LONDON — David Page, who previously led UK and Ireland communications for supermarket chain Tesco, has joined Portland as a senior advisor.

Page was a member of the Tesco UK leadership team for more than three years before leaving last summer. He was previously group head of communications at Monarch Airlines and has also worked agency-side as a director at Freuds and Burson-Marsteller.

In his new role, Page will work alongside Portland chief executive Mark Flanagan and new deputy CEO Vikki Dean, who joins from Google this month, and will be part of the firm’s advisory board. As well as advising major clients, Page will also develop Portland’s capabilities around business purpose, change management and corporate storytelling.

Flanagan said: “Having led communications at one of the UK’s most high-profile companies, David understands the challenges and complexity of modern business. His track record at Tesco, up to and including the pandemic, will be invaluable as we support our clients during this next period. Portland has an ambitious growth plan for 2022 and David will be integral to making this happen.”

Page added: “I look forward to combining my senior business, in-house and consultancy experience to develop bench-strength, help solve clients’ problems, enable them to build trust and protect reputation better and grow the Portland offer.”

Portland, part of Omnicom Public Relations Group, has made several significant hires during the last few months. These include Adam Short joining from Weber Shandwick as partner for health and Gabriel Milland from Public First as partner for research and strategy. Katie Lam, Boris Johnson’s former deputy chief of staff, has also joined the agency as chief policy adviser.