Jim Weiss is the founder, CEO, and chairman of W2O Group, a PR company designed to give brands an “unfair advantage” in today’s competitive marketplace. Jim has more than three decades of experience in the marketing communications and PR space and focuses heavily on his specialisms in technology and healthcare. Over the years, he’s achieved recognition as one of the most influential people in PR.
Today, Jim Weiss is one of the 500 most important people in the Global PR industry, and he’s also listed on the PRWeek Power List. Weiss was also named one of the top 25 innovators in the Communications space, and one of the Syracuse 50 Forward outstanding alumni.
The History of Jim Weiss:
Jim graduated magna cum laude from the Syracuse University School of public communication, with a Bachelor of Science in journalism and public relations. He also had minor degrees in fine art history and political sciences.
Before Weiss launched W2O, he was the head of an investor relations and corporate communications firm at “HeartPort” a company committed to finding less invasive forms of heart surgery. Before that, Jim was helping to create global marketing communications strategies for the French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi. Weiss helped to launch some of the public relations campaigns for the company’s lead products around the world, including Campto, Rilutek, Azmacort, and more.
Over the years, Weiss has also worked with some of the world’s leading public relations agencies – including the healthcare division of Hill & Knowlton and Ketchum. Throughout his lucrative career, Jim had played a part in launching some of the best-known healthcare products in the US, including Pepto-Bismol, Aspirin, and Timentin.
Creating the W2O Group:
Jim spent most of the first half of his career in the PR sector as a client, which inspired him to design an agency that he would feel comfortable hiring. In W2O, Jim created a business that offers everything from brand strategy, to branding workshops, analytics, audience discovery, engagement, and crisis communications.
W2O believes that every agency should be treated with individuality – which is why they avoid the one-size-fits-all approach to business. Today, W2O works with various incredible locations like SXSW, Genentech, Roche Diagnostics, and more.
Accomplishments in the Healthcare Space:
As a PR professional, Jim Weiss and his company W2O both focus on the healthcare and technology sectors – which make sense given Weiss’s background in the industry. A senior communications counselor with 25 years of experience in investor relations and strategic media focused on the medical device, healthcare, and pharmaceutical spaces, Weiss has been involved with almost every aspect of the corporate communications world. Jim also served as the president of the WeissComm partners company until 2008.
In 2016, Jim partnered with the LAGRANT Foundation and Kim Hunter to create a one-of-a-kind paid healthcare fellowship that helps ethnic minorities pursuing a career in healthcare communications to access unique opportunities within W2O offices.
Today, Weiss lives with his two children and his wife in the San Francisco Bay, which is also where visitors and clients can find the W2O headquarters.