Senior staff gone at Edelman as redundancies bite
Edelman team
Edelman has made more redundancies this week, including three of its most senior staffers.
The firm’s local head of brand Preya McMahon, head of Melbourne and director of corporate reputation Jana Tsiligiannis, and executive creative director Jamil Bhatti are among those affected.
“In line with our efforts to future-proof our business and better meet our clients’ evolving needs, we have made some changes to our team structure. As a result, this has impacted a limited number of roles within the firm,” an Edelman spokesperson confirmed in a statement to Mumbrella.
“While we are sad to part ways with these colleagues, we are grateful for their contributions and the impact they’ve made, and we remain committed to supporting them through this transition.”
Edelman team
Bhatti was the longest tenured of those affected, having been with Edelman for eight years. He joined in 2017 as a creative director, and in 2019 was promoted to the executive level. Working as a creative in a communications agency was a “no brainer” for him, when he joined.
“I don’t really make traditional choices with what I believe a creative career should be, and PR was a no brainer for me given… the art of story telling that was drummed into me”, he told Mumbrella at the time.
McMahon had been with Edelman for nearly two years, having joined late 2023 in the newly created brand role. Her role was described as “representative” of Edelman’s business strategy to “continue leading the industry in creative and innovative brand work”.
Tsiligiannis joined the firm three-and-a-half years ago as director of corporate reputation. Mid-last year, she was promoted to the head of Melbourne role, responsible for leading the team to deliver work for corporate and brand clients. She took over the local gig from Henry Taylor.
This all comes in the same month it made chief client officer Amber Scotto Di Perta redundant, after nearly ten years with the firm.
During her tenure, she rose through the ranks, becoming chief operating officer in 2022, before taking on the chief client role last year. She was also acting head of Australia in 2022, managing the agency prior to Tom Robinson’s appointment as local CEO.
Mumbrella understands the APAC chair of its public and government affairs division, Richard Andrew, has also left in recent weeks.
As has Edelman APAC’s head of business marketing, Simon Murphy. He exited in March and has since launched Indigo Murphy, a global comms advisory firm.
Other high profile redundancies in recent years include former Australian boss and APAC vice-chair Michelle Hutton and APAC corporate head Susan Redden Makatoa. She has since launched her own firm, Stratagem, with Peter Fraser.
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