India and Colombia. In 2009, the firm opened its first office in Nairobi in partnership with Kenyan company Scangroup. In January 2011, Hill & Knowlton announced a merger with Public Strategies, another WPP company founded in Austin, Texas in 1988. In December 2011, the firm was rebranded as "Hill+Knowlton Strategies." Jack Martin, founder of Public Strategies, oversaw this rebranded company from 2011 until 2019. Current operations The firms' clients reportedly represent fifty percent of Fortune 500 companies. The company serves a variety of industries including automotive, banking and finance, energy, governments, sports marketing, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, technology communications, consumer goods and services, food and beverage, and the travel, leisure, and tourism industry. The company has also worked with governing bodies, federations, and sponsors for every Olympic Games since the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. They also worked on the World Health Organization-funded COVID-19 campaign. Recognition From 2008 to 2012, H+K Strategies worked for the Special Court for Sierra Leone to draw attention to the court's work prosecuting war criminals in Sierra Leone. The court was able to raise more than $12.5 million in financing to convict former Liberian president Charles Taylor. In 2013, the firm's work was included in PRWeek's list of "great work of the last 15 years". Controversies As described above, the firm has been involved in controversial events over its history. These include the tobacco industry in the 1950s and 1960s, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International from 1988–1990, the false testimony and PR campaign planned by Hill+Knowlton on behalf of the Government of Kuwait in the lead up to the Gulf War, and the Church of Scientology from 1987–1991. The company has also been criticized for representing governments seeking to improve their reputations despite accusations of human rights violations, such as Indonesia, Turkey, Maldives, and Uganda. The company is one of a number of firms engaged by fracking interests in recent years. Hill+Knowlton Strategies co-founded in the 1970s the Asbestos Information Association, which by denying the health risks of asbestos is responsible for thousands of lost lives. Hill+Knowlton was also involved in similar practices concerning lead, vinyl chloride and CFC. During many of these operations Hill+Knowlton worked with Fred Singer. In November 2022, the company, as official PR firm for the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, was criticized by scientists and environmentalists for having an apparent conflict of interest - also working for the fossil