Hill & Knowlton Names Hartwig President; He Will Remain in L.A.

In a move that reflects the growing importance of West Coast business clients, the Hill & Knowlton Inc. public relations firm Wednesday named the head of its western region to the post of president and chief executive of its Hill & Knowlton USA unit.

Ron Hartwig, the 48-year-old Los Angeles-based executive who also is in charge of Hill & Knowlton’s largest client, Madza Motor Corp., will continue to work out of the Los Angeles office, an unusual move for an industry centered in New York City.

With more focus being placed on business in Pacific Rim nations, public relations on the West Coast has become increasingly important, said Greg La Brache, senior vice president of Hill & Knowlton.

“The strings that used to tie us to a particular city are disappearing,” he said. “There used to be a feeling that everybody in (a New York-based public relations company) had to be in New York. This is changing.”

Karl Skutski, a board member of PRX International, a network of independent public relations agencies across the globe, said he has noticed more regional public relation offices opening, but added that this is the first time that a president of a major agency would operate outside New York.

“Because of technology, where a president is located is becoming less important,” Hartwig said. “It’s more important to have good, talented managers in the company. We think that this is a reflection of the growing importance of business in the western United States.” Hartwig, who has held top-level public relations positions with the U.S. Department of Commerce and General Motors Corp., succeeds Craig L. Fuller, who resigned this year.