PARIS, March 30 - Louis Capozzi, Chairman Emeritus of the Publicis Public Relations and Corporate Communications Group, today took over as President of ICCO, the International Communications Consultancy Organisation. He replaces John Saunders, Regional President of Continental Europe, Ireland and Eurasia for Fleishman-Hillard, who steps down from the post after fulfilling a two-year term.
“I’m excited to be leading our most important global industry group at a time when there are enormous opportunities ahead for all of our firms” said Capozzi. “I’m also honoured to follow John Saunders, who has done an outstanding job as ICCO’s leader,” he added.
Lou has been active in public relations firms for nearly 40 years. He worked at both Hill & Knowlton and Ketchum prior to becoming Chairman and CEO of Manning, Selvage & Lee. He also held the position of Chairman for Publicis PR and Corporate Communications Group before taking on the role of Chairman Emeritus at the beginning of this year. In addition, Lou is a former chair of the Council of Public Relations Firms of the U.S., itself a member association of ICCO.
“Lou brings with him a wealth of experience as well as enthusiasm at a time of explosive opportunity for the Public Relations industry” said outgoing ICCO president, John Saunders. “He understands that the way people relate to one another and across cultures has fundamentally changed, with the result that Public Relations is poised to take the lead in finding new ways to communicate effectively.”
The official handover of the ICCO Presidency occurred during the opening of the organisation’s semi-annual Board meeting, currently taking place in Paris. Representatives of the Board of Management have travelled from member countries around the world in order to discuss ICCO activities and the state of the global public relations industry. The meeting is hosted by the French national trade association, SYNTEC Conseil en Relations Publiques.
The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies across the world. ICCO membership comprises national trade associations representing independent public relations consultancies that operate in twenty-nine countries around the globe: from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, America and Australia. These affiliated trade associations collectively have some 1,000 PR consultancies as their members, who between them employ over 25,000 staff.
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