Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (February 15, 2023) – Mercury, a bipartisan high-stakes public strategy firm, today announced that Eric Hagarty is joining the firm’s Pennsylvania office as Managing Director. Most recently, Hagarty was Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary of Education. He previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Tom Wolf.
“Eric Hagarty has spent his career serving the people of Pennsylvania and knows what it takes to get things accomplished,” said Mercury Partner Michael Soliman, who leads the Pennsylvania and New Jersey offices. "His experience and ability to forge consensus are great additions to our team and will be huge assets to our clients."
As Acting Secretary, Hagarty helped secure historic increases in education funding and oversaw critical initiatives that benefitted teachers and the 1.7 million students in the commonwealth. Serving as the Chief Executive of the Department of Education, a $22 billion organization with more than 600 employees and contractors, Hagarty oversaw Pennsylvania’s 500 public school districts, more than 170 public charter schools, early childhood education programs, community colleges and the State Library of Pennsylvania, among other public, academic, and school libraries.
“It’s been an honor for me to serve the people of Pennsylvania and I look forward to continue making meaningful change in the world by using that experience to help clients strategize and achieve successful results,” said Hagarty. “I am excited to start the next chapter of my career by joining the talented team at Mercury.”
Prior to his appointment to lead the Department of Education, Hagarty spent six years as Governor Wolf’s Deputy Chief of Staff overseeing strategic priorities in the health care, human services, education, transportation, and infrastructure sectors. He previously served as the Chief of Staff at Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development. In addition to his highly-regarded career serving the people of the commonwealth, Hagarty has worked as a campaign manager and finance director on several successful political campaigns.
Hagarty earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics and Political Science from the University of Washington.
About Mercury
Mercury is a high-stakes, bipartisan public strategy firm. The firm provides a comprehensive suite of services that includes federal government relations, international affairs, digital influence, public opinion research, media strategy and a bipartisan grassroots mobilization network in all 50 states. Our firm is not just led by top talent — we distinguish ourselves by having senior talent deeply engaged in each project from start to finish, a promise we keep to clients. In addition to Illinois, the firm has U.S. offices in Washington, D.C., New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Montana, Texas and South Carolina. Mercury is a part of the Omnicom Public Relations Group.
About Omnicom Public Relations Group
Omnicom Public Relations Group is a global collective of three of the top global public relations agencies worldwide and specialist agencies in areas including public affairs, language strategy, global health strategy and change management. As the largest group of communications professionals in the world, our employees provide expertise to companies, government agencies, NGOs and nonprofits across a wide range of industries. Omnicom Public Relations Group delivers for clients through a relentless focus on talent, continuous pursuit of innovation and a culture steeped in collaboration. Omnicom Public Relations Group is part of the Communications Consultancy Network, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC).
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