PR giant Edelman hires ex-UK PM Office senior exec for key Dubai role

Communications giant Edelman on Wednesday announced the appointment of a former senior executive of the UK Prime Minister’s Office to a key role in the Middle East, based in Dubai.

Robin Gordon-Farleigh has been hired as regional director for government strategies for the Middle East and will take up the role in March.

Most recently he was the news planner in the UK Prime Minister’s Office where he was a senior communications strategist advising Prime Ministers Theresa May and David Cameron, a statement said.

In this role, Robin directed all news announcements across the UK Government and set the Government media agenda, leading a team of 30 news planning staff located in Government departments in Whitehall.

He has recently advised international governments at a senior level in the Middle East, Asia, North Africa and Europe on strategic communications, the statement added.

He said: “I am really pleased to be joining the Edelman Middle East team at such an exciting time. They are doing such amazing work there in the space of government communications, and I look forward to helping them to build out the business.

“It has been a great six years at No 10 which throughout I have felt truly honoured and humbled to work there at the top of Government and in some small way contributed to deliver its agenda.”

Tod Donhauser, CEO of Edelman in the UAE, added: “Robin is an internationally-respected government communications strategist, with significant experience working at the heart of government. We are excited to bring Robin’s unique insights and skills to our operations in the Middle East, where he will help us to advise the public and private sectors, and support government clients to execute strategy and position themselves internationally.

“This important hire is part of a wider Edelman effort to drive growth in our government services work in the critical region of the Middle East and beyond.”