Leadership

Karen van Bergen brings nearly 30 years of agency- and client-side experience to her role as CEO of Omnicom Public Relations Group. She holds responsibility for all public relations and public affairs firms within Omnicom, encompassing more than 6,300 employees. Karen drives the strategy for Omnicom Public Relations Group, focused on Omnicom’s strategic growth areas including talent, innovation and collaboration. Prior to Omnicom Public Relations Group, Karen served as CEO of global public relations agency Porter Novelli. Over a three year period, Karen led the agency on a path of significant transformation—marked by growth and award-winning work, and capped by recognition as a 2014 PRWeek Best Place to Work—a result of her steadfast focus on talent. She served as managing director of Porter Novelli’s New York office from 2011-2012. Before Porter Novelli, Karen spent four years at FleishmanHillard, most recently as senior partner, senior vice president and global lead for OneVoice, an integrated Omnicom team serving Royal Philips Electronics. Working in-house, Karen served two stints with McDonald’s in Europe and Asia totaling more than 13 years; she also worked with The Coca-Cola Company and Outboard Marine Corporation. Karen was named 2016 PRWeek PR Professional of the Year–Agency and a 2016 “Woman of Influence” by New York Business Journal in addition to being named to the 2016 PRWeek Hall of Femme and PRWeek Power List in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. In 2017 she was ranked #1 on the Power List, the first woman to achieve that rank. She is a founding member of Omniwomen, which aims to grow the number of female leaders throughout Omnicom.

Joseph serves as chief operating officer at Omnicom Public Relations Group, driving the development and execution of strategic initiatives around talent, innovation, collaboration and growth. Most recently, Joe served as partner and chief operating officer at Porter Novelli, with executive responsibility for talent, creative and strategic planning, analytics and research. In addition to leading countless strategic initiatives for the agency, he served as strategic advisor to clients in the food and beverage industry. He joined Porter Novelli in 2006 as executive vice president and leader of the agency’s strategic planning function; he also served as deputy managing director of the New York office from 2011-2013. Prior to Porter Novelli, Joe was vice president of knowledge management at Cadbury Schweppes; he also served in director level roles at Unilever and Lipton.

Ann is chief financial officer at Omnicom Public Relations Group. She is responsible for all financial matters working closely with the finance teams at each of the Omnicom Public Relations Group agencies. Prior to this role, Ann served as vice president of finance-operations at the DAS Group of Companies where she oversaw finance for the PR agencies. Before that, Ann served in senior roles at Taylor Public Relations as chief financial officer; DeVries Public Relations as CFO/COO and The Weber Group as senior vice president of finance. She also served as finance director for Oxford Health Plans and worked in various roles of finance, business development, client service and account management for Electronic Data Systems (now HP). Ann is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

David is responsible for developing Omnicom Public Relations Group’s offering internationally, enabling people and organizations to connect with world-class public relations services throughout the world. He joined Omnicom Public Relations Group from one of its global networks, Ketchum, where he was chief executive for its European region and senior advisor to many of its global clients. David is known as a modernizer in the industry and an advocate for collaboration, serving as chairman for several national and international trade bodies, and his contributions to the field have been recognized with achievement awards from the Public Relations Society of America, the Public Relations and Communications Association of the UK and various magazines and publications. He has served as jury president for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Eurobest and other creative services awards competitions, and is currently a member of the World Economic Forum’s global council on the future of behavioural sciences. David is based in London.