SAN FRANCISCO — Helga Ying has been named Edelman’s global and US chair of purpose, bringing two decades of experience working in the arena to the role.

Ying will oversee Edelman’s purpose leaders around the world including Alex Heath and Jackie Murphy in the US; Canada’s Eve Laurier; LatAm’s Natalia Martinez; Youngjin Kim and Antoine Calendrier in Asia-Pacific; and EMEA’s Mark McGinn. She will also partner with Chuka Umunna, executive director and head of Edelman’s ESG consultancy offer, and Luciana Berger, managing director of advocacy, both of whom are based in London.

Ying joins after most recently working at the International AIDS Society, where she was head of local office, AIDS 2020. In that role she oversaw the management of the local offices in San Francisco and Oakland for the 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020). She replaces Marion Darrieutort, who stepped down from her role as Elan Edelman CEO and global purpose chair in October to focus on new entrepreneurial projects.

CEO Richard Edelman called Ying “a person who is going to be transformational.”

“Helga gives us dimension and depth of knowledge from supply chain to consumer behavior,” he said. “This is not purpose for the point of marketing. This is purpose for changing the business that we are working with.”

Before AIDS 2020, Ying was VP of external engagement and social responsibility at American Eagle Outfitters. She also led that company’s external and crisis communications functions along with its social compliance department.  Earlier in her career, Ying spent more than a decade at Levi Strauss & Co., where she was senior director of worldwide government affairs and public policy.

Ying said it’s critical that companies go beyond “putting forward a progressive image” by authentically incorporating purpose into their DNA.

“Companies are starting to believe that purpose and profit go hand-in-hand in making a difference,” Ying said. “The more brands we work with on purpose the more we can change the world for the better.”