WASHINGTON: DDC Public Affairs has hired Elizabeth Gerke as SVP and chief of staff.
Gerke will foster collaboration across the client service, people and finance teams to maximize client relationships and DDC’s staff, the agency said in a statement.
Reporting to DDC chief operating and people officer Gina Cherwin, Gerke will partner with the executive team to “re-envision” agency teams as the company grows its multinational client base and expands its vision for client and employee experience, according to the firm.
Prior to joining DDC, Gerke served as SVP of corporate affairs and head of operations for the DC market at BCW. Gerke previously worked at Burson-Marsteller for more than seven years before the firm’s merger with Cohn & Wolfe in 2018.
In January, holding company WPP said it plans to merge its two largest communications agencies, BCW and Hill & Knowlton, to form Burson. The newly formed agency will be operational from July 1.
Aaron Guiterman returned to Edelman this month after joining BCW as EVP and market leader for the agency’s Washington office a year prior. Sabrina Browne, a VP in BCW’s North America public affairs practice, left BCW for Citi in February. BCW and H&K have made a number of appointments for the combined Burson agency, as well as subsidiary agencies, since the merger announcement.
Headquartered in Washington, DC, DDC is a subsidiary of FleishmanHillard, which is a part of Omnicom Public Relations Group. The OPRG network also includes Ketchum, MMC and Porter Novelli.
OPRG posted an organic revenue decrease of 1.1% in Q1 to $390.3 million. The holding company as a whole reported global revenue of $3.6 billion in Q1, up 4% organically from the same period in 2023.
FleishmanHillard reported flat revenue at $745 million globally and $510 million in the U.S. in 2023, according to PRWeek’s 2024 Agency Business Report.