LONDON — FTI Consulting has appointed Claire Twohill as a managing director and Gareth Rice-Jones as a director in the digital and insights practice within its strategic communications segment in London. Twohill joins from FleishmanHillard UK, where she was a partner and head of digital reputation. Rice-Jones was formerly deputy head of digital at 10 Downing Street, where he led the UK government’s digital and social media response to the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine.

LONDON — FleishmanHillard UK has promoted Claudia Bate from head of technology to managing director of sectors and specialisms. The newly created cross-agency role will see Bate lead on integrating FleishmanHillard UK’s 20+ sector and specialist service offerings, including crisis and issues, corporate reporting, ESG and purpose, youth and culture, and sports marketing.

BRUSSELS — Also at FleishmanHillard, senior vice president and senior partner David Turier has been promoted to general manager of the agency’s Brussels office. Turier succeeds Mette Grolleman who is moving away from agency life at the end of this year. Turier was the first intern in the Brussels office and become an account executive in 2008. He made a rapid rise through to his recent appointment as senior partner. Turier currently co-leads the public affairs practice and heads the integrated communications, reputation management and FleishmanHillard Studio practice in Brussels.

LONDON — Milk & Honey PR is extending its boards in the UK and US with two internal promotions. Both already partners and now co-owners in the global agency, Kath Myers (pictured, left) and Michael West Jr (centre) will join the board in January 2023. Myers is based in London, heading up consumer and strategy with a focus on behavioural analytics and purpose-led business, and has been with the agency for a year. West, who specialises in energy and clean tech clients, is also celebrating his first anniversary with the agency in New York and is charged with further accelerating the agency’s US growth working alongside regional CEO Paul Cohen. Global head of digital Rachel Proctor (right) is also promoted to partner.

BERLIN — Brunswick Group has hired Anja Ingenrieth as a partner in Berlin. Ingenrieth brings more than 20 years of public affairs and media relations experience, having spent the past four years as head of Deutsche Telekom AG’s EU Office as its vice president for European affairs in Brussels. Previously, she held senior corporate communications and public affairs roles at Bayer. Before that, she worked as a political journalist including as a correspondent focused on the EU and NATO in Brussels.

LONDON — Financial services communications specialist Vested has appointed Adam Smith as UK CEO. Smith will work alongside Elspeth Rothwell, who set up the London office in 2018 and was recently appointed as EMEA chief executive, and UK managing director Katie Spreadbury. Smith joins from Teamspirit, where he was managing director and was pivotal in developing its integrated communications proposition for clients including Tesco Bank, Shawbrook and Charles Stanley. He delivered the first influencer campaign in the wealth management space for Killik & Co as well as the Janus Henderson Global Dividend Index.

LONDON — Search-first creative agency Rise at Seven has hired Laura Smales, former senior account director at digital and content marketing agency Stickyeyes, to its senior management team. In 12 years at Stickyeyes, Smales led global accounts including Kroger, Hertz, Tommee Tippee, CWT and GHD. She joins Rise at Seven as part of a number of recent senior hires including Dave Bennett, who joined as director of communications after working at Freuds, Edelman, FleishmanHillard and Exposure, and executive director Kristal Ireland, who brings digital marketing and strategy experience from Virgin Trains and UK Coaching. The agency – founded by Carrie Rose, who recently bought out co-founder Stephen Kenwright – has offices in the UK and the US.

LONDON — Purpose-led strategy and communications agency Lodestone has appointed Tom King as a director to provide senior counsel to clients and expand its offer to corporate, civil society and investment clients. King joins after three years at political and policy advisory Global Counsel, having started his career as a parliamentary researcher and speechwriter. He has advised investor, corporate, charity and government clients on public policy and regulation, government affairs, M&A and strategic communications, working across sectors including health, education, financial services, trade, energy, business services and TMT, and remains active in British and European liberal politics, global anti-corruption and information policy.

LONDON — Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC), which recently opened the redevelopment of the power station, has promoted communications lead Kate Boothman Meier to head of communications and marketing. With more than 12 years’ experience, Boothman Meier has been central in raising the profile of Battersea Power Station throughout her six-year tenure.

LONDON — Portland has hired its first chief digital officer, Dominic Cleall, from Havas Life Medicom, where he was digital director. Cleall has worked on digital transformation across the healthcare, consumer products, technology, finance and automotive sectors. Portland Digital works with clients in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, the USA, Asia, and Africa and is led by partner Raghd Hamid. Cleall joins a growing team of a dozen digital specialists with backgrounds in brand marketing, digital public relations, politics and integrated campaigns.

LONDON — TDC PR, which specialises in the design, innovation, creative and technology sectors, has made two senior hires. Max Deeley has joined the company as managing director from Platform Communications, and James Hart is the agency’s new director of digital. Deeley will work closely with founder and CEO Tim Duncan to scale the business while taking over responsibility for the day-to-day running of the agency. TDC’s recent wins include Panasonic, brand design agency Pearlfisher, 3D modelling and design tool SketchUp, and the Danish Architecture Centre.