LONDON – Independent reputation management and public relations consultancy Lansons has appointed Geoff Duggan as a board director, with specific responsibility for driving the agency’s growth in fintech.

Duggan joins the Lansons team in mid-September after seven years at corporate, public affairs and brand communications agency Pagefield, where he was a partner and a key part of the agency’s leadership team, including deputising for chief executive Oliver Foster.

He played a leading role in establishing and growing Pagefield’s tech and fintech practice, delivering award-winning campaigns for Starling Bank and advising high-growth challenger brands including Zego, Wealthsimple, RateSetter, Collective Benefits, Banked and UnderPinned.

Duggan has more than 14 years’ experience advising start-ups, scale-ups, multinationals and campaign groups on media relations, thought leadership, issues management and brand building, and also developed Pagefield’s sustainability offering.

Lansons chief executive Tony Langham said Lansons was increasingly providing strategic consultancy, reputation management and integrated campaign management to tech and fintech brands such as Wealthify. Notable work has included building the profile of Tech Nation, the body that promotes the UK as global leader for tech and running a global marketing communications programme for the Isle of Man Government’s Digital Agency.

Langham said: “In recent years, we have seen our work as consultants to tech and fintech businesses grow exponentially, the addition of Geoff to our board will help us to pursue further opportunities in this space. Geoff’s wealth of experience, sector knowledge and his focus on CSR and sustainability make him a fantastic addition to our board.”

Duggan added: “I’m really excited to be joining Lansons. It is an excellent consultancy with a rich heritage of working with ambitious challenger brands and a genuinely progressive working environment. It’s a hugely exciting time for the tech sector, with lots of opportunities on the horizon, and I can’t wait to get stuck in.”

At Pagefield, Foster  said: "Geoff’s been such a big part of the Pagefield family over the past seven years and we’ll obviously miss him – and his hirsute beard – hugely. I really do wish him all the best in his new challenge – and I’m in no doubt that he’ll absolutely rise to it, as he has risen to every other challenge throughout his time at Pagefield."

Foster said the agency had hired former Sky News broadcast correspondent Katherine Spence as a partner: "Katharine brings with her decades of experience working with clients across several sectors of the UK economy, including traditional finance and challenger fintech, inward investment, retail and luxury goods. She also adds depth to our in-house stable of former senior journalists delivering training and high-level media engagement."

Spence was also a partner at Brunswick, and spent nearly nine years as group director of corporate affairs at Harrods. She has been running her own strategic advisory firm, Plumhill, for the past two years.