LONDON—Burson-Marsteller has named former City AM parliamentary lobby reporter Mark Sands as a manager on its London team. Sands joins the firm after seven years in the media, covering a range of business sectors including financial services, international trade and transport.

PARIS—Europcar Group has appointed Jehan de Thé as public affairs director. He will develop the group's public affairs strategy and promote the group’s expertise in the new mobility markets. De Thé joined Europcar France in 1990 as international marketing manager and served in sales roles. In 2001, he joined Expedia International to create and develop its car rental program before returning in 2006 as marketing and e-commerce director. Since 2012, he has led the development of InterRent, the low-cost brand of the group.

LONDON—Claire Southeard is joining Lansons as a board director to speed the development, transformation and integration of the firm’s digital, content and social media offer. Southeard has spent the last six years building a multi-channel offer at Bell Pottinger where she was co-founder and managing director of the digital content practice before becoming head of content for the firm’s Engage unit. Earlier in her career she was managing director, TNR Communications, a content agency owned by the Press Association.

LONDON—The Association for Member Nominated Trustees has appointed Lansons as its retained corporate communications adviser. The AMNT is the not-for-profit organisation supporting member-nominated trustees, and Lansons will support the organisation with its strategic communications, offering press office and media relations management, bespoke campaign support and assistance in the preparation of consultation and policy documents.

LUND, Sweden—NeuroVive Pharmaceutical, a mitochondrial medicine company, has appointed Daniel Schale as director of communications, responsible for the company's communications, media relations and public affairs. Schale has ten years of experience in PR and communications, in recent years with special focus on pharmaceuticals, biotech and life science. He joins NeuroVive from a role as senior corporate communications and public affairs advisor with the Swedish PR-firm Aspekta.

LONDON—MHP Communications has appointed Mike Robb as managing director in the newly created role of head of financial services. Robb joins following seven years at Cicero Group where, as executive director, he sat on the board and led the company’s PR practice, advising a wide range of clients from FTSE 100 companies to start-ups, charities and public sector bodies.Prior to joining Cicero, Robb worked in the in-house team at Betfair.

LONDON—M&C Saatchi PR has appointed Christopher Brown as head of digital, responsible for leading M&C Saatchi PR’s in-house digital team of nine and strengthening its digital offering, working with clients including Virgin Active, Lipton Ice Tea, Nude by Nature and Currys PC World. He also brings with him new client Google DeepMind. Brown was previously head of content, social media and digital experience for M&C Saatchi PR’s longest standing client, Dixons Carphone Group.

LONDON—Former Marketing Week editor Mark Choueke (pictured) has launched Rebeltech, a new consultancy that aims to turn storytelling into competitive advantage for disruptive tech startups. Choueke and co-founder Nicole Lyons are both ex-agency having worked at Chime’s Good Relations Group and Hotwire respectively.

LONDON—Communications consultancy Madano has hired Darran Messem as director and head of its new transport practice, and as lead on their sustainable development work. He joins from the Carbon Trust where he was managing director of Carbon Trust Certification and international director. Messem is also chairman of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, a membership and delivery organisation sponsored by the UK Department for Transport.