James Murray, head of corporate comms at RBS Insurance, will join the agency in the newly created role of MD for corporate comms, public affairs and financial services.
He starts on 21 November and will report to Fleishman-Hillard London MD Richard Kanareck.
Kanareck said of Murray’s appointment: ‘James will bring expertise, experience and energy to Fleishman-Hillard London.’
Murray will oversee a team of 25 working across clients including Visa, Aviva, Scottish Power and State Bank of India.
Since joining RBS in 2007, Murray has led the corporate banking division’s marketing and comms function and the corporate comms team at RBS Insurance. His previous roles included director of public relations at Prudential UK and media relations manager at NatWest.
It is not the first time Murray has worked agency-side. He spent a year as a board director at Lansons Communications before joining RBS in 2007.
He said of his appointment: ‘I feel it is time to take on a new challenge, and having met with Richard and been told of his plans for Fleishman-Hillard I wanted to be a part of them.
‘Having worked primarily client-side I’ve worked with some great agencies, but also some that I would have run differently had I been in charge. I’m looking forward to putting this insight into practice.’
Other recent hires to Fleishman-Hillard’s corporate and public affairs practice include Caroline Weber from Sport England, Liam McCloy from Bell Pottinger, David Carter from MS&L and James Dowling from HM Treasury.
