Advisory Council Bio
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Lorraine Thelian

Senior Partner, North America

Ketchum

Lorraine Thelian is the Senior Partner responsible for the firm's North American offices. She serves on the agency's nine-member Worldwide Executive Committee, which drives the strategic direction for the agency.

Before heading the agency's North American operations, Ms. Thelian served as director of the firm's Washington, D.C., office for eight years. There, she was instrumental in overseeing the office quintuple in size and developing strong practices in public affairs, healthcare, technology and corporate communications. During her tenure, the Washington office won five Silver Anvils, including two “Best of Shows,” and was recognized as the “Best Agency Office in Washington, D.C.” by Inside PR magazine. That same publication named Ketchum “Agency of the Year” in 1992, 1996 and 1998.

In a prior agency role, Ms. Thelian was also responsible for Ketchum's global practices. She helped drive the early development of the practices as well as their continued evolution as the core of knowledge sharing and the basis of the culture of the organization.

Over her 25-year-plus career, Ms. Thelian has developed reputation-building campaigns for numerous companies and trade associations, many of which created real competitive advantages for the institution or one of its products. She also provided strategic counsel on issues management, including development of broad-based public affairs campaigns aimed at a variety of audiences – the general public, policymakers, academic and scientific communities, industry leaders, and employees. Ms. Thelian managed campaigns, including a reputation-building campaign for Dow Chemical, a program to re-build the image of aspirin, an Rx to OTC switch, and counsel on critical issues such as product liability, litigation, healthcare cost containment, toxic exposures, label readability, and regulatory action.

She has counseled clients through crisis situations and has developed a variety of educational programs for clients on managing and preventing crises. As part of this effort, she has frequently been the initiator of "dialogue" sessions with traditional adversaries, including environmental and healthcare advocacy groups.

Named a public affairs “All-Star” by Inside PR magazine in 1998, Ms. Thelian is a frequent speaker before the American Management Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Public Affairs Council, the Conference Board and the Public Relations Society of America.

Ms. Thelian is Board Chair of Women's Policy Inc., and also serves on the Board of Directors of the Thurgood Marshall Foundation and the American Council on Science and Health. She is a member of the Public Affairs Council and an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America, where she served as chairman of the Honors and Awards Committee in 1998. She is also a noted member of Who's Who in America. Ms. Thelian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and education.