Harlan Teller, a corporate communications expert with more than 45 years of industry experience, joins APCO Worldwide as an executive director, announced Tina-Marie Adams, managing director of APCO’s Chicago office. Based out of Chicago, Teller will counsel corporate and other institutional clients on issues relating to reputation management and assist with new business development.
“Harlan has been widely acknowledged as a thought leader in the corporate communications space for more than three decades,” said Adams. “At a time when corporations are facing incredible disruption at home and abroad, Harlan’s experience and insight will help to guide them through these turbulent times. We are thrilled to have him on our growing team.”
Teller has maintained leadership positions that have involved firm-wide strategic leadership and the development of global approaches to corporate practice development, intellectual capital development and client service. His client engagements have been often at the C-Suite or board level, having helped major companies deal with issues that have had the active involvement of the CEO, the board of directors or both.
Prior to joining APCO, Teller has consulted for some of the most well-known names in the corporate world, including McDonald’s, Exelon, Allstate, Deloitte, Navistar, Ball Corporation, Duracell and United Airlines, while holding local regional and global senior management positions at FTI Consulting, Hill + Knowlton and Burson Marsteller.
Most recently Teller served as the interim vice president for Enrollment Management, Marketing and Communications at Northern Illinois University (NIU), where he was responsible for leading the development of the university’s new brand strategy, as well as building a robust approach to proactively managing the university’s institutional reputation.
“I’m very excited to join APCO’s dynamic team of communication strategists and experts,” said Teller. “I look forward to contributing to APCO’s efforts to help corporations tell their story and positively engage with their stakeholders.”
Teller joins a robust team of corporate communicators and branding experts in APCO Worldwide’s Chicago office, including Tina-Marie Adams, Iris Shaffer and Pete Wentz. APCO’s Chicago office serves clients from the Midwest and around the world. Teller has received numerous communications industry awards such as, PR Strategist of the Year by Inside PR and PR Professional of the Year by the Chicago Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, and is a Distinguished Alumnus of NIU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and has held numerous leadership positions on Chicago-based not-for-profit boards.