Ruder Finn Asia today announced the promotion of Charles Lankester to the newly created role of Managing Director, Greater Bay Area. This new role will be in addition to his existing roles of Executive Vice President, Global Reputation and Managing Director, Hong Kong.

Lankester will be tasked with creating a unified client capability and resource for the fast-growing Greater Bay Area which consists of nine cities in Southern China including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Macau and Hong Kong.

Ruder Finn Asia has built a dynamic, award-winning business in China, today employing 550 people in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong, 700 in Asia-Pacific and 1,250 globally. The move to consolidate a Greater Bay Area (“GBA”) dedicated resource is driven by existing client requirements and a fast-growing volume of new business requests from domestic and international corporations.

Already the 12th largest economy in the world, the GBA is home to more than 86 million people, has a Gross Domestic Product close to US$1,700 billion across a land area of 56,000km. The GBA is home to the highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in China as well as the majority of China's most innovative technology companies including Huawei, ZTE, DJI and Tencent.

“Establishing a combined talent and resource capability makes perfect sense given the current and future level of business activity in the GBA. Today, the GBA’s economy is larger than those of South Korea, Russia or Canada. The GBA population is larger than Tokyo, Delhi and Shanghai combined or the total populations of the United Kingdom, Italy or South Africa. Ruder Finn’s mission is clear: help our Greater Bay Area clients win. Win in business. Win in reputation. Win in talent. Ruder Finn Asia will bring proven marketing and communications advisory services to this fast-growing region. We will achieve this through dynamic, creative counsel delivered by talented executives backed by the resources of one of the world’s fastest-growing advisory firms. I am honoured to be tasked to lead Ruder Finn Asia’s GBA region and establish our firm as the clear market leader,” said Charles Lankester.

Elan Shou, CEO, Ruder Finn Asia added, “I am delighted that Charles is taking up this new role and know he will be a great leader for our GBA portfolio. He knows the region very well and has run successful businesses here for many years. He is the ideal candidate to build a seamless resource amongst our strong local teams and ensure we deliver the best in client results and service. The GBA’s areas of growth are also Ruder Finn’s areas of strength: financial services, technology and innovation, green energy and health and tourism. Ruder Finn already represents leading Chinese and global clients and under Charles’ GBA leadership, we expect this portfolio to increase significantly.”

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