Ruder Finn Expands Asia’s Corporate Communications Practice with Senior Hire

Ruder Finn Asia has further strengthened its corporate communication capabilities in China with the hire of Michael Zhao as Senior Counsel. Based in Beijing, Michael will work closely with teams across the Asia network to develop strategic corporate communications programs for Ruder Finn’s current and future clients.

As a PR veteran, Michael has more than three decades of experience in the energy industry and has worked in both multinational and national energy companies. He has vast hands-on experience in the full spectrum of corporate communications, ranging from stakeholder engagement to issue management and crisis communications, government relations to corporate social responsibility. His experience and insight will add depth to Ruder Finn’s fast-growing corporate practice in a region where the company has served many industry-leading brands such as ArcelorMittal, Bosch, Boeing, Carlsberg, CITIC Bank, DHL, Founder Group, Hawker Beechcraft, L’Oreal, Marsh, Michelin, Visa and Volkswagen.

"Ruder Finn has more than six decades of global corporate communication experience and has a strong understanding and perspective of our industry. Michael will certainly complement and enhance our offering in Asia. I am looking forward to working with such a high level professional," Paul Yang, General Manager of Ruder Finn Beijing, said.??

Michael Zhao said, "Ensuring PR adds real value to businesses and makes a tangible contribution in addressing business issues and risks has always been the ultimate goal for PR practitioners. Building a business mentality and designing solutions from a business perspective is the logical starting point. ?I look forward to working together with my fellow RuderFinners to take on the challenge and achieve these goals for our clients."

Michael joins Ruder Finn from a Fortune top four energy company, British Petroleum (BP), where he served as the Director of Corporate Communications with regional responsibilities for press, corporate branding, executive communications, internal and external communications. Michael previously worked in the top national energy company China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), with key responsibilities in international affairs.

For more than six decades, Ruder Finn has built corporate reputation, brand-loyalty and trust for corporations, brands and institutions with their most important stakeholders, consumers and constituents. Ruder Finn has particular expertise in positioning and content strategies, stakeholder mapping, global media relations, community management, customer relations management, online engagement and channel management to ensure consistency across communications to current and prospective clients, employees, journalists and other key stakeholders

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Ruder Finn, Inc. is one of the largest independent integrated communication firms in the world, with offices in the United States and Europe, as well as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi in Asia.? Through these offices, and our affiliates worldwide, the agency serves the global and local communication needs of over 250 corporations, governments and non-profit organizations.? For 65 years, the Ruder Finn name has been synonymous with excellence in communications. Ruder Finn’s global strategic focus is on four operational pillars which constitute the core of our growth – Health & Wellness, Corporate & Public Trust, Global Connectivity and Life+Style.

In Asia, Health & Wellness includes AbbVie, Daiichi Sankyo, Galderma, Merck Serono, and Sanofi. Corporate & Public Trust includes L’Or?al, Michelin, ABB, Boeing, Bosch, Volkswagen, CITIC Bank, Singapore EDB, Visa, Omron and Carlsberg. Life+Style includes luxury brands like Cartier and Vacheron Constantin from the Richemont Group, Givenchy and Moet Hennessy premium brands from the LVMH Group, as well as Herm?s, Bang & Olufsen, Bentley, Breitling, Longchamp, Lexus, Tod’s Group, DFS Group, and the Jumeirah Group. Global Connectivity includes?DHL, Emirates, Beechcraft, IEEE and Contact Singapore. Those four pillars are supported by award-winning divisions such as RFI (focusing on Interactive, Social Media and ePR), CSR, Arts & Culture and INSIGHT which provides training as well as research on trends, producing the annual China Luxury Forecast and other publications. For more information on Ruder Finn, please visit www.ruderfinn.com or www.ruderfinnasia.com, or our Chinese website http://cn.ruderfinnasia.com

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