Teneo CEO resigns after allegations of inappropriate behavior

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Declan Kelly, CEO of public relations firm Teneo, resigned Tuesday. His resignation follows allegations of intoxicated misconduct and improper touching at a charity concert hosted by Global Citizen. He will be replaced by the company’s COO, Paul Keary. See more stories on the Insider business page.

Declan Kelly, CEO of influential crisis communications firm Teneo, announced on Tuesday that he would step down as chairman and chief executive officer.

He will be replaced by the company’s chief operating officer, Paul Keary, the board said in a statement.

Kelly’s resignation follows reports that he behaved inappropriately during a charity concert hosted by Global Citizen, a non-profit organization where Kelly was previously a board member.

The Financial Times reported last week that Kelly was drunk at the event and inappropriately touched women without their consent.

“At a large cocktail party that night attended by dozens of people, including board members and guests from Global Citizen, Mr. Kelly became intoxicated and behaved inappropriately towards certain women and men at the event, “a spokesperson for Kelly said in a statement to the Financial Times.

Following the report, General Motors, a prominent client of Teneo, severed ties with the public relations company.

Kelly released a personal statement on Tuesday announcing her resignation.

“On May 2, I made an unintentional, public and embarrassing mistake for which I took full responsibility and apologized to those directly concerned, as well as to my colleagues and clients,” said Kelly. “A campaign against our company’s reputation has followed and may even continue in the coming days. However, no matter how true such cases are, I don’t want them to be an ongoing distraction from the running of our business. “

“In order to protect Teneo employees and its customers, and with the unwavering support of my family, I have decided to leave the company and step down from my role as CEO,” he said.

This is a developing story …

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