John Saunders

John Saunders became Chairman of FleishmanHillard on Oct. 1, 2024. Prior to that he was president and chief executive officer from November 2015 – only the fourth individual to hold that title in the history of a firm spanning seven decades. St. Louis-headquartered FleishmanHillard is one of the world’s largest public relations consultancies with nearly 80 offices globally and is part of the Omnicom Group.

From 2011, he was regional president for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He was previously regional president for Continental Europe and Eurasia, having been named as regional director for Europe in 2004. Before assuming his regional leadership positions, John was managing director at FleishmanHillard Saunders. He founded that business in 1990 and grew it into Ireland’s largest public relations consultancy and one of FleishmanHillard’s most successful international offices before selling it to Omnicom in 2001. The Irish operation also won more awards than any other firm during his time there.

Mr. Saunders is a member of a range of professional bodies and is regularly invited to share a perspective on communications-related topics. Countries where he has undertaken speaking engagements or given talks include: Austria, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Iran, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States. He has been guest speaker at the Web Summit in Lisbon as well as Collision in Toronto. In December 2007, he was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland. He was President of ICCO (The International Communications Consultancy Organisation), the global representative body for the PR industry, from 2005-2007. In 2011, he became the 16th inductee to the ICCO Hall of Fame and featured in PRWeek’s annual 50 most powerful people PR list each year during his time as CEO. Mr. Saunders has also been a member of the Europe and Central Asia Committee at the World Economic Forum, a member of the Arthur W. Page Society and The Seminar. He is also Trustee of the world-renowned Missouri Botanical Gardens.

Since moving to live in America, he has been honoured by Irish-American groups. He was inducted into the Irish-American Business 100 list by “Irish America” magazine and was keynote speaker at its annual gala luncheon at New York’s Metropolitan Club in 2016. He has been renamed on the Top 100 List since. He was Grand Marshal for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in St. Louis in 2017. He was also a recipient of the inaugural Douglas Hyde Foundation award in New York.

Prior to his public relations career, Mr. Saunders was a staff journalist with Radio Telefis Eireann – the Irish state broadcaster.

In 2023, John received an honorary Doctor of Philosophy award from Dublin City University.