Irish communications agency bites the Big Apple

Yet another Irish-linked communications consultancy is heading stateside. Reputation Inc, the British and Irish agency founded by former Edelman Ireland chairman John Mahony, is opening an office in New York.

The city is already home to Teneo, the communications consultancy co-founded by Tipperary man and former journalist Declan Kelly. The Irish really must have the gift of the gab – to an American ear.

Mahony is now based in London, where he is revered as the man who saved the reputation of the former Millennium Dome chief executive, PY Gerbeau.

Mahony said that his firm is opening a New York office to serve a growing US client base. Reputation is all important in US corporate world, you know.

The Irish branch of the firm was set up by Mahony more than a decade ago in partnership with John Keilthy, the former NCB Stockbrokers chief operating officer. Clients include Barclays Bank, the Irish Wind Energy Association, Vodafone and the BWG retail group.

Keilthy reckons that having a US office will give it a better platform to serve clients such as multinationals.

The Big Apple unit of Reputation Inc will be run by Leonard Ponzi, a former managing partner of the Reputation Institute. His Linkedin page says he is a "thinker, doer and problem solver".

It also reveals he was an eagle scout in the Boy Scouts of America, which must still come in handy in all sorts of ways.