British Telecom’s deputy director of corporate relations is to leave the
company’s 200-strong corporate relations department this week.
Bob Raggett, who reports to BT’s most senior communications executive,
director of corporate relations Ian Ash, is retiring after a decade at
the telecoms giant.
He will continue to advise BT on its international corporate relations
and marketing communications activities on a consultancy basis for an
initial one-year contract.
Once responsible for all external communications, Raggett has been
winding down his responsibilities over the past two years with a view to
leaving the company.
He handed the running of BT’s eight-strong press office to chief of
press and broadcasting Ted Graham two years ago.
Raggett also passed responsibility for BT’s community liaison division
Field Communications to divisional head Bertie Campbell four months ago
along with the marketing communications division.
Raggett will not be replaced although his responsibilities as head of
BT’s international PR will be taken over by the company’s president for
North America, Jim Graf, whose remit also includes Asia Pacific and
Europe.
BT has two international PR staff in Singapore, two in North America and
three in UK, headed by Linda Porter.
Commenting on the changes in BT’s PR in the last ten years, Raggett
said: ‘When I joined BT it was a state-owned monopoly. Each marketing
director who joined hired a PR agency and we ended up with sixty-eight
at one point.’
‘The press office was also very bureaucratic. It could take up to four
days to answer a journalists enquiry,’ he said.
