Public Policy Holding Company, Inc. announced that, as part of its executive officer succession planning, Roel Smits has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer with immediate effect. Founding CFO Bill Chess remains on the Board as Executive Director and will assume the new position of Chief Administrative Officer, reporting directly to the CEO, where he will drive internal efficiency and collaboration. Roel joined PPHC in May 2022 as Deputy CFO.

He has previously acted as CFO at Kantar, the data analytics and brand consulting company owned by WPP and Bain Capital, most recently for Americas and prior also for Asia-Pacific and Africa. Prior to that, he performed senior roles at WPP (Senior VP of Corporate Development) and Dutch private equity family office HAL Investments BV. Roel has a Masters in Finance from London Business School, as well as a Masters in Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and an MBA in Marketing from Michigan State University.