Weber Shandwick Chairman Jack Leslie announced his retirement, following 45 years in communications and public affairs. Leslie has held the role of chairman at Weber Shandwick for moresince the merger of Bozell Sawyer Miller Group (BSMG) and Weber Shandwick in 2001. He will stay in his current role until March 2022 and will continue as a senior advisor, counseling the agency and its clients on corporate reputation, social impact and public policy.

As a leading communications executive, political consultant and international development activist,  states a release, “Leslie has counseled countless nonprofit organizations, government institutions, civic leaders and the world’s largest brands for more than four decades. After serving as a political director for the late Senator Edward Kennedy in the 1980s, Leslie was named president of Sawyer Miller, a pioneering political consulting firm, where he advised dozens of presidential and statewide campaigns in the United States, Latin America, Asia and Africa. He was a close advisor to President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia during both his presidential campaigns and the long peace process in the country. In 2016, Leslie received the highest honor given a non-citizen in Colombia, the Order of San Carlos, for his work on Plan Colombia and during the peace negotiations.”

In addition to his professional roles, adds the release,”Leslie is an activist for international development, humanitarian assistance and global health. He chaired USA for UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency) during the 1990s and was appointed to the board of United States African Development Foundation (USADF) in 2003 by President George W. Bush. He was subsequently appointed chairman of the board of USADF by President Barack Obama and has since led missions to 25 African countries. In 2021, USADF announced an annual grant program in Leslie’s honor for his 20 years of service. Additionally, Leslie served as chairman of USAID’s Advisory Committee for Voluntary Foreign Assistance (ACVFA) during the Obama administration. He is deeply involved in global health, formerly serving as chair of the Advisory Committee of the Duke Global Health Institute and currently as chair of the board of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF). Leslie is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, on the board of directors of Water.org, the Partnership for Central America (PCA) and formerly chair of the board of the Ron Brown Scholars Program.”

The global agency has an office in Baltimore, and Powell Tate is the D.C.-based public affairs unit of the Weber Shandwick network.