Margaret Harper has joined The Royal Parks as director of comms and commercial. At LOCOG, she was head of comms for the venues staging the Games in 2012, including many of the royal parks.
The Royal Parks is an executive agency of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Harper has been appointed during the month that Neil Coyte joins as head of comms and digital, from his role as press officer at the Independent Police Complaints Commission, while Peter Chua becomes head of sales and marketing at The Royal Parks.
The three appointments have been made to ensure that The Royal Parks responds to the commercial and profile-raising opportunities presented by three high-profile events in 2012 – the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and the Diamond Jubilee.
There will be 11 Olympic and Paralympic events taking place across the six Royal Parks, including beach volleyball (Horse Guards Parade, St James’ Park), equestrian and modern pentathlon (Greenwich Park) and the triathlon (Hyde Park).
This year, the royal parks became a focal point for hundreds of thousands of people celebrating the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding by watching the event on big screens in Hyde Park and lining The Mall.
Harper said: ‘Having worked closely with The Royal Parks team in my previous role, I have developed a greater understanding of the role the organisation plays.’
