Gil Bashe Named Managing Partner for Finn Partners Health

Top 10 PR Agency Looks to Proven Exec's Health Sector and Acquisition Expertise

Focus on the Pressing Health Priorities of Access, Budget, Care and Data

News provided by

May 18, 2015, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, May 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Finn Partners announced today the appointment of Gil Bashe as managing partner, Finn Partners Health. Bashe will mobilize the firm's public relations, marketing, digital, policy and patient-advocacy talents around health institution, biopharma innovation and medical technology clients. Bashe will also apply his acquisition experience to bring independent health agencies with growth-centered cultures into the Finn Partners network. Prior to joining Finn Partners, Bashe was Health Practice Director at Makovsky & Company for 12 years.

Gil Bashe Named Managing Partner for Finn Partners Health

"Gil is among the health public relations sector's most proven leaders," said Peter Finn, Founding Partner, Finn Partners. "Gil has been at the helm of 'Most Admired Health PR Agencies' an unprecedented three times. He brings award-winning expertise encompassing pharma brand-building, product reimbursement and corporate, executive and issues reputation management. Beyond sheer knowledge, he is a mentor with a stellar client retention track-record."

Bashe's career is rooted in healthcare. He was a paratrooper combat medic and trade association lobbyist for a New Jersey health-products consortium. Bashe launched a successful health PR agency later acquired by Medicus, where he was named by Inside PR as "Health PR All-Star." He was the first global Practice Director of the Hill and Knowlton Health and Pharmaceutical Practice and later a leader in WPP Group's integrated marketing agency CommonHealth. Afterward, he became an operating company CEO and limited partner at one of the nation's largest private-equity firms, Chicago-based GTCR and led acquisition efforts targeting health marketing and communications firms. He joined New York-based Makovsky in 2002 and was named by PR News as one of the nation's "Leading Crisis Communicators" and inducted into its "PR Hall of Fame."

"We are now in the era where budgets take front seat to biomedical innovation in access-to-care decisions, and smart phones are the go-to source for health information. Economics are driving most US treatment and formulary decisions," notes Bashe. On his decision to join Finn Partners as Managing Partner, Health, Bashe said he was drawn to the team's culture of collaboration and the opportunity to be a part of one of the nation's fastest-growing PR agencies. "The ability to mobilize knowledge, ideas and technologies quickly at a time of great change is a client advantage and a strategy to which Finn Partners vigorously adheres."

"Gil's unstoppable curiosity about his discipline mirrors what many at Finn Partners share," comments Richard Funess, Senior Managing Partner, Finn Partners. "And with Gil leading the team, we're better able to do great things for patients, physicians, payers, policymakers and pharma companies owing to our strengths in social, digital and traditional media. The agency has greater depth around the ABCDs of health – access, budget, care and data – and a readiness to invest in the future."

Adds Bashe: "Whether part of the early conversation around implementing CMS Part D reimbursement, speaking to the potential of biosimilars or looking at how patients draw strength from online communities, we'll rally people to client goals. Finn has a hard-working community that has fun at the cutting-edge of client service, and I am privileged to be joining the agency and be part of its evolution."

In addition to professional achievements, Bashe is dedicated to not-for-profit health advocacy. He serves as chair-elect of the American Heart Association Founders' Affiliate and is a member of the American Academy of Pain Medicine Foundation board and Prix Galien Foundation executive committee.

About Finn Partners, Inc.

Finn Partners was launched in late 2011 to realize Peter Finn's vision to create a leading communications agency dedicated to shaping a bold new future in which innovation and partnership are strong drivers of the brand. Finn Partners specializes in the full spectrum of communications services, including digital and social media. Specialty areas include technology, consumer, education, travel & lifestyle, CSR, arts, health, and public and corporate affairs.

Finn Partners was named "Best Midsize Agency" in 2015, "Best Agency to Work For" in 2013 and "Best New Agency" in 2012 by the industry's Holmes Report. Headquartered in New York City, the company has approximately 450 employees, with offices in Chicago, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Jerusalem, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Nashville, Paris, San Francisco and Washington D.C., and has additional international capabilities through its own global network and PROI Worldwide. Find us at www.finnpartners.com and follow us on Twitter @finnpartners.