d'pr strengthens public relations division

The recruitment drive forms part of the agency's ambitious growth strategy following its recent restructure and account wins.

Joining the corporate PR team as Account Director is Louise Mezzina. She brings with her a wealth of business-to-business experience having worked agency side in Australia and the UK.

Louise has a strong background in IT marketing communications and counts Intel, Progress Software, Ricoh and Fujitsu General among her previous clients. Prior to d'pr, Louise worked at Metia, the top UK technology agency as voted by PR Week (2006 and 2007).

d'pr has also appointed two Account Managers. Aya Elamine joins the corporate team to look after Visa International and National Bank of Dubai, among others.

Her previous experience at Golin Harris and Fortune Promoseven (FP7) guarantees excellent local knowledge and a history of banking and property clients adds significant value to d'pr's existing corporate portfolio.

Catherine Tracey joins the consumer team following d'pr's win of Kerzner International as well as some major local organisations.

Tracey also brings with her a mix of international and local experience with a PR career split between Dubai and London.

Before d'pr Tracey worked for Impact Porter Novelli Dubai, Gulf Hill & Knowlton as well as London-based luxury lifestyle agency LUCHFORD APM.

Commenting on the recent appointments, Camilla d'Abo, Managing Director, d'pr said: 'It's an exciting time in the Middle East right now with both local and international businesses working to strengthen their market presence.

d'pr is gearing up to support what is fast becoming a turning point for the local PR industry. Our aim is to build a solid foundation of international and local account handlers equipped to deliver best practice communication strategies.

'Q1 has proved extremely successful for d'pr in terms of client wins. Our business expansion is in line with that growth and also forms part of our broader strategy to improve our client service and remain at the forefront of all new PR developments,' added d'Abo.