Mei Yan Joins Brunswick as China Senior Partner

BEIJING and SINGAPORE, May 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Brunswick Group, a leading corporate communications partnership, today announced Ms. MEI Yan has joined the firm as Senior Partner for China. The Company also announced the opening of an office in Singapore in August, 2013, which will be Brunswick's fourth office in Asia and its 22^nd globally.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130521/CN17908)

"We are thrilled MEI Yan has joined Brunswick to support our rapidly growing business in Asia, which already has an outstanding team of 80 colleagues in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and now Singapore," said Alan Parker, founder and Chairman of Brunswick Group. "Yan has a sterling reputation in the media industry and commands a high degree of respect throughout the Chinese business community. Brunswick's clients and media around the world will have the opportunity to draw upon her outstanding knowledge of the Chinese market to provide even stronger cross-border strategic communications support."

Yan, who brings 25 years of experience from the media and business sectors to Brunswick, said, "I'm extremely excited to join the Brunswick team at a time when Chinese companies are playing an increasingly active role in international business. The challenges and opportunities for Chinese companies going global and multinationals coming to China have never been greater, and I look forward to working with the Brunswick team to provide strategic communications advice to help them succeed."

During her career, Yan has held China-based senior management positions at News Corp and Turner International Asia, and most recently Viacom International Media Networks Greater China, where she served as Managing Director and Chief Representative. She was previously a journalist with ITN and then CNN, where she and her teams won multiple Emmy awards for reporting on the Gulf War and the unrest in Somalia.

Yan's appointment coincided with Brunswick's announcement it will open a new office in Singapore to support clients in Southeast Asia. Brunswick already has a number of clients in Singapore and other ASEAN countries and several of its senior advisors have experience in the market. Kate Holgate, a Partner in Brunswick's London office with nearly 13 years of experience with the firm, will be relocating to Singapore to lead the development of the operations and recruitment of a local team. In addition to Kate, Will Carnwath, a Director in the London office, and Arif Shah, an Associate in the London office, will be seconded to Singapore.

Brunswick also announced further investments in Asia with the appointment of Susan Ho as Hong Kong office head and the promotion of St. John Moore in Beijing to the Partnership.

Tim Payne, Managing Partner and Head of Brunswick Asia, said, "Hiring Yan and relocating Kate Holgate to Singapore, reflect the increasing importance of Asia to Brunswick and our clients, and the growing role for strategic communications in helping support business challenges here."

About Brunswick Group

Brunswick Group is a private partnership with a growing team of more than 700 people, including over 100 partners around the world. The firm has grown organically since it was established in 1987 and now has 22 wholly owned offices in 13 countries. Brunswick is the global leader in financial and corporate communications, and provides senior counsel to clients around the globe on critical issues that affect reputation, valuation and business success. The firm's service offer comprises corporate and financial communications, investor relations, internal communications and perception research. Brunswick was ranked by Mergermarkets, an independent organisation, as the top global merger and acquisition communications advisor for more than five consecutive years and has been ranked the top advisor across Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) for the past four years (2009 – 2012).

Brunswick operates offices in Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Dallas, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Milan, Munich, New York, Paris, Rome, San Francisco, Shanghai, Stockholm, Sao Paulo, Vienna and Washington DC.

Biographies

MEI Yan - Yan joined Brunswick as a Senior Partner, China in May 2013. Prior to joining Brunswick, she served as Chief Representative for China of Viacom Asia and Managing Director of MTV Networks Greater China. During her long and distinguished career, she has held senior roles within News Corporation and the Chinese operations of its STAR TV network. She began her career as a journalist and spent time working for ITN and at CNN's US headquarters in Atlanta, where her teams won three Emmy Awards for their coverage in war zones. She holds a Master of Philosophy degree in Political Science and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Columbia University, U.S.A., a Master of Arts degree in Advanced Russian Area Studies from Hunter College, City University of New York, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian Language and Literature from Beijing Normal University.    

Kate HOLGATE - Kate joined Brunswick in June 2000. She has worked on a full range of retained clients in both the listed and private sector as well as on major capital market transactions. Kate is an IPO specialist having advised on some twenty flotations across a number of international stock exchanges. Before joining Brunswick, Kate spent six years in the Corporate Finance Division of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson where she worked on a number of capital market transactions including flotations, mergers and recommended offers and hostile offers. Before moving to investment banking, Kate was a member of the Diplomatic Service and served as spokesperson and head of the press office at the British Embassy in Ankara. She graduated with a first class degree in Physics from Oxford University.

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SOURCE Brunswick Group