From Tough Calls To Tech Bets: J.J. Carter's First Year Leading Fleishmanhillard

(MENAFN- PRovoke) J.J. Carter's first year as FleishmanHillard CEO was marked by hard-won successes, tough calls, and challenges that kept emerging.

“The expectations of being in the CEO seat are different than looking at it from the front row,” said Carter, who assumed the global president and CEO role in October 2024 .“But I am happy with the progress that we have made.”

That perspective reflects both his roughly two-decade history with the nearly 80-year-old firm - including eight years as global COO and Americas president - and the ambitious agenda he set for himself: carrying forward the transformation begun under predecessor John Saunders, with an emphasis on strengthening the agency's global capabilities and client offerings.

Carter wasted little time making his mark. In his first months, he met with more than 100 clients and unveiled a streamlined leadership team , blending seasoned expertise with fresh perspectives to drive his vision forward.

In the time since, Carter and his team focused defining the FleishmanHillard brand, positioning the agency as a strategic consulting firm, and establishing a global advisory board to reinforce that direction. Carter also leaned into technology, embracing what he called“purposeful experimentation,” a departure from the firm's more cautious approach in years past. In July, FH launched a new AI system designed to let communicators build and customize tools themselves, without relying on engineers or IT.

Still, Carter acknowledges that his first year wasn't without pressures. The first half of 2025 was shaped by challenging market conditions, including tightening budgets in sectors such as public affairs. The firm also had to contend with what Carter described as the“diaspora” created by the pandemic years, which scattered teams and strained systems.

One of the most visible shifts came in the firm's adoption of AI. FleishmanHillard began with a small pilot of 50 employees experimenting with cases using Omnicom's generative AI system . By the time the new FleishmanHillard system, called FH Fusion , launched in July, more than 1,500 employees were using the platform in their daily work.

Carter pointed to applications in crisis work, scenario planning, and building synthetic audiences that have allowed employees to deliver faster insights while reducing costs.“It's also democratized the analytics work, making it more hands-on for more people. What had been the domain of specialists is now part of how more of our teams work - and it's making our work smarter,” he said.

That embrace of technology also speaks to the cultural changes Carter has been driving. He pared back layers of management, redistributed responsibilities, and elevated new leaders to speed decision-making. Authority, he said, is shifting away from geography alone and toward expertise and client needs. The magnitude of those changes, he added, can be hard to see in the moment, but the pace of decisions and clarity of direction have accelerated markedly.

Not all of those moves were easy. Carter described some of the hardest calls as deciding who to elevate into leadership, choices that inevitably disappointed some while creating new expectations for others.“The toughest call is articulating a vision and strategy for the agency in a way that people can see themselves in and deliver against,” he said.

“When I stepped into the role in October 2024, we were living in a much different world - call it the pre-Trump administration era,” Carter said, noting how starkly different 2025 has turned out to be. Political and geopolitical uncertainty is weighing heavily on clients, requiring agencies to adapt their consulting approach. Against that environment, Carter said, the focus now is on moving from defining strategy to delivering it and positioning FleishmanHillard more firmly as a strategic consultancy rooted in corporate affairs, technology, and healthcare, while continuing to embed innovation in every client engagement. Carter's priorities for the year ahead include innovating the commercial model, fusing tech and talent and scaling the agency's specialisms.

Looking forward, Carter said he sees opportunity in expanding the range of services FH offers and validating its position in markets such as Brussels and New York, where corporate affairs and regulatory expertise are in demand. Advisory services, in particular, are gaining traction among top clients.“We're finishing the year with a lot of momentum,” he said.

On the horizon is Omnicom's pending acquisition of Interpublic Group , which Carter said has not been a distraction for FH's leadership team.“I think it's going to be helpful. Anything that brings clarity is positive,” he said. The deal, he added, could add momentum by unifying technology stacks and creating new opportunities for collaboration across agencies.“I don't know yet what all of that will enable, but if it gives us more momentum from a tech standpoint, that's exciting.”

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