APCO Worldwide Strengthens Regional Services and Practice With new Leadership Roles in Europe

Rome – 5 September 2023: APCO Worldwide has unveiled new leadership positions in Europe powered by a team of seasoned experts specialising in corporate reputation, public affairs, crisis, geo-commerce and health.

“As APCO continues to grow and evolve, we are committed to ensuring that our leadership team keeps the pace of our expanded offer, while remaining true to the culture that has been guiding our firm for almost 40 years,” Paolo Compostella, president of APCO’s Europe region, said.

Arnaud Pochebonne, managing director of APCO in France, will serve as the regional lead of Corporate Reputation. He will guide teams to create compelling ideas based on sound insights and creative activations—delivering on large-scale corporate reputation and communication accounts for the region by leveraging the best of APCO from Creative to ESG. Pochebonne is an award-winning strategic consultant and communications expert, specialising in strategic and operational consulting, crisis communication, change management and executive positioning.

Theo Moore, managing director of APCO in Brussels, will serve as the regional lead of Public Affairs. He will ensure APCO’s public affairs programmes are fully integrated campaigns that allow clients to show up in the marketplace with a distinguished approach that considers the global, regional and local context, and delivers impact.

Effective 1 September, Daniella Lebor and Tom Short were elevated to co-managing directors of APCO’s London office, having jointly served as deputy managing directors since January 2022. With current Managing Director Roi Feder moving into an international role focusing on APCO’s geopolitical advisory services, Lebor and Short’s elevation will enable the London office to continue its strong trajectory at a time of significant growth and opportunity in this key European market.

Also effective 1 September, Geoffrey Pelham-Lane assumed his role as the chairman of APCO in the UK. Pelham-Lane is a co-founder and CEO of Camarco—a London-based financial communications firm acquired by APCO in March. With more than 35 years of experience in financial PR and investor relations, he has advised numerous clients on maximising their valuations and corporate reputations across a wide range of areas, including IPOs and M&A. He also has extensive leadership experience having led FTI Consulting globally, prior to co-founding Camarco.

“We are also solidifying our regional leadership in other key practices—Crisis, Geo-commerce and Health,” Compostella said. “The new leadership team will focus on further growing APCO’s capabilities to better serve our clients and work with global colleagues to identify and harmonise growth synergies.”

Bianca Egli, senior director based in Frankfurt, will serve as the regional lead of the Crisis practice. Egli has over a decade of experience, specialising in issue-driven media and public relations, corporate positioning, reputation management and crisis communications.

Valeria Rubello, director based in Rome, will serve as the regional lead of the Geo-commerce practice. Rubello specialises in reputation management, public affairs, stakeholder engagement and crisis communications.

Alexandre Marie Saint Germain, director based in Paris, will serve as the Health practice lead for Europe and France. Marie Saint Germain supports a variety of innovative health companies on improving their relations with their ecosystem at local and international level while fostering the evolution of health care systems. Marie Saint Germain will also be responsible for steering the firm’s European development strategy and coordinating APCO’s teams in Brussels, the UK, Germany, Italy and Israel.

These leadership appointments will help APCO to continue to provide the highest level of service for clients across Europe and around the world.

For almost 40 years, APCO has been a trusted advisor and partner to private, public and non-profit clients, helping them be catalysts for progress by navigating the challenges of today, acting with agility, anticipating social risk and building organisational reputations, relationships and solutions to succeed. Established by Margery Kraus as a single-person operation in 1984, APCO has grown to a global advisory and advocacy communications consultancy with offices in more than 30 markets and experience working in more than 80 markets globally, providing in-depth advice, perceptive guidance and creative approaches for its clients.