PROI appoints 3 new Vice-Chairs, reinforces commitment to gender diversity

PROI Worldwide, the world’s largest partnership of integrated independent communications agencies, has appointed three leading women agency owners as Vice-Chairs at their Annual Meeting held in Lisbon, Portugal on May 5, 2018. The three, representing the Americas, EMEA and APAC Regions, will become members of PROI Worldwide’s International Board of Directors effective immediately. 

Kaija Pohjala, appointed Vice-Chair, EMEA Region, is Managing Partner of PROI’s leading Finnish Agency Cocomms. Angela Scaffidi, appointed Vice-Chair of the APAC Region, is Managing Partner of Senate SHJ, one of PROI’s Australian Agencies with several offices in both New Zealand and Australia. Laura Tomasetti, appointed Vice-Chair of PROI Worldwide’s Americas Region, is CEO of Boston based 360PR+, which has several offices in the USA. 

“The new Vice-Chairs represent some of the most successful agencies within PROI Worldwide and they will ensure PROI continues to benefit from strong leadership on our Board,” said Richard Tsang, outgoing Global Chair of PROI Worldwide and Chairman of SPRG Asia, Hong Kong’s largest integrated communications firm with offices throughout Asia. 

“I have been active in business for over 20 years, supporting international customers locally in Finland, and now I want to expand and become more active in an international setting. PROI is in an interesting phase of its development, sales, and knowledge sharing. Developing international business and raising mutual understanding among partners and clients is something I really look forward to doing in PROI,” said Kaija Pohjala, Managing Partner for Cocomms in Helsinki, Finland. 

“It’s an exciting time to be part of this globally recognised partnership, and to be the new regional Vice Chair for the APAC region which provides some of the brightest thinking in our industry,” said Angela Scaffidi, Managing Partner of SenateSHJ, adding, “Working with our partners locally and across the globe will enable us to showcase fresh thinking to other regions and our clients.” 

“I’m incredibly impressed by the calibre of PROI partner agencies across the Americas and globally and honoured to have the opportunity to continue to cultivate the active sharing of best practices and successful collaborations that benefit our staff and clients and define PROI Worldwide,” commented Tomasetti. 

PROI Worldwide, the world’s largest partnership of integrated independent communications agencies, was founded in Europe in1970 and has offices in more than 135 cities in 50+ countries. With 75 agencies across five continents, PROI Worldwide is the 5th largest communications partnership in the world with more than 5,400 staff servicing 8,200+ clients worldwide and 2017 net fee income exceeding US$883 million.