Edelman CEO Richard Edelman said that CEO’s need to be “private sector diplomats” along the lines of GE’s Jeff Immelt and Walmart’s Lee Scott and not “just come out for quarterly earnings.”

The remarks came during the opening of an event at Edelman’s new offices in downtown Manhattan last night, “The CEO and Corporate Communications in the Recovering Economy,” hosted by the M.S. in Public Relations and Corporate Communication program at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS).

In a lighthearted remark about the agency’s new offices, Edelman said he was “dragged kicking and screaming” below 42nd St. – Edelman’s last offices were in Times Square – but the real estate deal was too enticing to pass up.