Bristol communications consultancy JBP PR & Parliamentary Affairs has made a number of senior appointments as part of its growth plan, including taking on former Northcliffe South West regional managing director Steve Anderson-Dixon as a non-executive director.
The agency’s founder Jennifer Bryant-Pearson, pictured, becomes group chief executive while directors Chris Lawrance and Liam Herbert are appointed as managing directors of the its Bristol and London operations respectively. Director Karen White takes on the new specialist role of campaign director.
The consultancy was launched 28 years ago with a single office in Bristol. Today it turns over £2m a year and has bases in Clifton, London, Cardiff and Birmingham.
Mr Anderson-Dixon was regional managing director for Northcliffe between 2006 and 2011 based at in Bristol where he oversaw titles including the Western Daily Press, Bristol Evening Post and, later, the Western Morning News along with a string of weekly and evening newspapers and websites.
He departed under a management shake-up at the firm, part of the Daily Mail group, and just over a year ago joined rival media group Trinity Mirror, taking over responsibility for its Birmingham and Coventry businesses. Last December he became regional managing director for Trinity Mirror’s regional titles in the North West, including the Manchester Evening News and the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo.
Among JBP’s clients are environmental technology firm Burdens, leading national law firm Clarke Willmott, Business Doctors – the UK’s fastest growing business support service for SMEs – Bosch Healthcare, supplier finance specialists Obilisk and major recruitment consultancy RSG.
In his new role Mr Lawrance will lead the agency’s corporate reputation and corporate social responsibility (CSR) portfolio while Mr Herbert will be responsible for stakeholder and public policy engagement activities.
JBP chairman John Cullum said: “We have refocused our business to meet our ambitious growth plans. Despite the current challenging economic climate, we are experiencing strong demand for strategic communications solutions, which help open up new business opportunities for our clients or address issues their organisations are facing.
“We have also created a new role of campaign director to build on our growing reputation for delivering successful integrated communications initiatives.”
