Kiki O’Keeffe
Senior Vice President
New York
Kiki O’Keeffe is a Senior Vice President at Prosek Partners with more than a decade of PR, strategic communications, and special situations experience. Her recent engagements include Labcorp's planned spin-off of its Clinical Development business to become Fortrea, the $16.5 billion acquisition of Citrix and subsequent combination with TIBCO Software by Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital, the sale of Manning & Napier to Callodine Group, and the management-led buyout of Intech from Janus Henderson Group. She also supports ongoing financial communications mandates for public companies, including FIGS, NOVONIX, Weber, and Wish.
Before Prosek Partners, Kiki was a Managing Director at Blueshirt Group, where she advised high-growth companies on IPOs and SPAC transactions, including the $2 billion merger of Forge Global with Motive Capital Corp. Previously, she was a Vice President at Gladstone Place Partners, where she advised on M&A transactions, including the $11 billion sale of Dunkin’ Brands to Inspire Brands, Twilio’s acquisitions of Segment and Zipwhip, Pfizer’s spin-off and merger of its Upjohn business with Mylan to form Viatris, and Hasbro’s $4 billion acquisition of eOne. During her tenure, she led profile-raising mandates for LIVEKINDLY Collective, Plenty AG, Arbor Realty Trust, and Nomad Foods, and she supported strategic repositioning and management transitions for Hillenbrand, WeWork, and the Boards of Credit Suisse and The Howard Hughes Corporation. She also advised Zelnick Media Capital and The Second City on their announcement that Stephen Colbert would join the theater's Board. Before Gladstone Place Partners, she was an Assistant Vice President at Makovsky, where she directed broadcast media relations and executive visibility campaigns across the Financial and Professional Services group.
In 2021, she received Insider's Rising Stars of PR Award and has been published in The New York Times, the New Yorker, Insider, Vulture, and more. She holds an M.A. in Journalism from Emerson College and a B.A. in English from Providence College.
Q & A
What are you most proud of in your career?
Any time a client goes out of their way to tell me our work together positively impacted their business. That, and the time I created a short internal presentation comparing myself to birds.
Name one thing most people don’t know about you.
I’m shorter in real life.
How would your mother describe you?
A lemon.
What are your greatest strengths as a communications practitioner?
Empathy, curiosity, and being very, very funny.
What is your favorite food?
It always changes; you’ll have to ask me in person.
Describe your perfect client.
One who understands that good communications is good business.
What three hobbies or activities do you enjoy most?
Long city walks, wearing clothes with intention, and, whenever I do it, writing.
What’s your favorite part of the workday?
Early morning before the chaos descends.
Who would play you in the movie version of your life?
Parker Posey, Cher, or me.
What is your favorite quote?
“Ignorance is bliss? I wouldn’t know.” – myself