AnnaMaria DeSalva is a CEO, board leader, and strategic advisor recognized for leading organizations through transformative periods at the intersection of innovation, enterprise risk, and global complexity. Across a three-decade career spanning Fortune 100 corporations, global consultancies, and public company boardrooms, she has earned a reputation for bringing the strategic clarity, operational discipline, reputation stewardship, and governance excellence that determine long-term value.

Most recently, AnnaMaria served as global chairman of the Burson Group, one of the world’s largest strategic communications and reputation advisory firms. She was a principal architect of the 2024 merger that combined Hill & Knowlton and BCW, shaping Burson’s global strategy, leadership architecture, and brand. Previously, as global chairman and CEO of Hill & Knowlton, she led a multi-year transformation that delivered sustained profitable growth, strengthened the firm’s advisory and creative capabilities, accelerated AI-enabled solutions, and completed two international acquisitions — culminating in a global rebranding and the strategic consolidation into Burson.

Her executive experience includes some of the most consequential transformations in modern industry. As Global Chief Communications Officer of DuPont, she guided the company through an activist proxy contest, CEO transition, major restructuring, and the Dow–DuPont merger that created three independent public companies. Earlier, as a vice president at Pfizer, she served on the R&D Leadership Team and the Portfolio Strategy & Investment Committee during the formative years following Pfizer’s acquisition of Wyeth — a period marked by large-scale scientific, portfolio, and organizational reinvention. Her work helped improve R&D productivity, strengthen scientific reputation, and reposition the enterprise for a new era of biopharmaceutical innovation.

As a public company director, AnnaMaria has played a defining governance role across one of the most successful multi-spin transformations of the past decade. Over seven years of continuous board leadership at XPO Logistics and its spin-offs, she served as vice chairman of XPO, then a Fortune 200 global transportation and supply chain leader, where she chaired the Nominating, Governance & Sustainability Committee and helped design the governance and leadership architecture for the company’s break-up strategy — ultimately resulting in the formation of GXO and RXO. She later joined the inaugural board of RXO, supporting its transition to independent public company status. In the public sector, she has served on boards in the national interest, including the Board of Governors of Argonne National Laboratory, a premier U.S. science and innovation institution, and the Board of Visitors of William & Mary, where she contributes to academic strategy and institutional stewardship.

AnnaMaria is a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board, a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, and a frequent speaker on strategy, transformation, enterprise risk, resilience, and the leadership imperatives shaping the next quarter-century.