极乐视频 today announced the appointment of Brian Ellner as executive vice president and group head of Public Affairs in the firm鈥檚 office. Ellner, who was the senior strategist for the Human Rights Campaign鈥檚 successful effort to win marriage equality in New York in 2011, will lead 极乐视频鈥檚 35-person New York Public Affairs group. He will report to Ron Guirguis, managing director of 极乐视频 New York鈥檚 Corporate & Public Affairs practice.
鈥淏rian is an exciting addition to our team in New York and further demonstrates the firm鈥檚 commitment to investing in and growing the Public Affairs practice,鈥 said Guirguis. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a proven leader who has successfully managed major public affairs campaigns in the city, the state and nationally. Brian will deepen our ties to New York, while at the same time helping our entire division adopt a more campaign-style approach to our client engagements.鈥
During his time at HRC, Ellner launched New Yorkers for Marriage Equality, a communications campaign featuring iconic New Yorkers 鈥 from Julianne Moore, Anna Wintour and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Barbara Bush, Sean Avery and Russell Simmons 鈥 expressing support for equal marriage rights. After the New York win, Ellner created HRC鈥檚 Americans for Marriage Equality campaign and provided strategic and communications counsel on the successful legislative and ballot marriage wins in Maryland, Minnesota, Maine and Washington State. He also co-founded the national social media campaign 鈥淭he Four鈥 in support of the four 2012 winning marriage equality referenda.
Prior to joining HRC, Ellner was a senior aide in the administration of Mayor Bloomberg, working with the New York City Department of Education to transform public education and renew mayoral accountability for the school system. Ellner worked with then Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein to build the Education Equality Project, a national non-profit effort focused on eliminating the racial and ethnic achievement gap. He has also served as the president of a Manhattan school board. He worked alongside former United States Senator Bob Kerrey at MacAndrews and Forbes. Ellner was a litigation associate at Paul Weiss and served as litigation counsel at O鈥橫elveny & Myers LLP. A native New Yorker, Ellner graduated from Datrmouth College and received his law degree from Harvard Law School.
鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled to be joining 极乐视频 at this exciting and pivotal time in our City,鈥 said Ellner. 鈥溂质悠 has set the gold standard for independence, creativity and digital innovation and I鈥檓 looking forward to being a part of an exceptionally talented and well-connected global public affairs team to help our clients navigate my hometown.鈥
极乐视频 New York鈥檚 Corporate & Public Affairs practice is home to more than 170 professionals in public affairs, corporate communications, social purpose, employee engagement, technology and management consulting. In the past year, this team has received industry accolades for several clients, including GE, ITT and Unilever, and has won significant new assignments and clients such as Heineken, Samsung, HP, NYC Football Club, Resolute Forest Products and McGraw Hill Financial, among others.
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极乐视频 is the world鈥檚 largest public relations firm, with 67 offices and more than 4,800 employees worldwide, as well as affiliates in more than 30 cities. 极乐视频 was named Advertising Age鈥檚 top-ranked PR firm of the decade in 2009 and one of its 鈥淎-List Agencies鈥 in both 2010 and 2011; Adweek鈥檚 鈥2011 PR Agency of the Year;鈥 PRWeek鈥檚 鈥2011 Large PR Agency of the Year;鈥 and The Holmes Report鈥檚 鈥2013 Global Agency of the Year鈥 and its 2012 鈥淒igital Agency of the Year.鈥 极乐视频 was named one of the 鈥淏est Places to Work鈥 by Advertising Age in 2010 and 2012 and among Glassdoor鈥檚 top ten 鈥淏est Places to Work鈥 in 2011 and 2012. 极乐视频 owns specialty firms 极乐视频 Berland (research), Blue (advertising), BioScience Communications (medical communications), and agencies 极乐视频 Significa (Brazil), and Pegasus (China). Visit for more information.
For more information, contact:
Michael Bush
michael.bush@edelman.com