CHICAGO: Golin president of global corporate communications Scott Farrell is retiring from the agency at the end of the year.
As part of a planned transition, Farrell will begin to work part-time from October 1 through December 15 and will start in a consulting role, serving as an adviser for select client engagements, crises and new business pitches, at the start of the year.
Golin will not directly replace Farrell as president of global corporate communications, said Gary Rudnick, agency president and COO.
Tim Peters and Sarah Vellozzi will lead the corporate practice in North America, continuing in the roles they were promoted to in July: Peters as U.S. corporate lead for the Midwest and West regions and Vellozzi as head of the East.
They will report to the regional presidents in their markets: Ginger Porter, president of the Midwest for Peters; and Dawn Langeland, president of New York for Vellozzi. Both will also have a dotted-line reporting structure to Rudnick, starting in 2023.
Dave Duschene will continue as crisis and issues team lead for Golin Chicago.
“From a global standpoint, we are looking at [the corporate practice] more regionally, so our teams in APAC, EMEA and North America will all coordinate and collaborate with each other,” said Rudnick.
Farrell said that he is leaving Golin as its “business is robust and the leadership is incredibly strong.”
Along with consulting for Golin, Farrell said he may take on a teaching opportunity and will continue to be active on boards, such as Chicago-based nonprofit Off the Street Club. He is planning to run a marathon and will spend time with his four “rambunctious” grandchildren.
Farrell has worked at the Interpublic Group firm for 25 years. He joined the firm in 1997 as EVP and group director of corporate communications, was promoted to deputy MD in 2002 and moved into the role of MD of Golin’s global headquarters office in Chicago in 2005. For the last 13 years, he has held his current position.
“I’ve had four dream jobs, and I never had to leave Golin to achieve them,” Farrell said.
Under Farrell’s direction, Golin worked on corporate branding, reputation management, executive relevance and issues and crisis management for brands including Capital Group, Dow Chemical, Nestle Purina and Walmart, the firm said in a statement. Golin’s corporate practice accounts for 30% of the firm’s U.S. client portfolio, it said in a statement.
Golin’s revenue increased by 29% globally to $320 million and by nearly 25% in the U.S. to $200 million last year, with nearly every office seeing double-digit gains, according to PRWeek’s Agency Business Report 2022.
The PR firms in Interpublic Group’s Specialized Communications and Experiential Solutions segment posted mid-single-digit growth on an organic basis in Q2, down from double-digit growth a year earlier.