International communications and government relations firm Hume Brophy has appointed Alastair Gornall as Non-Executive Chair. Mr Gornall succeeds Michael Brophy who has chaired the business since 2012.
Mr Gornall is a highly experienced Chairman and Non-Executive Director with over 30 years’ experience in the communications and professional services sector. He will take over in May.
Hume Brophy co-founder, John Hume, said:
“We are delighted that Alastair will lead our Board. He knows our industry inside out, and he has enormous experience of helping to grow, evolve and guide agencies like Hume Brophy through different stages of growth. He knows the challenges agencies face, and most importantly, he understands what an agency like ours needs to do to operate at the top of its field.
Alastair will oversee Hume Brophy’s ambition to become one of the world’s leading independent consultancies, working closely with the CEO, Conall McDevitt, to drive growth and innovation across all markets, sectors and specialisms.”
Hume Brophy has a strong track record of delivering communications and government relations services in the financial services, transport, technology, agriculture and food and energy and natural resources sectors. It has a full integrated global offer delivered through teams in London, Brussels, Dublin, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, Frankfurt and Paris.
The company has grown considerably in the recent years and adapted well to the challenges presented by the global pandemic and Brexit.
Alastair Gornall founded and ran two very successful, award-winning PR, Public Affairs and marketing agencies in the UK – Scope Communications Management (now part of Ketchum) and Consolidated Communications Group – the first UK agency to be launched with backing from private equity (3i) and PRWeek’s Agency of the Year 2001.
In recent years, he has Chaired a number of high profile and diversified agencies in our sphere, including Blue Rubicon, Hanover Communications, Longitude Research, Seahorse Environmental, Finn Communications and The Moment, the digital content agency.
Alastair has also Chaired and advised a broader range of media organisations including Gartner Inc, Centaur Media plc, The Byfield Consultancy and Dods Group Plc. He was also previously the CEO of Reed Exhibitions Ltd – then the world’s largest events company with 500+ trade shows in 36 countries and a global turnover of $1.2bn.