NEW YORK, April 2, 2024 -- BCW and Hill & Knowlton, which will merge as of July 1, 2024, to form Burson, today announced that Laura Anderson will join the agency to become Chair, Technology, the Americas, Burson. She will start with BCW, effective April 22, until the Burson transition is complete.
Anderson has more than 25 years of in-house and consulting experience in corporate and executive communications, reputation management and media relations. She has deep global technology industry experience, having worked with Fortune 500 and growth companies and technology investment firms with businesses spanning AI, semiconductor, manufacturing, hardware, software and tech-adjacent sectors.
“Laura has extraordinary experience and deep first-hand knowledge of the business challenges, policy issues and long-term ambitions of a wide range of technology companies, particularly for those that are driving the most consequential innovation in a generation,” said Kristine Boyden, CEO, the Americas, BCW, who will hold the same role with Burson upon completion of the merger. “Her expertise in guiding tech brands to overcome issues, realize radical goals and build reputational currency will be enormously valuable for our technology clients throughout the region and our global network.”
Prior to joining the agency, Anderson led her own consultancy, providing strategic communications, talent development, and operations-related advice and services to leading Fortune 500 and privately held semiconductor, software and tech-adjacent companies.
Previously, Anderson spent two years at DeepMind, one of the world’s leading AI organizations, serving as Senior Communications Adviser and Acting Head of Communications. She was responsible for the organization’s communications strategy and reputation management and advancing DeepMind’s efforts to apply its AI to advance life sciences, mathematics, fusion and other scientific fields.
Before that, Anderson spent nearly 20 years at Intel Corporation, where she progressed to the company’s top communications role - Vice President and General Manager of Global Communications and Events - and served as an adviser to the executive leadership team. She led a global team of communications, content, industry analyst relations and corporate events professionals, setting the communications strategy and repositioning the company amid its multi-year business transformation beyond PCs.
“Technology innovation is surging ahead at an unprecedented pace with substantial near- and long-term impacts on all individuals, markets and societies,” said Anderson. “All companies are tech companies in today’s world, and they are navigating increasingly complex regulatory and stakeholder environments while advancing their missions, innovation pipelines and overall performance. The exceptional BCW- soon-to-be-Burson team is incredibly well versed in helping clients build stakeholder trust while advancing bold ideas and business outcomes. I can’t wait to get started.”
On January 25th, WPP announced it would merge its two largest communications agencies, BCW and Hill & Knowlton, to form Burson, a powerhouse delivering modern communications leadership at scale to clients across the world. The merged company will become an industry-leading, full-service communications agency focused on building and protecting reputation. Burson will be operational as of July 1, 2024.
About BCW
BCW is the global communications agency built to move people. BCW partners with clients in the B2B, consumer, corporate, crisis management, healthcare, public affairs, purpose and technology sectors to set strategic direction for all communications and create powerful and unexpected ideas that earn attention. BCW uses earned media, paid media, creative technology, data, AI and an expanding suite of innovative capabilities to move people with power and precision to move its clients forward. BCW is a part of WPP (NYSE: WPP), a creative transformation company. For more information, visit www.bcw-global.com.
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