HONG KONG--Matt Stafford has been named market leader and CEO of Burson-Marsteller Hong Kong, following the departure of previous chief Georgeana Fung. 

Fung, who took charge of the office in 2008, has left the firm to become an independent consultant. Stafford has spent the past four years building B-M's corporate and government practice in Hong Kong, and leading counsel for key global client Huawei.

“Matt is one of the finest leadership talents with whom I’ve had the privilege to serve our clients and he has been a key player growing our Hong Kong and Asian client business to a market-leading position over the past four years,” said B-M Asia-Pacific CEO Bob Pickard, to whom Stafford will report. “His group had the lowest turnover rate in the region, which is a testament to his leadership and to the positive value the Hong Kong team is providing our rapidly expanding community of clients.”

Stafford re-joined B-M in Hong Kong during 2007 following five years as the Australian Government’s senior policy adviser on communications reporting to several Cabinet ministers. He was the lead adviser for the development and implementation of sweeping regulatory reforms in that sector, including a multi-billion dollar national broadband strategy and the privatisation of Telstra, the single largest public share offer in Australia’s history.