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Changing of the guard at Burson Marsteller Indonesia


Burson Marsteller is one of the world’s largest international PR networks and before 1996 it was big cheese in Indonesia. It then imploded and pulled out of Indonesia.

Then, around September 2006 it decided to get back in to Indonesia and poached Sahala Sinapar, a Burson alumni before the implosion, from Gollin Harris to head its office in Jakarta. Now it looks like Burson is changing its office heads and Sahala, by his own request say some, is moving on to a regional role.

Market talk is that Tom Malik is taking over Burson. Tom is a Cornell University alumni whose last posting was as Strategi Relations Manager with Newmont, of Buyat Bay fame. Prior to that Tom was Executive director of Rio Tinto Foundation and KuIS, the Coalition for a Healthy Indonesia. Tom was also treasurer for Indonesia Business Links.

So with Tom in Burson it will be three PR firms with new heads in the past six months. The others are John Arnold in APCO and someone from New York coming to take over Ogilvy PR in Indonesia.

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2 responses to “Changing of the guard at Burson Marsteller Indonesia”

  1. Sahala Sianipar Avatar
    Sahala Sianipar

    Unspun, thanks for the article. I am attaching our firm’s announcement of Tom Malik for your readers’ reference.

    BURSON-MARSTELLER STRENGTHENS LEADERSHIP TEAM IN INDONESIA

    Jakarta, January 18, 2008 –Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications consultancy, today announced the appointment of Tom Malik as a Director for its Indonesia operation. Tom will report to Sahala Sianipar, Director South Asia and Market Leader Indonesia.

    “Tom’s appointment to an already strong team of public relations professionals is a reflection of Burson-Marsteller’s strong growth in Indonesia, and he further deepens our capability to service a growing list of local and international clients in Indonesia,” said Simon Pangrazio, President & CEO Asia Pacific, Burson-Marsteller.

    “Tom brings extensive experience in advocacy, stakeholder relations, corporate responsibility and issues management, which will be valuable for public and private institutions in Indonesia as they navigate their path through the changing environment,” added Sahala Sianipar.

    Tom’s 15 years plus of experience includes roles at Newmont Pacific Nusantara, the Coalition for Healthy Indonesia (Koalisi untuk Indonesia Sehat or KUIS, a non-profit institution dedicated to health communications and advocacy in the country), Rio Tinto Indonesia and Rajawali Corporation. He is a member of the board of trustees for KUIS and a member of the board of Indonesia Business Link (IBL), a non-profit institution dedicated to advance public-private partnership and promote corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the country.

    Tom is a graduate of Cornell University, New York where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

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