CG Life, fresh from swallowing Berry, combines public relations and social media teams in new group

CG Life has gathered up its public relations and social media teams to create a strategic communications group—and persuaded a managing partner from MacDougall Advisors to join the new unit.

Marketing and communications company CG Life recently strengthened the public relations side of the business by acquiring Berry & Company Public Relations. CG Life said the creation of the communications group is the culmination of the integration of Berry into the business. 

CG Life has tasked its long-standing managing partner Erik Clausen with leading the group. Clausen laid out the biopharma communication challenges the new group wants to help address in a statement.

“Emerging pharma faces unprecedented complexity on the path to commercialization and must overcome many challenges to lift the patients they serve,” Clausen said. “Through smart, coordinated planning, it’s possible for these companies to communicate strategically and simultaneously to corporate, clinical and research stakeholders throughout preclinical and commercial stages.”

Clausen is joined at the group by Karen Sharma, who has taken the title senior vice president of public relations. Sharma spent more than 10 years at biopharma public relations business MacDougall, where she was managing partner, before jumping ship to join CG Life.

The SVP has arrived at a growing business. CG Life disclosed the deal to buy Berry & Company the month after it acquired the digital agency Toolhouse. Adding Toolhouse’s 60-plus staffers to the roster doubled the size of CG Life. The expansion followed the appointment of a new CEO, David Ormesher, who has rebranded CG Life and inked acquisitions in the months since taking over.