The Council

Mr. Richard Powell

Richard C. Powell Jr. is Burson-Marsteller's Chief Operating Officer Worldwide.  Rick oversees the firm's operations and provides strategic advice to clients in the areas of corporate communications, crisis management and public affairs. His appointment in August 2007 marked his return to Burson-Marsteller, where he worked from 1992 to 1999. Prior to rejoining Burson-Marsteller, he served as Managing Director of Quinn, Gillespie & Associates (QGA), one of Washington D.C.'s leading public affairs firms. At QGA, he managed the financial and operational functions of the firm and provided public affairs and corporate communications counsel to a variety of QGA clients, including Bank of America, Hewlett Packard and Zurich Financial Services. Rick joined QGA after working in venture capital management, first as co-founder and Managing Director of Washington, D.C. based technology incubator VenCatalyst, and then as a Managing Director of the New York office for Idealab after Idealab's acquisition of VenCatalyst. Prior to founding VenCatalyst, Rick served as Chief Knowledge Officer and member of the Worldwide Operating Committee at Burson-Marsteller. He joined the firm in the Washington, D.C. office in 1992 where his work focused on public affairs issues. In 1995, Rick moved to Burson-Marsteller's New York office where he became chief of staff to the firm's COO. He was named Chief Knowledge Officer in 1998. Rick is on the board of Global Action for Children (GAC), American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Young Entrepreneurs Foundation. He is a native of Tennessee and graduated from Southern Methodist University.