Bob Pickard applies his two decades of public affairs and PR experience to the task of building and serving the firm’s expanding community of clients in Japan and Korea. In these countries, Edelman has grown ten times larger during the past five years and today it is the leading global PR consultancy in North Asia.

A founder and Representative Director of Edelman Japan, before Bob was Managing Director of Edelman Korea, which was named Edelman’s international ‘Office of the Year’ in 2004 & 2005 and was also recognized as ‘Consultancy of the Year’ at PR WEEK’s 2004 Asia-Pacific PR Awards.

Since 1990, Bob has developed, managed, and implemented effective communication strategies for a diverse spectrum of leading global organizations. An experienced crisis communications practitioner, he has also media trained several hundred executives in America and Asia.

Before joining Edelman, Bob was executive vice president of Environics Communications, a PR agency he co-founded in 1994. There he led the expansion of the firm’s business into the U.S. market, serving as general manager of its New York-area office. Earlier, Bob was a vice president at Hill and Knowlton Canada. A member of the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro Brazil in 1992, he served on the staff of senior federal Cabinet ministers, including Canada’s 16th Prime Minister.

A Toronto native and current resident of Tokyo, Bob has travelled to 39 nations (including all 50 U.S. states). He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Studies from Queen’s University and is a frequent conference speaker (e.g. APEC, EIU, WEF) on CSR issues.