Apco Worldwide

Five years on from its 2004 management buy-out APCO Worldwide reports that it has now doubled its turnover. More than half its revenue comes from clients using five or more of its offices around the world, and in this period it brought its tally of offices to 30 with the opening of the Kuala Lumpur office.

In this period Robert Ardelt joined as director in Berlin from his job as marketing and communications manager at Booz & Co, Tim Cost, joined as global chair healthcare and executive VP from Wyeth where he was SVP external affairs, and Greg Gilligan became MD of the Beijing office from McDonalds China.

Perhaps the most significant appointment, however, was that of Carlos Gutierrez, former US secretary of commerce and chairman of Kelloggs, as chairman of the newly launched global political strategies. The new division aims to advise companies on how they can best work with governments, and was given an immediate boost by the Holmes Report naming APCO Worldwide as its best public affairs consultancy of the decade.