and with client needs surging, APCO Worldwide is launching Regional Growth and Innovation Hubs across the United States to focus on bringing the best to our clients in this rapidly changing world. APCO is also launching a new global resource management function to maximize opportunities for staff experiences and their career development, North America President Kelly Williamson announced today.

“We are grateful that our clients are relying on us to help handle their now ubiquitous levels of transformation,” Williamson said. “We have experienced increased demand for our intelligence services, expansion of crisis work to focus on coming back stronger, a greater push for purpose, and new solutions for partnering with government and community leaders, virtualizing stakeholder engagement, creative campaigning for change and tackling exceptional geopolitical and socioeconomic changes.”

APCO’s regional hubs, organized by North, South, Mid-Atlantic and West, will anticipate what’s next for the company and its clients, and be fit for the future to go aggressively after it. APCO will focus its four newly formed regional hubs on the most important needs of the U.S. market including C-suite advisory; shifting demographic, social, culture and behavioral change; geopolitical dynamics and fallout from the federal, state and local elections; and advancing innovative and disruptive business models.

“COVID-19 has really shown us that we are not a series of only offices, but we truly work as one team, regardless of location. These hubs will allow APCO employees to further better come together as a region so we always provide clients with industry-leading outcomes, in a faster and more consolidated manner,” Williamson said.

Chicago and Raleigh Managing Directors Matt Gallagher and Courtney Crowder, and President Evan Kraus will lead the West, South and Mid-Atlantic growth hubs, respectively, and APCO will be recruiting a dynamic new leader for the regional hub in the North.

APCO also announced today that Marc Johnson, managing director of its New York office, will leave APCO on September 25, to lead corporate communications at a major technology company, and Tim Smith, managing director of APCO’s Seattle office, will leave the company on October 2. “I will miss working with these dynamic leaders but I wish them the very best in their next chapter of their distinguished careers,” Williamson said.

Brad Staples, APCO’s CEO, also announced today the formation of a global resource management team to take responsibility for ensuring that all APCO staff have access to the opportunities that best grow their careers and optimally serve clients, independent of where they sit. “This team, focused on our people, will be dedicated to resource management to fully help APCO realize its ‘one firm’ approach that brings the very best talent to each client assignment,” Staples said.

APCO’s global resource management team—led by Joanna London for North America; Laura O’Leary for Europe; and Samer El Hachem for MENA and Asia—is a transformative function that reflects best of class in client and staff development. The team is supported by a complete overhaul of the firm’s financial and operating system, launched on July 1.

“Launching Resource Management concurrently with the new technology will give APCO leaders a better, more predictive and data-powered view of client needs and how to optimally deliver desired results in a way that fully leverages the substantial strengths and expertise of our highly diverse team,” Staples said.

APCO prides itself in bringing diversity in thinking and understanding, depth of expertise, intimate appreciation of stakeholders and a nuanced yet fact-based approach—all possible due to the extraordinary group of highly sought-after professionals at APCO. Just this year, APCO added multiple industry-leading professionals in North America as staff and members of its International Advisory Council, including Brian Keeter, Kim L. Hunter, Andy Davidson, Charlene Wheeless, Stuart Brotman, Pamela Passman, Matthew Perault, Brandon Neal, Preston Grisham and Brendan Ward.

For more than 35 years, APCO has been a trusted advisor and partner to private, public and nonprofit clients as they try to identify and manage new and emerging issues, challenges and opportunities around the world. Founded by Margery Kraus as a single-person operation in 1984, APCO has grown to a global advisory and advocacy communications consultancy with offices in more than 30 markets and experience working in more than 80 markets globally, providing in-depth advice, perceptive guidance and creative approaches for its clients.