European News In Brief (October 5, 2026)

(MENAFN- PRovoke) MADRID-LLYC has appointed Luis Guerricagoitia as the new managing partner of its flagship Madrid office. Guerricagoitia will report directly to Jorge López-Zafra and Gemma Gutiérrez, managing directors for Spain and Brussels and will focus his efforts on leading major clients and projects. During his career at LLYC, Guerricagoitia has led two of the highest-volume practice areas: financial communication and public affairs including M&A transactions including the defense of Banco Sabadell against BBVA's hostile takeover bid, the merger between CaixaBank and Bankia, the acquisition of Vodafone Spain by Zegona, the purchase of Liberty Seguros by Generali, and the takeover bid by Siemens Energy for Siemens Gamesa. Earlier, he worked as an auditor at PwC.

BRUSSELS-APCO has named Kyra Obolensky (pictured) as Europe health lead, based in the firm's Brussels office. Obolensky brings more than 20 years of experience in government affairs, policy strategy and corporate, external and crisis communications, with a specific focus on the pharmaceutical sector. Prior to joining APCO, Obolensky held global policy and communication roles at Sanofi, Galapagos and AstraZeneca.

MILAN-AC Milan have hired James Fontanella-Khan, currently US finance editor at the Financial Times, as chief corporate affairs officer. Fontanella-Khan will work alongside Gerry Cardinale, owner of AC Milan and founder of RedBird Capital Partners. Earlier in his career, he served as US corporate finance and deals editor for the publication.

MADRID-Cellnex has established communications and public affairs as separate functions, both reporting to Xavier Pujol, secretary general and secretary to the board, and director of corporate affairs. Ignacio Jiménez-Soler, who had served as global director of public affairs and corporate communications, will step down from his role in the coming weeks to pursue a new professional opportunity. Ilaria Pratesi has been promoted to director of public affairs and the company has begun the selection process to find a new head of the communications & brand division.

TALLINN - Earlylands Advisory, a full-service market-entry advisory firm, has added Sarah Wills, a seasoned corporate affairs leader with experience spanning multinational enterprises and venture-backed startups, as managing partner. Most recently, Wills served as CEO of Concordant Advisory, a policy and strategic communications subsidiary of public affairs group PPHC. Prior to that, Wills was chief corporate affairs officer at Cardinal Health.

LIMASSOL, CYPRUS-Fintech company Exinity has named Constantina Georgiadou as associate VP of public relations. She will oversee public relations initiatives at corporate level across Exinity's key markets. Constantina brings 15 years of industry experience, including a nine-year tenure at Exness, where she helped shape the company's external communications during a period of significant international growth.

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