Louie StClaire takes the latter role in October, joining from mobile service firm O2 UK, where he is business PR manager.
Neville Rawlings joined this Monday as press office manager after a stint as a freelancer. He was previously UK PR manager at Cable & Wireless, which he left last September after 14 months. Before that he was PR manager at Cisco Systems.
StClaire has been with O2 for the past two years and has previously worked at Kaizo and AxiCom. ‘It is an interesting time to work for Microsoft. I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into the strategic communications side of the job,' he said. O2 confirmed it would replace StClaire and was currently undertaking a first round of interviews.
Microsoft's recruitment drive is ongoing: the company is still on the lookout for a ‘government and elite audience' PR manager and a PRO for its technology PR team.
The appointments come after a succession of internal moves and the loss of three key staff members in the summer. Demelza Fryer-Saxby left to join Yell.com (PRWeek, 2 June), Mia Luc joined business intelligence software firm SAS UK, and Mumtaz Beck left to go travelling (PRWeek, 14 July).
Sinclair and Rawlings will report to UK head of PR Ali Campbell, and work closely with Microsoft's retained media relations adviser Inferno PR.
