Chris Lawrance, managing director of Bristol-based communications consultancy JBP, has been appointed to chair the global marketing activities of Worldcom, a partnership of 85 independent public relations agencies.
Worldcom’s agencies have a combined turnover of $300m (£267m) and employ around 2,000 communications professionals across 115 cities in 49 countries. 
JBP, one of the UK’s leading PR, stakeholder engagement and public affairs consultancies, has been a Worldcom partner for 12 years.
Membership allows independent PR businesses to support clients’ global aspirations.
Chris, pictured, who has worked at JBP for 29 years, was appointed to Worldcom’s global marketing committee last year and also sits on its EMEA Committee, which is responsible for promoting it to prospective customers and supporting partners in the network.
Worldcom’s marketing committee is supported by a large committee utilising business development, email marketing, SEO, paid digital, social, web development and more as part of its integrated marketing efforts.
The marketing effort is highlighted by a number of signature initiatives including the annual predictions, an annual pharma healthcare report and Worldcom’s confidence index, which provides ongoing and real-time insights on the engagement, confidence and concerns of CEOs and CMOs.
Chris said: “I am hugely privileged to be asked to take this role on. We have been part of the partnership for more than 10 years and it has meant that we can offer our clients PR campaigns across six continents.
“We’ve also supported the clients of many of our agency partners who are interested in establishing themselves in the UK market.”
He said the partnership had a wide range of industry and discipline expertise supported by local knowledge for clients with international aspirations to draw and benefit from.
“In addition to supporting client acquisition, the Worldcom marketing team will play a key role in attracting new partners to ensure we can offer a first-class PR service anywhere in the world,” he added.
Worldcom managing director Todd Lynch said: “Our integrated marketing efforts are aimed at underscoring Worldcom’s member agency expertise and capabilities with the goal of educating clients, prospects and potential partners on how the organisation’s agencies can support key business communication challenges. We look forward to Chris’ leading this critical element of Worldcom’s activities.”
Chris succeeds outgoing chair Stefan Pollack of the Los Angeles-based Pollack Group, who is assuming a new role on its global board.
