Edelman Germany has hired Hill+Knowlton Strategies Germany executive chairman Ernst Primosch as CEO, effective July 1.

Primosch will report to Carol Potter, CEO and president of Edelman in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He will be based in Cologne, Germany.

As CEO, Primosch will run all of Edelman’s German operations, including offices in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, and more than 300 people, he told PRWeek. Germany is Edelman’s second largest market in the EMEA region, according to a statement.

"I like [Potter] very much," Primosch said. "I see many similarities as we have done similar things on different sides of the planet."

The last person to hold the Edelman Germany CEO position was Susanne Marell, who started in the role in 2012. She left the firm in March, Primosch said. According to Marell’s LinkedIn profile, she has not yet landed at another company.

Primosch was CEO and chairman of Hill+Knowlton in Germany from 2010 to 2017, but said he split the job into two positions last year so he could focus on acquisitions, recruiting, and servicing clients. After the split, Primosch kept his title as executive chairman and the agency made Rüdiger Maessen CEO.

Prior to Hill+Knowlton, Primosch worked at German comms firm Henkel Group as global corporate VP, head of corporate brand management, corporate communications, and CSR.

Austrian-born Primosch has also held senior positions at Siemens, Schwarzkopf, and Porter Novelli. 

Edelman was the largest PR firm in the world last year, as ranked by revenue, according to PRWeek’s 2018 Agency Business Report. Global revenue at the firm was $893.6 million, a 2% increase, compared to revenues of $874.9 million in 2016.

Hill+Knowlton was the seventh largest firm globally, for the same period, with revenues of $390 million, flat compared to 2016.