Financial and investor relations consultancy Grandfield has hired
Jan Dawson, a founder of specialist IT consultancy Systems Publicity, to
head a division specialising in corporate and technology PR.
Out of town shopping centre company Freeport Leisure and outdoor poster
company JC Decaux are the first Grandfield clients to sign up on the
corporate side, while medical production company EuroSurg is a new
recruit.
The technology side has already won new business from international
search and selection agency Egon Zehnder and IT recruitment consultancy
Morgan Howard.
Dawson was called in by Grandfield founder Charles Cook to bring in new
business and tap into the fast growing technology PR sector.
Dawson, a former East Anglian businesswoman of the year in 1995, founded
Systems Publicity 13 years ago. At its height the agency was number 33
in PR Week’s top 50 hi-tech PR agencies with fee income of just over
pounds 1 million, but the business went bust last July.
Grandfield managing director Nick Boakes said: ’There’s huge growth in
the technology PR sector. Just look at the likes of Text 100. Combine
that with corporate PR and I would expect to see steady growth for us.’
