Margery Kraus, president and chief executive officer of APCO Worldwide, a global consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., specializes in public affairs, communication and business consulting for major multinationals.

Ms. Kraus founded APCO in 1984 and has transformed it from a company with one small Washington office to a multinational consulting firm with offices in North America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Recently, Ms. Kraus led a management buy-out of her firm from Grey Global Group, making APCO one of the largest privately owned communication and public affairs firms in the world.

Throughout the years, her approach has been to fuse the best local experience with a global perspective, resulting in an international agency with a unique culture based on seamless teamwork. Ms. Kraus' achievements have been recognized through a number of prestigious awards, including PR Professional of the Year (PR Week, 2005), International PR Professional of the Year (PR Week, 2001), Businesswoman of the Year (ABC's Washington, D.C. affiliate, 1998) and PR Professional of the Year (PR News, 1997). Ms. Kraus was also named one of 25 "Top Women Business Builders" (Fast Company, 2005) and one of 50 "Women Who Mean Business" (Washington Business Journal, 2004). In addition, APCO was named Public Affairs Agency of the Year (The Holmes Report, 2004) and International Agency of the Year (The Holmes Report, 2003).

Ms. Kraus specializes in providing strategic counsel on issue-based communication, crisis management, market entry and corporate reputation across diverse industry groups. The range of her experience is reflected in APCO's industry practice groups, which include aviation and aerospace, education, energy, environment, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications and transportation. Ms. Kraus has also pioneered one of the industry's earliest practices in corporate responsibility and the development of public/private partnerships.

Prior to starting APCO, Ms. Kraus assisted in the creation and development of the Close Up Foundation, a multi-million dollar educational foundation sponsored in part by the United States Congress. Ms. Kraus continues to be involved with the foundation by serving on its board of directors.

Ms. Kraus is active on other institutional and corporate boards and committees, including Northwestern Mutual Life (trustee); Group MENATEP (advisory board); Teuza Fund, a Fairchild technology venture (Israel); the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation (trustee); the Public Affairs Council (chairman-elect); the Meridian International Center; and the Institute for Public Relations.

In addition, she serves as a trustee of American University and sits on the advisory board of the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, as well as the steering committee of the school's Center for Executive Women. She is a member of the advisory board of the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University and the Council on American Politics of the George Washington Graduate School of Political Management.

Ms. Kraus has authored numerous articles in the field of public affairs management, corporate reputation and has been a guest lecturer throughout the world. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts in Political Science and Public Law from the American University.