Phil Gomes

Phil Gomes’ successful career in the communications field is characterized by his passionate interest in technology, media, and emerging forms of communication. He serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman Digital, working from the agency’s headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Phil has special understanding of corporate social media governance, as well as the intersection between corporate communications and online community mores and expectations. As an educator and counselor with regard to online community engagement, Phil develops programs and frameworks that enable account teams and their clients to integrate digital thinking into communications strategies and tactics.

Most notably, Phil was the team leader that guided the development of Edelman's well-regarded "Belt System" for delivering a global standard for social media capability, accountability and decision-support at the firm.

While at Edelman, Phil has counseled clients within the technology, food, financial, automotive, health, nonprofit, transportation, hospitality, consumer packaged goods, and mobile communications sectors. In this role, Phil challenged teams and companies to engage with online communities in ways that are compelling, persuasive, and parallel with digital citizenship norms. He has also been instrumental in accelerating region-wide digital adoption in Edelman’s Asia/Pacific and Latin American markets.

During his near-decade in Silicon Valley prior to joining Edelman, Phil worked with such innovative companies as SRI International, Adaptec, Cornice, Matrix Semiconductor, and Hitachi Semiconductor. Phil’s work helped guide clients to win the Technology Pioneers Programme Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Twice.

Phil enjoys wide industry recognition as an expert on the intersection of emerging media technologies and public relations. As a speaker on this topic, Phil has presented to the Forbes Forum For Dynamic Mid-Sized Companies, the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC), Associação Brasileira de Comunicação Empresarial (ABERJE), the International Institute for Research in the Middle East (IIRME), the American Chamber of Seoul, the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and the New Communications Forum. Phil is also considered by most participants in the public relations profession to be the first in the field to start a blog – August 2001.

Phil earned a B.A. in communications from Saint Mary’s College of California, graduating at the top of his department, and served as general manager of the campus radio station, KSMC-FM. He is also founding fellow for the Society for New Communications Research, launched in November 2005, and was conferred an award of merit for his corporate blog work of behalf of dotMobi in November 2007.