Public relations agency Cohn & Wolfe Montreal has brought TV journalist Alexandre Dumas onboard as director of public and corporate affairs.
In this role, he will give spokesperson and media training to client companies’ senior leaders. He will also assist the agency’s clients by interacting with public and private bodies, as well as the media.
Dumas had been involved in journalism for 42 years and was a newscaster at Radio-Canada and RDI for more than three decades. “[This] allowed me to be on the frontline of the news and privileged to witness the impact of many circumstances, multiple issues, a host of controversies and conflicts in the whole of society,” Dumas told Marketing.
“This has also led me to exercise a constant watch on all areas of human activity: politics, economics, culture, labour, criminal court cases and criminal affairs – in short, an incredible picture. My career in journalism will help me then advise our clients, supported in particular by solid expertise and a great professional memory,” he said.
Dumas still remains close with the journalism community; he is a member of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec.
Dumas was also president of JADCOM Media Council, a Montreal-based company that offers training in corporate and institutional communications.
Asked for his thoughts on the most important issues facing the Canadian PR industry today, Dumas said reputation management is especially relevant now when many conventional or social media “blithely condemn” with little understanding or context.
He added that, in general, a good public relations and communications company relies on the sharing of the wealth of professional experience within it, combined with the “strength testing of young professionals.” He calls this formula “the perfect alliance of experience, passion and youth.”
Cohn & Wolfe Montreal is part of Cohn & Wolfe Canada, which also has offices in Toronto and Calgary.
