Pank joins as a partner at the London-based agency. The former Times transport correspondent had joined Bell Pottinger at the start of 2015 and was latterly a partner.
Former Bell Pottinger senior consultant Kate Begg, a technology and transport specialist, has also been given the same role at Pagefield. Nancy Martin, who was executive – political at Bell Pottinger until the agency’s collapse last month, has been made a consultant. Her specialist fields are retail, food, sport and financial services.
Elsewhere, former Bell Pottinger executive Sam Postlethwaite is among three senior executive hires, alongside Ben Stetson of FleishmanHillard Fishburn and Ed Brown of the Employment Related Services Association.
The new post of finance manager has been filled by Jacqui Beaumont, also formerly of Bell Pottinger. Two new researchers joined the agency in the summer: Olivia Crawford and Hal Stevenson.
As PRWeek reported earlier this month, another former Bell Pottinger employee, James Baker, has also joined Pagefield as associate partner.
Pagefield builds sister business
It was previously announced that 17 of Bell Pottinger's 22-strong crisis comms team are joining a new agency, Pagefield Global Counsel, launched by its former crisis and litigation chief Stuart Leach and Pagefield founder Mark Gallagher. This is in addition to new hires at Pagefield itself.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s special adviser Liam Parker also joined the agency this month.
Pagefield CEO Oliver Foster said: "It is an incredibly exciting time for our agency, and our expansion reflects the phenomenal growth we have seen as a business over the past year."
A number of other agencies have been recruiting former Bell Pottinger employees in recent weeks, including Prosek Partners, MHP, and Lansons, plus Buchanan, FleishmanHillard Fishburn, FTI Consulting, and Tulchan Communications.
Philip Peck, one of the staffers on Bell Pottinger's infamous Oakbay account, joined splinter business Sans Frontières Associates.
