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Michael Gross named Finsbury Vice Chairman; Paul Holmes appointed CEO, North America

This article was originally published on Finsbury.com

In his new position, Gross will help deepen relationships with Finsbury's largest global corporate clients by extending the company's support across the global office network, leveraging the breadth of disciplines across the company's practice areas. Gross will also continue to drive Finsbury's expansion into the Japanese market by fully integrating its new Tokyo office into Finsbury's Asian network.

Holmes has been instrumental in growing the New York operation and developing global client relationships such as Volkswagen. As CEO of North America, Holmes will focus on accelerating Finsbury's expansion in the region and further embedding the 'One Finsbury' philosophy.

Finsbury Chairman Roland Rudd commented:

"Michael has led a thriving business in the United States, building relationships with global clients and opening our offices in Washington D.C., Los Angeles and most recently Tokyo, Japan. Paul's excellent judgement and leadership will drive forward our North American offering. I am confident that these appointments will help Finsbury to assert itself as the global leader in strategic communications."

Gross began his career at Finsbury in 1989 as an Executive Vice President at the firm's U.S. predecessor Robinson Lerer Montgomery. He has developed and implemented communications strategies for a number of complex financial transactions, as well as crises including environmental problems, anti-trust and patent litigation, government investigations, regulatory issues, labor disputes and product recalls. Prior to Finsbury, he was a Managing Director of Adams & Rinehart, a strategic communications firm, worked for several years at Mobil Corporation in public relations and finance and was an advertising account executive with Doyle Dane Bernbach. Gross has a B.A. in philosophy from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, an M.A. in creative writing from City College of New York, and an M.B.A. in finance from New York University.

Holmes joined Finsbury in 2007 as a Senior Vice President in New York and has represented several of the world’s largest companies in the financial services, media, retail, transportation, insurance and health care sectors, among others. Before joining the firm, Holmes had a long and successful career in international journalism. He has worked in more than 50 countries, covering conflict, politics and business. He was the Political and General News Editor at Reuters for five years. Holmes is a co-author of four books on international affairs and an Ethics Fellow of the Poynter Institute of Journalism Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida. He speaks fluent French, German and Italian and holds a Bachelor’s degree in modern languages from the University of Exeter in the UK.

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