In her current role, Barri Friedman Rafferty leads Ketchum’s nine offices in North America as well as Ketchum Digital and Ketchum Sports and Entertainment (KSE).
In addition, she oversees the complementary businesses, Access Communications and Harrison & Shriftman. She is also part of the eight-member Worldwide Executive Committee, which focuses on guiding the strategy, client service and performance of the agency.
During her tenure at Ketchum, Rafferty has held several different roles to support the agency’s overall business goals, including overseeing the global brand marketing practice and running the New York, Atlanta and Dallas offices. She also oversaw specialty units such as digital, entertainment, sports, and multicultural.
Rafferty has a legacy of client service and continues to advise many of the agency’s largest clients, including Gillette, P&G, Frito-Lay, Weight Watchers, Ikea, Chase and Mattel. As a counselor, she specializes in integrated marketing, brand reputation and corporate reputation and has helped countless clients with award-winning campaigns, including “Tostitos Fiesta Bowl” for Frito Lay, Kodak’s Inkjet Launch and Maxwell House’s “Build a Home America”.
Outside of Ketchum, Rafferty participates in a number of groups, such as the sustainability taskforce for the World Economic Forum and is a member of Arthur W. Page Society Page Up program. Barri also sits on the board of StepUp, an organization with the mission of empowering girls from under-resourced communities to become confident, college-bound, and career focused. She is also active in the Public Relations Society of America New York Chapter and is a former chapter president. In 2012, she received the President’s Award for her many contributions. In addition, she is a Capstone advisor and former adjunct professor in the Master’s program in public relations at New York University, as well as an advisory member of the Branding and Integrated Communications program for the City College of New York.
Rafferty has a passion for developing up-and-coming talent, and is particularly interested in the topic of women’s leadership. She is a member of the governing body of Omni Women, Omnicom’s Leading Women’s Network, for which she holds quarterly panel discussions featuring prominent women within the marketing and communications industry who share their own experiences and offer advice to women.
Prior to Ketchum, Rafferty had a senior role at Lippe Taylor, where she worked on such prestigious brands as Maybelline, Matrix, Escada Beaute and J.F. Lazartigue. She also worked at Slim-Fast Foods Company, Burson-Marsteller and Cone Communications. She received a master’s degree in corporate communications from Boston University and an undergraduate degree in communications from Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University.