Jan 6 2009
Environics Communications, a full-service North American public relations agency, announced today that it has launched a Sustainability and Clean Energy practice. The new practice will be led by Frank Walter, who has joined the agency as a senior vice president in the Washington office.
The agency's Sustainability & Clean Energy practice will provide public relations counsel and services to clients who advocate behavioral changes that help the environment, market sustainable products or services, and provide alternative sources of clean energy for consumers and industry.
Environics launches its new practice with clients including CSA International, the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), Sustainable Development Technology Canada, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Environics has also implemented communications programs promoting environmental initiatives for other agency clients including General Motors' Chevrolet Volt electric car, 3M Recycled Post-It Notes, and the organic toner and low-energy office document equipment from Xerox.
In addition, the agency has experience working with companies, associations and nonprofits in such areas as recycled paper and packaging; forestry and wildlife preservation; wind energy, electric energy conservation, battery technology and alternative energy sources; sustainable city planning; standards development for hydrogen fuel cells; and development and demonstration-stage clean technology products.
Environics also has its own agency-wide commitment to sustainability. The agency was the first North American PR firm to achieve carbon neutrality (as audited by Pembina Institute), and has an extensive in-house program to reduce, reuse and recycle. The agency's sister company, Environics Research, is on the vanguard of understanding the public's diverse habits, beliefs and values toward the environment and how messages resonate differently across the spectrum of consumers and businesses.
“As other agencies retrench, we are expanding this service to support the needs of our clients. Environmental issues, innovations and markets are evolving quickly - even in the context of the current economic climate - as individuals, businesses and governments make a healthy environment a top priority,” said agency President Bruce MacLellan.
Walter has more than 25 years of communications and marketing experience with Fortune 500 and start-up businesses, as well as nonprofits and advocacy organizations. His experience in sustainability and clean energy includes previous work with EDTA, Greenlight Energy (a wind energy company now owned by BP Alternative Energy), Plug-in Partners (an environmental advocacy campaign led by Austin Energy) and WWF.
Prior to joining Environics, Walter ran his own PR consultancy, Impala Communications. He also served as vice president of public relations at MCI, where he worked for nine years, and was director of PR and marketing at Reading Is Fundamental, the oldest and largest nonprofit children's literacy organization in the United States.
Walter has an MBA in Information Technology from Fordham University in New York City and a BA degree in Journalism and Public Relations from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University in Washington, where he teaches classes in environmental communications and public relations.