NEW YORK — Edelman has promoted global practices and sectors president Kirsty Graham to US CEO.

Starting February 1, Graham will oversee Edelman’s largest operation, which has nearly 2,500 employees in 12 offices across the country. Based in New York, Graham will continue to serve on the firm’s executive leadership team and will report to global president and COO Matthew Harrington, who has served as acting US CEO since September.

Graham succeeds Lisa Osborne Ross, who formally exited Edelman in October after taking a leave of absence the month before.

Ross had led Edelman US since 2021, succeeding Russell Dubner who at that time moved to a global role. Dubner has since joined Boston Consulting Group to lead global comms.

Harrington said promoting Graham, who joined Edelman from Pfizer in 2020, offers the opportunity to move the US operation “from strength to strength.”

He said Graham’s tenure leading global practices and sectors and serving as global chair of health, during which healthcare has grown into the agency’s largest sector, has well-prepared her to drive the next phase of the US operation’s growth.

“We need to make sure we are capitalizing on the strengths and expertise and capabilities Edelman has to offer in a streamlined and easy way for clients,” Harrington said.

Graham said her priorities include further integrating Edelman US’s expertise and offerings to provide exceptional client service at a time of immense political, cultural and corporate change.

“You always want to look at where the industry is heading and be ahead of the curve,” she said.

Before joining Edelman, Graham spent 10 years at Pfizer, where she served as senior VP of corporate affairs for pharmaceutical giant’s biopharmaceuticals group. In that role she oversaw policy, public affairs and communications for Pfizer’s medicines business.

Earlier in her career, Graham spent 16 years in the New Zealand Foreign Service working on a wide range of economic, security and trade policy issues with responsibilities spanning bilateral relations with China, Japan, and the United States. Her diplomatic assignments included a five-year posting to Washington and five years as New Zealand’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations.