Highwire PR has hired Joe Hamrahi as its first CFO.

Hamrahi started in the role on March 14, reporting to Kathleen Gratehouse, principal and cofounder. The last person to lead Highwire’s financial operations was VP of finance Amy Tsui, who is on maternity leave.

“When [Tsui] comes back we have a lot of opportunities in store for her but she will continue to play an important role in our finance team,” said Gratehouse.

Hamrahi is in charge of financial operations, scaling the company and driving strategic growth. He is overseeing five staffers. 

Gratehouse said that after securing a strategic investment from Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles-based investment firm specializing in media, entertainment and communications, in September, Highwire is considering acquisitions and new service offerings.

“We are getting deeper in places where we see lots of opportunities such as analytics and healthcare and continuing to scale our digital business, so we felt it was time to bring in an experienced leader who has grown and scaled businesses of our size before,” said Gratehouse.

Hamrahi said that he will “build out our team with the proper responsibilities for growth, advise our staff, work with the client procurement teams, move the healthcare business and identify opportunities for acquisitions.”

This month, Hamrahi left his dual positions as COO at M Booth and U.S. commercial director at parent holding company Next 15.

Hamrahi joined M Booth in 2004 as CFO. He moved into the dual COO role in 2015 and sole role at M Booth’s COO in 2018. Hamrahi took on the role of U.S. commercial director at Next 15 in February 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile.

While at M Booth, he played an important role in diversity, equity and inclusion and building the firm’s analytics as well as healthcare capabilities — all strategic priorities for Highwire, said Gratehouse.

Prior to M Booth, Hamrahi served as CFO of network solutions provider Interactive Futures.

Highwire posted a 21% gain in revenue in 2021 to $29.2 million, according to PRWeek’s Agency Business Report 2022.

This article originally appeared on PRWeek US.