Bob Pickard to lead National Public Relations' Toronto office

Share:

TORONTO: National Public Relations has hired Bob Pickard as managing partner of its Toronto office.

Pickard is set to start in the role on November 11, reporting to National Public Relations president Martin Daraiche. He will succeed Rick Murray, who held the position since 2014. 

Last month, Murray was named managing partner of Boston-based sister company Shift Communications. 

Pickard will be responsible for leading the Toronto office's business and expanding its services. He will also oversee the Toronto operations of sister company Cohn & Wolfe. (Despite the merger of Cohn & Wolfe and Burson-Marsteller into one agency as BCW elsewhere, Burson-Marsteller affiliate National and Cohn & Wolfe Canada continue to operate as separate brands. They are owned by Montreal-based Res Publica).

Most recently, Pickard was principal of Toronto-based Signal Leadership Communication, a social PR consultancy he cofounded in 2016, exclusively serving senior executives dealing with digital disruption. Previously, Pickard served as Huntsworth’s chairman for Asia-Pacific, president and CEO for Asia-Pacific at Burson-Marsteller and president of North Asia and  representative director for Japan at Edelman. Earlier in his career, Pickard was founding partner and EVP of Environics Communications.