NEW YORK: Edelman global COO Matthew Harrington has been re-elected as chair of the PR Council.

Global Strategy Group founding partner and CEO Jon Silvan and Double Forte cofounder, president, and CEO Lee Caraher will serve on the PR Council’s executive committee alongside Harrington.

The group’s newly elected directors are Carmichael Lynch Relate president Julie Batliner, Motion PR founder and CEO Kimberly Eberl, APCO Worldwide North America chair and president of New York Nelson Fernandez, Finn Partners managing partner Peter Finn, K Strategies president and CEO Katrina Keyes, Fahlgren Mortine president and CEO Neil Mortine, Zeno Group CEO Barby Siegel, and Caraher. Each new board member will serve a three-year term.

The organization’s continuing directors are Burson-Marsteller worldwide CEO Don Baer, M Booth CEO Dale Bornstein, Affect president Sandra Fathi, CooperKatz president and CEO Anne Green, Weber Shandwick president Gail Heimann, DeVries Global CEO Heidi Hovland, Ketchum president Barri Rafferty, OCG PR CEO Tonya Veasey, and Silvan.

About Matthew Harrington :

Matthew Harrington leads global operations for Edelman, a leading global communications marketing firm that partners with many of the world’s largest and emerging businesses and organizations, helping them evolve, promote and protect their brands and reputations.

A 25-year Edelman veteran, Matthew is a specialist in corporate positioning and reputation management. His expertise includes crisis communications, merger and acquisition activity and IPOs. Matthew counsels a range of clients including GE, Charles Schwab & Company, Samsung and Starbucks. In 1996 he managed crisis communications for Odwalla, Inc. during a product recall, which is credited with being the first use of the Internet in a crisis and for which he was awarded a Silver Anvil from the Public Relations Society of America.