Racepoint Group bolsters senior leaders in China operations

Racepoint Group is a global public relations agency, owned by the W2 Group, which was founded by Weber Shandwick founder Larry Weber.

In 2011, it acquired PPR Greater China, turning it in to its Asia headquarters with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore.

Ar Racepoint Group, Vericel (pictured) will report to Andrew Laxton, formerly director of PPR Greater China and now managing director of Racepoint Group Asia, and Tony Turner, chairman. He replaces Ross Hughes who resigned from the company last year.

Vericel was previously account director with Hill & Knowlton Strategies Beijing, where he spent six years managing trans-national accounts for the Chinese Government, state-owned enterprises, and multinationals.

For the last three years, Vericel has been global lead for Haier, developing global corporate communication strategies. He was also a key advisor tothe Beijing Organising Committee of the 2008 Olympics.

Wong-Walker Shirley, a Canadian citizen, previously worked with the Ministry of Health in Canada where she coordinated initiatives on health legislation and government-funded hospital programs.

She has more than 14 years of PR agency experience and has led healthcare practices across the Asia-Pacific Region for MS&L, and more recently in China for Waggener Edstrom and Edelman.

Laxton commented that, “Simon and Shirley will add huge experience and depth to the Racepoint Group management team in China as well as our growing portfolio of technology and healthcare clients.”

Racepoint Group’s IT business-to-business and healthcare client portfolio includes L.L.Bean, Crocs, New Balance,  Mozilla Firefox, CPA Australia, and Cook Medical.