SAN FRANCISCO — With an eye on expanding regional business, Weber Shandwick West has named new Los Angeles and West Coast tech leaders.

Cheryl Cook, most recently a senior principal with Weber Shandwick Collective C-suite consultancy Myriant, has been promoted to Los Angeles market leader. She brings to the role experience gleaned over a 30-year career that included spending eight years as Edelman’s global client relationship manager.

Lee Anderson-Brooke has been promoted to West Coast tech lead. Anderson-Brooke has spent the last two years as senior principal of United Minds, Weber’s management consultancy, and served as a Weber Shandwick executive VP before that.

Both roles are new to the agency. Cook and Anderson-Brooke will report to Weber Shandwick West president Jordan Rittenberry, who said the hires are part of the agency “loading up” on regional talent.

“We are definitely serious players in tech and the West, and this is a signal to that,” Rittenberry said. “We are seeing a lot of opportunity come our way and are making sure we are able to continue to scale and grow our business.”

That effort also has included Weber’s West Coast operation strengthening its focus on corporate affairs and C-suite advisory. Last year, Christian Brown was named Seattle market leader and the firm’s regional corporate affairs lead.

Moving Cook and Anderson-Brooke into regional leadership roles is the latest step in a larger restructuring of senior leadership under Jim O’Leary, who stepped down from his role as Edelman’s US COO and corporate affairs chair in January 2023 to join Weber Shandwick as the agency’s new North America CEO.

Since joining the agency, O’Leary’s efforts have including honing strategy and making key hires including two Edelman vets — Rittenberry and Central region president Sheila Mulligan.