Mary Pollard joins the firm from Portland as Executive Director, Sustainability, Social Impact and Purpose
Laura Huizenga, previously at Nike, and Luke Hopkins from Mind + Matter join as Associate Directors
Edelman, the global communications firm, has made three new hires into the Sustainability, Social Impact and Purpose team, adding new capabilities to the award-winning practice.
Mary Pollard joins Edelman from Portland where she led the sustainability and purpose practice. She has over fifteen years’ corporate reputation experience advising global brands including AstraZeneca, Unilever, Mondelez International, HSBC, Sky and Diageo on their sustainability, social responsibility and purpose-led communications.
Mary will co-lead the practice with Mark McGinn, Executive Director, who joined the firm in 2017 from O2 where he was Head of Partnerships and Social Impact, and before that Head of International Marketing and Communications at (RED), the world’s leading cause-related marketing initiative.
Ruth Warder, Co-CEO, Edelman UK said: “We have a dynamic partnership in Mary and Mark. Mark is an exceptional advisor and practitioner in sustainability and social impact and Mary has a stellar Corporate Reputation pedigree. Bringing their deep sector expertise across all industries will be of tremendous value for our clients, work and team.”
Also joining the team this month are two exciting and accomplished Associate Directors - Laura Huizenga and Luke Hopkins.
Laura spent the last nine years working at Nike where she was most recently Purpose Brand Director and responsible for launching Nike UK’s Purpose strategy. She also co-designed community initiatives with elite athletes including Marcus Rashford and Ramla Ali.
Luke joins Edelman from Mind + Matter, formerly Pegasus, where he provided senior strategic counsel across veterinary pharmaceuticals, FMCG, NGOs, charities, and the agricultural sector. He has driven integrated marketing and behaviour change campaigns at both a local and global level and worked in partnership with industry leaders and intergovernmental organisations advising on purpose and global sustainability communications.
Helga Ying, Edelman Global and U.S. Chair of Purpose, said: “These exceptional new hires are part of our strategic vision to expand our growing global team of Purpose experts. Our ambition is to create a market-leading suite of services grounded in social impact, sustainability, and brand purpose expertise, to evolve our clients’ role in society, building Trust and driving value across stakeholder groups.”
This team will work in lockstep with the creative, planning, digital, and DxI teams to leverage the full spectrum of Edelman’s capabilities and expertise to help clients navigate today’s complex world and connect with audiences in an authentic and purposeful way.
The firm has plans to further grow the Sustainability, Social Impact and Purpose team in the coming months, and current open roles can be viewed here.
This announcement follows Edelman’s commitment last week to be the creators of a “Trusted Transition” where the firm will guide committed businesses and organisation to climate and environmental action and transformation, through trusted communications. Part of this commitment also includes funding the establishment of a Global Climate Communications Council for the industry; a partnership with SYSTEMIQ to define credible high-ambition transition pathways by sector to translate into high-trust communications pathways; mandatory Climate Change Communications Training for all-employees to bolster client counsel; and an operational commitment to set a science-based target in line with 1.5C.
