Padilla Announces Health Leadership Promotions as Agency Accelerates Growth in Sector

Leadership appointments bring together expertise across science, policy, reputation and stakeholder engagement

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Padilla, an integrated communications agency, has named Kim Blake and Sarah Fox co-leads of its Health sector, with Peter Vigliarolo named senior lead, Public Affairs + Communications. Together, these seasoned health communicators strengthen the leadership team behind one of the firm’s key strategic growth areas.

• Kim Blake has more than 20 years of experience advising healthcare executives and organizations across health systems, providers, payers, associations and advocacy organizations. Her focus is in corporate reputation, organizational transformation, issues management and stakeholder engagement.
• Sarah Fox has more than 20 years of strategic communications experience across pharmaceutical, biotech medical devices and nonprofits, including corporate reputation, integrated scientific and data communications, product launches and stakeholder engagement.
• Peter Vigliarolo has more than 35 years of experience across public health, policy and advocacy, including infectious disease education and scientific, data and product communications. He has also worked extensively in increasingly complex environments, helping clients manage issues and chart new pathways to address under-appreciated medical needs among physicians, healthcare professionals and patients.

Shifts in science and policy, changing expectations of corporations and institutions, and new ways people find and evaluate health information are reshaping the communications challenges health organizations face. The new leadership structure leverages Padilla’s complementary experience across health communications, public affairs and advocacy to help clients anticipate change and seize new opportunities.

“Health has long been an important part of Padilla and we see significant opportunity ahead,” said Matt Kucharski, president at Padilla. “Together, Kim, Sarah and Peter’s expertise reflects how we believe health communications needs to work today: across disciplines and categories, with a clear understanding of how decisions in one area can quickly affect another.”

The team will continue to evolve its approach as the way people encounter and evaluate health information changes. That includes applying research and data to understand changing sources of influence; building insights-driven, audience-first campaigns that creatively break through; and expanding expertise in areas such as AI-driven search, generative engine optimization (GEO) and omnichannel strategies.

In addition, Blake, Fox and Vigliarolo will focus on strengthening the connections across Padilla’s health expertise, developing talent to bring clients the right mix of sector knowledge and communications counsel for the challenges they face.

Padilla works across the health ecosystem, partnering with pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics companies, health systems and providers, health technology organizations and nonprofits. That breadth gives the agency perspective on the forces influencing health organizations – from scientific advancement and policy change to patient expectations and public trust – and informs its work at pivotal moments including company formation, regulatory milestones, product launches, issues management and reputation building.

Padilla’s Health sector will continue to evolve, bringing together integrated communications, public affairs and policy, advocacy and stakeholder engagement to help clients make sense of the forces affecting their organizations and determine where and how communications can make a difference.

About Padilla
Padilla is a full-service agency that transforms brands and organizations through strategically creative communications. Our work across a range of industry sectors is consistently recognized by the PRWeek Awards, PRovoke IN2 SABRE Awards and PRSA Anvil Awards, among others. Padilla operates in seven cities in the U.S. through its family of brands, which includes SHIFT (performance communications), FoodMinds (food and nutrition affairs) and Joe Smith (brand strategy). As an AVENIR GLOBAL company and a founding member of the Worldcom Public Relations Group, the agency provides services to clients through 115 offices worldwide. Transform with purpose at PadillaCo.com.