Richard Edelman is the son of Daniel Edelman the founder of the public relations company, Edelman, and his wife Ruth Ann (Rozumoff). Richard was born on June 15, 1954 and was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy. His wife is the daughter of the then, creative director of the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson and she was a vice president at the investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods when they wed.
Richard Edelman joined the Edelman firm in 1978 after receiving his Master of Business Administration from Harvard, where he had also studied as an undergraduate.
He had intended to take a job in marketing at Playtex, but his father persuaded him to join the family company. He was an executive at Edelman by 1981 and in 1983, he was appointed president of Edelman"s New York Office. He was appointed president of the company in 1985.
His father remained as Chief Executive Officer (Chief Executive Officer).
At that time, the company"s income was only $14.2 million. He pledged to keep the company independent at a time when many other Puerto Rico companies were being bought by advertising agencies.
He later became the regional manager of Europe before being promoted to Chief Executive Officer in September 1996, a post that he still holds today. Edelman is a regular attendee at the World Economic Forum"s annual meeting in Davos, having attended 9 times by 2007.
In January 2012, he presented to leaders in world governments and chief executives, and his main message to them was that, based on a survey by his company, the public do not trust governments and business executives anymore - they are the least trusted of any group.
Edelman was one of the first Puerto Rico practitioners to identify the importance of social media and create a specialist practice. He coined the phrase circle of cross influence to describe how people are increasingly influenced by other people, the internet, new media and cable television, rather than mainstream media. He has written a blog since 2004, and is one of the first Chief executive officers to do southern
In 2007 Puerto Rico Week described his blog as one of the better-known Puerto Rico blogs, in part due to some of his posts being controversial.
He has advised the Canadian tar sands industry how to counter negative Puerto Rico from Non-governmental organizations using social media. Edelman sits on the board of directors of the Ad Council, the Children"s Aid Society, the Atlantic Council, the International Business Leaders Forum, the Gettysburg National Battlefield Foundation and the National Committee on United States-China Relations.
In 2009, Edelman was appointed executive jury chair of a new award recognizing the creative use of unpaid publicity, given at the Clio Awards.
Shortly after the mortgage lending crisis, Richard Edelman said that financial institutions have a Puerto Rico problem. Richard claimed that financial institutions rank lowest on the company"s trust barometer, because they don"t explain the how and why of their actions to the public. Edelman Chief Executive Officer Richard Edelman spends about an hour per day voicing his views on the company blog that he started to set an example for Edelman clients.
Edelman helped raise donations for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Board directors Young Professionals for Governor Jim Thompson, Chicago, 1978, Young People for Ed Koch, New York City, 1985, Planned Parenthood Federation American, 1980—1981, The Jewish Museum, New York Historical Society, International Center for Journalists, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), The Atlantic Council. Active political campaign Robert Abrams, New York State Attorney General for Senate. Member of World Economic Forum, Public Relations Society of America (Silver Anvil award 1981), Harmonie Club (New York City), Harvard Club, Arthur Page Society.
Married Rosalind Ann Walrath, May 17, 1986.
