Celebrating Three Weber Shandwick Leaders Named to PRovoke’s 2023 Innovator 25 List
PRovoke Media named three Weber Shandwick leaders to its 2023 APAC, EMEA and Americas Innovator 25 lists. The annual feature – The Innovator 25 Global Edition 2023 – identifies 25 marketing and communications leaders from each region, and this year, Corbin Hsieh, Managing Director, Weber Shandwick China, Gen Kobayashi, EMEA Chief Strategy Officer, Weber Shandwick UK and Danielle Cornejo Calhoun, VP, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Weber Shandwick North America were each recognized.
The Innovator 25 Lists celebrates “those who have taken risks to disrupt outdated business practices, blended masterful creativity with stunning impact, taken social purpose to new heights, made real progress in changing behavior and outcomes or reformed hiring practices & cultures to achieve more diversity.”
At Weber Shandwick, we continue to invest in our people, our work and our intellectual property – to position ourselves as the preeminent leader in our industry and ensure that public relations is poised for a leadership role in a moment of cultural and political upheaval. From being named a standout in two of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces For Innovators categories to expanding our predictive Analytics + Intelligence capabilities by rolling out our Earned Impact Value Tool to measure the business impact of earned media, our commitment to advancing the industry and our people remains a top priority – and we’re extremely proud of these well-deserving recognitions around the globe.
APAC Innovator 25: Corbin Hsieh, Managing Director, China
“Like a gear system, innovation requires a seamless interlinkage of an organization with its capabilities, tools and the overall business.”
After leading Weber Shandwick China as general manager since 2021, Corbin Hsieh was promoted to managing director in 2022. He pioneered a number of initiatives to drive innovation and advance DEI efforts, leading to transformative outcomes for the firm’s operations in a critical market. He also led the launch of the Weber Women World program, designed to empower women in their career journeys through training, networking, mentorship and more. He believes fostering imagination, broadening perspectives and fueling growth through customer-centric innovations are crucial ways to cultivate a new growth curve.
Read the full write-up here.
EMEA Innovator 25: Gen Kobayashi, EMEA Chief Strategy Officer
“Without diversity we cannot continue to innovate.”
When asked, How do you define innovation? Gen Kobayashi answered “Ideas that help people progress.” Kobayashi, who joined Weber Shandwick in June 2022, has always sought to innovate within his career. Driven by new challenges, he has moved between industries, from media and engagement strategy to brand and advertising and into PR, always taking with him best practice with which to drive change in his next role. Since joining The Weber Shandwick Collective, Kobayashi has been instrumental in developing and implementing a singular approach to strategic planning across the network – a first for the agency. He has transformed the agency’s EMEA strategy community by bringing together a previously disparate group of strategists together into one integrated team with data and analytics at the heart.
Read the full write-up here.
Americas Innovator 25: Danielle Cornejo Calhoun, VP, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
“Innovation is rooted in connecting to culture, to finding the thread beneath what everyone else sees.”
Danielle Cornejo Calhoun is the essence of boundary-pushing – particularly when it comes to advancing DEI efforts. Among her many accomplishments during her ten years at Weber Shandwick, Danielle has revamped over 100 job descriptions to provide transparency in the hiring and promotion process and ensuring DEI is part of every job function. While innovation is often associated with technology or the likes of life-changing medical advances, as a person who lives with a disability herself, Danielle sees DEI as PR’s real opportunity for taking the lead in innovation: “True innovation happens when everyone has a seat at the table – when the ‘thing’ you’re creating is developed by people with disabilities, all ethnicities and genders – finding the connective tissue that creates something new that lets us all thrive.”
Read the full write-up here.