Weber Shandwick Elevates Creative, Strategic Leaders as Firm Continues to Reshape Healthcare Communications

NEW YORK, Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Weber Shandwick, one of the world's leading global communications and engagement firms, announced a series of new appointments across the firm's Global Healthcare practice today that showcase the group's commitment to reshaping healthcare communications through creative and strategic solutions that make a positive impact on patients' lives.

Peter Matheson Gay has been appointed to global executive creative director, Healthcare, a new role for the practice. Gay was previously executive vice president, North American creative director, Healthcare. Barbara Box, who previously headed Weber Shandwick's New York and Chicago Healthcare teams, has been appointed executive vice president, North America Healthcare strategy lead. Jamie Dowd will be taking over Box's remit in New York as executive vice president and New York Healthcare practice lead. Cori McKeever Ashford will lead the Healthcare practice in Chicago as executive vice president. In addition, Kristen Thistle has also been promoted to executive vice president, and will head the Minneapolis Healthcare practice.

New Strategic and Creative Leaders Continue to Fuel New Approaches

Based in New York, Gay will drive creative solutions for healthcare clients around Weber Shandwick's global network as the firm continues to break boundaries in creative healthcare communications. Gay has a track record of inspiring creativity within Weber Shandwick and in the broader marketing industry, having led the firm's engagement at the Lions Health Festival for the past two years. Since joining Weber Shandwick's Toronto office in 2011, Gay has helped build the firm's Canada Healthcare offering and has been a catalyst in new business wins globally. He has executed creative strategies for several top-tier healthcare brands, bringing his diverse and deep expertise across therapeutic categories, including infectious diseases, oncology, diabetes, cardiovascular, obesity, multiple sclerosis and many more.

As strategy lead for North America Healthcare, Box will draw upon the rigor and rewards of INCITE, Weber Shandwick's proprietary strategic planning process, to new and existing clients. She will be partnering with the INCITE team leads across the agency to promote the process and add value to client work across the practice. Box previously oversaw the management and development of Healthcare accounts in both New York and Chicago, contributing to the overall growth of the practice and providing expertise to several of the practice's top clients in both markets. Box brings a combination of healthcare and consumer public relations experience with a strong background in strategic positioning and physician and patient education.

"Transparency, personal engagement and storytelling are becoming more and more important to how we talk about healthcare," said Laura Schoen, president, Global Healthcare practice. "Creativity and strategy are now at the core of what we do and through that lens we are reshaping how we think about wellness and making a bigger impact on people's lives."

New Healthcare Leads Appointed in New York, Chicago and Minneapolis

In her role as head of the New York Healthcare practice, Dowd will be responsible for continuing to grow the practice and will oversee the transformative client work produced by the team. She will remain the global client relationship leader for one of the firm's largest global accounts, providing senior counsel and managing more than 50 team members in various Weber Shandwick offices around the world. Dowd has deep expertise in product communications, product launches, consumer-facing campaigns, content marketing and executive visibility. She has helped clients overcome some of their toughest challenges and empowered them to think differently about communications and how to engage with media, patients, doctors and other stakeholders.

In her new role, Ashford will oversee the firm's Chicago Healthcare practice. She has been instrumental in the significant growth of Weber Shandwick's Healthcare practice in the past three years, with a focus on biopharmaceutical and corporate health clients, as well as healthcare associations and public health accounts. She has extensive experience overseeing franchise communications, as well as pipeline and marketed product communications in oncology, immunology and cardiovascular therapeutic areas.

With 17 years of healthcare experience at the firm, Thistle has deep expertise developing and directing public relations and public affairs campaigns for healthcare clients that span the industry spectrum. As a leader on several client engagements, Thistle has played an important role in helping to drive the Minneapolis Healthcare business forward, consistently producing award-winning campaigns for national and global accounts. In her new role as leader of the Minneapolis Healthcare team, she'll continue to oversee several of the practice's key client engagements.

"Our Healthcare practice is growing at an impressive pace, largely due to the enthusiasm and scientific expertise of our team who pushes the boundaries to infuse creativity into what has traditionally been one of the most highly regulated industries," Schoen said. "Our leaders across our global team have the experience and expertise to create innovative solutions for healthcare brands that not only drive business results but also change patients' lives for the better."

In addition to these new roles, Weber Shandwick also recently announced its acquisition of ReviveHealth, one of the industry's premier integrated marketing communications firms for health systems, health services and health technology in the United States. The acquisition combines Weber Shandwick's global expertise in pharma, provider communications, scientific communications, and health public affairs with ReviveHealth's unrivaled specialization and focus on the business of healthcare, including health systems, health services, health technology, device and diagnostic companies, physician groups, and wellness and population health companies.

About Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick is a leading global communications and engagement firm in 78 cities across 34 countries and operations extending to 126 cities in 81 countries. The firm's diverse team of strategists, analysts, producers, designers, developers and campaign activators has won the most prestigious awards in the world for innovative, creative approaches and impactful work, including being honored as an Ad Age A-List Agency in 2014 and 2015, The Holmes Report's Global Agency of the Year in 2014 and 2015 and PRWeek's 2015 Global Agency of the Year. Weber Shandwick and its Prime unit have won a combined 25 Cannes Lions since 2009. Weber Shandwick was also named a Best Place to Work by Ad Age in 2014 and 2015 and PRWeek in 2013 and 2014. The firm deploys deep expertise across sectors and specialty areas, including consumer marketing, corporate reputation, healthcare, technology, public affairs, financial services, corporate social responsibility, financial communications and crisis management, using proprietary social, digital and analytics methodologies. Weber Shandwick is part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). For more information, visit http://www.webershandwick.com.

Contact: Michelle Selesky Giuda

Company: Weber Shandwick

Phone: 212.445.8088

Email: [email protected]

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