Morrow Sodali adds Barri Rafferty as Americas CEO

Morrow Sodali, a New York-headquartered stakeholder engagement and ESG consulting firm, has hired Barri Rafferty as CEO for the Americas region. She is based in New York.

In the newly created role, Rafferty will oversee the firm’s operations in North and South America. She will join Morrow Sodali’s executive committee and will report to Alvise Recchi, CEO.

“As we continue to grow and expand our platform, we are focused on adding exceptional leadership talent to our team,” said Recchi. “Barri has global experience as a senior leader at dynamic companies and a track record of enhancing sales, building organizational effectiveness, and creating collaboration across teams. I am excited to welcome Barri to Morrow Sodali and am confident she will drive the growth of our Americas franchise.”

Rafferty has more than 30 years of leadership experience in the public relations and marketing industry. She has deep expertise working with executive teams to deliver consistent brand experiences, enhance sales, streamline organizations for effectiveness, and personalize communications.

Rafferty previously served as interim CEO of C200, a non-profit focusing on advancing women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. Before that, she was head of communications and brand management at Wells Fargo and CEO of PR firm Ketchum, where she spent 25 years.

Rafferty has a master’s degree in corporate communications from Boston University and a bachelor’s degree in English and psychology from Tulane University.

“I am excited to work closely with the leadership team at Morrow Sodali and our investors at TPG to continue to grow this global corporate consultancy and leverage the Firm’s recent acquisitions in ESG and sustainability advisory services,” said Rafferty. “As stakeholder relations becomes more complex, corporate governance and activism more pronounced, and the need for companies to take stands on ESG topics more controversial, Morrow Sodali has a unique role to play in enhancing corporate value.”

Founded in 1972, Morrow Sodali provides advice and services in corporate governance, compensation, ESG, sustainability, proxy solicitation, capital markets intelligence, shareholder and bondholder engagement, M&A, activism and contested situations, financial communications, investor relations, and research.

The company serves over 1,000 clients in 80+ countries, including large multinationals, mutual fund groups, stock exchanges, and membership associations. Morrow Sodali has approximately 1,000 employees in 15 countries.

Private equity firm TPG acquired Morrow Sodali in April 2022. Since then, it has bolted on Citadel Magnus, an Australian corporate and financial communications firm; FrameworkESG, a Stamford, CT-based consultancy that provides data-driven analysis to reduce ESG-related risk; and HXE Partners, a New York-based ESG strategy consulting firm.

TPG last month announced it is acquiring the healthcare consulting unit of Crowe LLP.