Who we are

Gretchen Fricko-Ben Youssef
Founder, Director
 
Gretchen Fricko-BenYoussef, Founder and Director of Gab Communications, has over 19 years of global public relations and communications experience.  She has worked in some of the largest international markets and supported a number of fortune 500 companies in their public relations outreach. Ms. Fricko-BenYoussef began her career with the global public relations firm Ruder Finn and spent nearly six years divided between their New York and London offices.  While with Ruder Finn, Ms. Fricko-BenYoussef worked on the launch of a number of blockbuster brands (i.e. Glivec, Celebrex, and Viagra), a New York Stock Exchange listing, a corporate merger announcement and several celebrity awareness campaigns.

In 2004 Ms. Fricko-BenYoussef left Ruder Finn to assume the role of International Communications Manager with Roche, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. In the role of International Communications Manager, Ms. Fricko-Ben Youssef was responsible for the development and implementation of global communications strategies for some of the largest Roche brands. In addition, she continuously worked to strengthen and protect the Roche corporate brand identity internationally. 

Ms. Fricko-BenYoussef was based in the Basel, Switzerland headquarters of Roche for nearly 2 years. In 2006, Ms. Fricko-BenYoussef transferred within the Roche organization to their Middle East Management Team in the role of Marketing Services Manager - Middle East.  In this role, she supported the General Manager of the Middle East in the coordination and alignment of all of the Roche marketing and communications activities within 15 of the Middle Eastern Markets.

In 2009 Gretchen Fricko-BenYoussef left Roche to work as an independent consultant and trainer.  Since then she has become one of the region's leading communications coaches.  She has been continuously coaching, training and consulting, delivering outstanding programs at a regional and global level.

Ms. Fricko-BenYoussef is a graduate of Millersville University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelors of Science, and holds a Masters of Arts from Coventry University, UK