CONTACT: Renate Geerlings
Qorvis Communications
202-448-3133
rgeerlings@qorvis.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Qorvis Recruits Rory Davenport
Award Winning Public Affairs Expert Brings Extensive Grassroots and International Affairs Experience
WASHINGTON, DC—April 21, 2006— Qorvis today announced the appointment of Rory Davenport as a Managing Director. Davenport is an award winning political strategist with more than 18 years of experience in public and international affairs. He strengthens the firm’s public affairs practice and he will be responsible for adding to the firm’s grassroots and international affairs capabilities.
“Rory’s experience is distinctive and his ability to manage complex campaigns on high-profile policy issues is invaluable,” said Qorvis’ Managing Partner Michael Petruzzello. “He will be an important asset to our growing grassroots and international public affairs capabilities and our clients will benefit greatly from his experience and strategic capabilities.”
Davenport was a senior vice president and director for public affairs at Hill & Knowlton. He elevated the focus for the firm’s practice and expanded its scope. Before his tenure at Hill & Knowlton, he formed the International and Political Affairs group for Fleishman-Hillard’s Washington, DC office and he initiated and served as the first director of the Grassroots and Political Programs group for Edelman Worldwide’s Washington, DC office.
“I believe that campaigns that influence the development of public policy and contribute to a company’s bottom line are the future of public affairs,” said Rory Davenport. “The traditional and prevalent execution of public affairs is too narrowly focused and doesn’t take into consideration a corporation’s overall business goals. More than ever, in a complex and rapidly moving global business and public policy environment, clients must navigate the intersection where corporate, international and public affairs meet and Qorvis shares this philosophy.”
Over the past 18 years, Davenport has been well positioned to work on some of the larger, most visible and complex issues debated in Washington as an early practitioner of electoral-style public affairs campaigns. Former clients include the American Ambulance Association, American Chemistry Council, AT&T, Edison Electric Institute, ExxonMobil, Fuji Film, LexisNexis, Microsoft, Metromail, National Railway Labor Conference, News Corp., North Rhein Westphalia, PBS, Pfizer, the RBOC Coalition, Republic of Chile, R.R. Donnelley & Sons, The Prudential, Tyumen Oil Company, United, and Wal-Mart. He has worked on an array of issues such as antitrust, international trade, market access, privacy, telecommunications deregulation, utility deregulation, and healthcare reform.
During his career, Davenport has managed public affairs campaigns in 10 countries including Canada, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. His work on a global scale has been widely recognized and a campaign that he co-managed was awarded the International Campaign of the Year by PRWeek. He has extensive experience working in Russia.
About Qorvis Communications, LLC.
Qorvis Communications is a client service driven public relations firm. Formed in August 2000, Qorvis has offices in Washington, DC, and McLean, Va., and provides its clients with expertise in the areas of investor and financial relations, public affairs, grassroots campaigns, public and media relations, marketing communications, Internet-based campaigns and research and opinion surveys. The Washington, DC-based law firm Patton Boggs is an investor in and strategic partner to Qorvis. For more information, visit www.qorvis.com. For Qorvis news, visit www.qorvisnews.com.