Hill+Knowlton hires Randa Stephan as first chief marketing and comms officer

Hill+Knowlton Strategies has appointed Randa Stephan as its first chief marketing and communications officer, effective September 15. 

Stephan will report to global chairman and CEO AnnaMaria DeSalva and join Hill+Knowlton’s global leadership council. She will be responsible for the firm’s global corporate brand, marketing and internal and external communications across the H+K network, spanning 73 offices in 41 countries worldwide, according to an H+K statement.

Stephan joins Hill+Knowlton from Weber Shandwick, where she has worked for eight years. Most recently, she was Weber’s EVP and global head of marketing and brand. While there, she “reimagined the positioning and go-to-market strategy” for the agency, according to the statement.

In 2021, she led the launch of The Weber Shandwick Collective enterprise, formalizing the firm’s ecosystem of specialist agencies and establishing its first brand and service architecture. 

Before Weber, Stephan was executive director at The Wall Street Journal, where she led the launch of WSJ Custom Studios, the publisher’s integrated content marketing practice, working with leading brands to provide best-in-class content solutions across a variety of platforms, including print, digital, social, mobile, video and events. 

Earlier in her career, she worked at Ogilvy & Mather and Saatchi & Saatchi. 

H+K has delivered double digit growth every quarter since early 2021. Hill+Knowlton posted a 12% gain in revenue globally last year to $410 million and a 5% increase in the U.S. to $115 million, according to PRWeek’s Agency Business Report 2022.