Emea People News In Brief (July 24, 2023)

(MENAFN- PRovoke) LONDON - Weber Shandwick has promoted Andrew Lopez, who joined the agency in April last year as SVP of brand strategy, to UK head of strategy. In this role, Lopez will assume the responsibility of overseeing brand strategy across all business practices. In his new role, Lopes will help to connect Weber Shandwick's strategy teams across London, Manchester and Scotland, as well as integrating The Weber Shandwick Collective clients. He will report to EMEA chief strategy officer Gen Kobayashi.

LONDON - FTI Consulting has appointed Wendy Dobson as a senior managing director within the financial services practice of its strategic communications segment. Dobson will lead the development of the financial services-focused sustainability offering, working with banks, asset managers and insurers on the development and implementation of their ESG, sustainability and climate strategies and plans. She was previously head of group corporate citizenship at Standard Bank, Africa's largest bank and served as co-chair of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative Banking Board, where she worked on the development of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, a global banking initiative, working with heads of ESG and sustainability at leading banks.

LONDON - Also at FTI, Edward Bridges has been named as global head of M&A and activism within the strategic communications segment. Bridges, a senior MD based in London, has spent almost three decades at FTI overseeing the growth of the firm's transactions, financial communications and special situations capabilities. Earlier in 2023, Bridges was
recognised by MergerLinks as EMEA's top public relations consultant in mergers and acquisitions, through his involvement in deals in 2022 worth £28.6 billion.

LONDON - Alfred has appointed Rachel Proctor (pictured) as its new head of digital, after a series of digital account wins including Westfield, Highland Park and Impossible Foods. Proctor joins after five years at Milk & Honey PR, where she built the agency's global digital offer. She previously worked at Thomson Reuters and Ascential, which produces the Cannes Lions festival. Also joining Alfred on the digital team are content creator Lorolei Timpson, who previously worked for Pink News and is a travel and lifestyle content specialist, and Scott Wilson, who joins from Snack Media & GiveMeSport.

OSLO - Rune Wilhelmsen has joined holding company Paritee as chief financial officer and partner, after a 15-year tenure at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, most recently as global finance director, responsible for financial management in EMEA & APAC. It is the latest senior hire at Paritee, founded by former H+K global president Lars Erik Grønntun, after former Prime Weber Shandwick deputy CEO Leif Geiger joined the firm last year as chief growth officer.

LONDON - Public affairs specialist WA Communications has promoted partner Dean Sowman to head of the health practice; incumbent Caroline Gordon is moving into a senior advisory role within the practice.

ISTANBUL - UK-headquartered PR Agency One has appointed Seda Aslan Yilmaz as its head of Turkey, to expand its capabilities in helping Turkish businesses market themselves in the UK. The agency's specialisms in the market include consumer and B2B healthcare and travel and destination PR. Aslan Yilmaz founded London-based health and tourism agency Timeless PR & Digital Marketing in 2008.

LONDON - Global technology and healthcare agency PAN Communications has named Nia Evans
as managing director of its London operation. She succeeds outgoing MD Gareth Thomas, with whom she co-founded the agency Capella PR, which PAN acquired in 2019. Evans was previously general manager of the agency's UK team. Her agency and in-house experience includes Viagogo, Threepipe, Porter Novelli, Good Relations and Ogilvy.

LONDON - Rise at Seven has appointed Karl Loudon as chief commercial officer. Loudon was the former COO at Ingenuity, and before that was a managing partner at IPG Reprise. He will report to Rise at Seven CEO Carrie Rose, with a brief to drive growth through the development of new products and services, expansion into new markets, and organic client growth. He will oversee all marketing, client services and growth functions across the UK, EU and US. Loudon joins the Rise at Seven board alongside Rose and MD Nick Hussey, following the recent mbo .

LONDON - International communications consultancy Trippant has made two senior hires. Eoin Connolly
joins the agency as head of content and storytelling, to lead the agency's new content production arm. The former editor of B2B media company SportsPro, Connolly will add services including white-labelled events, client and media strategy sessions, interviews and podcast production. Alex Chamberlen also joins Trippant as business development director. He previously led the new business team at Engage Digital Partners and served as MD of Omnigon Communications, as well as leading commercial teams at ESPN and CNN.

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