Rob Flaherty, Senior Partner and President

As President of Ketchum, Rob Flaherty works closely with CEO Ray Kotcher and other leaders to guide the strategy, client service and performance of the agency. He serves on Ketchum’s Worldwide Executive Committee and is responsible for the agency’s North American operations, Global Research Network and change management unit, Ketchum Pleon Change.

 

As a client counselor, Rob specializes in corporate positioning and issues management. He regularly leads highly collaborative sessions that develop positioning and messaging strategies for clients. He has helped companies prepare for and respond to challenging situations ranging from product liability and airline accidents to data security and antitrust litigation. In 2006, he led a team that provided crisis management and global media relations support for the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. Rob also led crisis management support teams for three Olympic torch relays.

 

Rob serves on the board of the Institute for Public Relations and on the Agency Management Committee of the Council of Public Relations Firms. He is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America. In recent years, he was selected as one of the “15 Leading Lights” in U.S. public relations and a finalist for the PRWeek “PR Professional of the Year.”

 

Rob joined Ketchum in 1989 after five years at Burson-Marsteller in New York. Prior to that, he was Director of Public Relations for the F.X. Matt Brewing Company in Utica, N.Y. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Utica College.