Edelman has formalized what had been an interim appointment for Bianca Freedman, naming her the permanent CEO of its Canadian operations.
Freedman first replaced Lisa Kimmel on an interim basis this past October after Kimmel’s departure. Freedman had previously served for more than two years as Edelman’s Canadian COO, “which was a critical role in standardizing our offering so we operated as a truly national entity,” she tells strategy.
As CEO, Freedman will be “much more external-facing,” promoting the agency within the sector. “I’m going to be out there continuing to build the profile of Edelman Canada,” she explains. “I’ll be upping the ante on thought leadership within our industry.”
During her time as COO, Edelman Canada had two of its strongest performing years in its history from a business perspective as it continued to cement a national and fully integrated structure. That was the fruition of work Edelman Canada has been doing over the better part of the past decade to expand its capabilities and place a heavier focus on creative as part of its PR and communications practices.
Freedman says her role will be focused on continuing to enhance integration between those offerings, while developing “work that earns the trust of audiences because there is action behind it.”
“It’s a challenging economic environment,” she adds. “In order to challenge that, we need to give clients work that will deliver the most bang for their buck and have the most impact for their brand or reputation.”
The agency has no plans to appoint a new COO at this time, Freedman says.
