Daniel J. Edelman Inc. Names Alan VanderMolen Vice Chairman

NEW YORK, March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Daniel J. Edelman Inc. (DJE), holding company of Edelman, the world's largest public relations firm, and its sister agency Zeno Group, has named Alan VanderMolen, vice chairman, effective immediately. In the newly created position, VanderMolen, currently head of Edelman's Global Practices and Diversified Insights Businesses, will oversee and drive the globalization of DJE brands StrategyOne, Ruth, and MATTER, and assist the leadership of Edelman's award-winning sister agency Zeno with its global expansion. He will also be responsible for adding other associated businesses to DJE. VanderMolen will continue to report to Richard Edelman, executive chairman of DJE, and retain his current portfolio of managing Edelman's global practices—Consumer Marketing, Digital, Health, Corporate, Public Affairs, and Technology—its global crisis offering, and Edelman's intellectual properties such as The Edelman Trust Barometer and goodpurpose. Daniel Edelman will remain chairman of DJE.

"Our diversified businesses continue to grow and increase their reach in the U.S., but we need to scale them globally and the time is right to start that expansion," said Edelman. "We see PR at the center of the marketing and corporate reputation universe.  We are dimensionalizing our business by surrounding it with strong research, experiential, paid, and consulting offerings, allowing us to provide a full-service solution for our clients. Having successfully led Edelman's expansion into several markets in APAC, and managed corporate communications and reputation management for some of our largest clients globally, Alan is extremely qualified to lead this effort."

A number of DJE's brands saw significant growth in 2011 led by its research arm StrategyOne, which grew 35 percent, and Zeno (12 percent).

"We believe that over the past few years PR has emerged as a discipline critical to the long-term sustainable success of business," said VanderMolen. "We aim to have a PR-centric holding company comprised of agencies from other related disciplines that will help brands strengthen their trusted relationships with critical stakeholders across the enterprise. This new structure will be instrumental in providing greater and deeper services on a global scale."

VanderMolen, a ten-year veteran of Edelman, is a specialist in corporate communications, stakeholder relations, and corporate social responsibility. He joined Edelman in 2002 as president, Asia Pacific. During his nine years in APAC, he quadrupled the firm's business in the region and led Edelman's entry into Japan, India, and Indonesia. He also managed the firm's acquisition of Pegasus Communications, Edelman's sister firm in China. In 2005, PRWeek recognized him as its Asia-Pacific PR Professional of the Year. He has led Edelman's development of intellectual capital in the areas of Stakeholder Relations, Corporate Trust, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Social Media. He currently works with clients including SAP and Shell, and has provided counsel in the past for clients such as Starbucks, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and Samsung. He drove Edelman's pro bono work in support of tsunami relief for Save the Children, and the firm's regional commitment to water access and stewardship with the Planet Water Foundation.

Prior to joining Edelman, he worked for 13 years at Burson-Marsteller. Throughout his 20-year career he has lived in Hong Kong, Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Warsaw, and Brussels. VanderMolen is a graduate of The Ohio State University. He represents Edelman at the Clinton Global Initiative, sits on the board of the Planet Water Foundation and is on the curriculum advisory board of Hong Kong Baptist University.

About Daniel J. Edelman Inc.

Daniel J. Edelman Inc. (DJE) is the holding company of Edelman, the world's largest public relations firm, and its award-winning sister agency Zeno Group. Edelman has 63 offices and more than 4,200 employees worldwide, as well as affiliates in more than 30 cities. Edelman was named Advertising Age's top-ranked PR firm of the decade in 2009 and one of its "A-List Agencies" in both 2010 and 2011; Adweek's "2011 PR Agency of the Year;" PRWeek's "2011 Large PR Agency of the Year;" and The Holmes Report's "2011 Global Agency of the Year." Edelman was named one of the "Best Places to Work" by Advertising Age in 2010 and among Glassdoor's top five "2011 Best Places to Work." Visit http://www.edelman.com for more information. Zeno has offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Silicon Valley, and Toronto. It was named PRWeek's "2011 Agency of the Year" and its "Mid-Size Agency of the Year" in 2011 and 2012; and The Holmes Report's 2011 "Creative Agency of the Year." The firm's practice areas include consumer, health, technology, and corporate. Visit http://zenogroup.com for more information. DJE also owns specialty firms Blue (advertising), StrategyOne (research), Ruth (brands + experiences), DJE Science (medical education/publishing and science communications), MATTER (sports, sponsorship, and entertainment), and Edelman Consulting.

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SOURCE Daniel J. Edelman, Inc.