GolinHarris Jeddah appoints new MD

He is no stranger to the Kingdom, having been based in Saudi Arabia for three years and formerly serving as PR Director for Weber Shandwick and Memac Ogilvy, in Riyadh.

John worked in South Africa from 1986-1996 as Group PR Manager for M-NET Television, still the most successful pay TV operation, with the fastest break-even point, in the history of the industry. During this period his territory was the whole of Africa, and in Egypt he first practised PR in the Arab World.

After four years of successfully running his own PR company, Three Worlds Agency, in Cape Town, John moved with his family to London in 2000. Over the next five years he completed several assignments in the Gulf and in 2005 he accepted a position as director of Jeddah-based Landmark PR's Dubai office.

In 2006 was invited to open the first Weber Shandwick office in Riyadh, for Fortune Promoseven. A year with Memac Ogilvy led to his being appointed at GolinHarris.

In KSA, John's major clients have included the Olayan Financing Company, Samba Bank, The Land, the Arab Open University and American Express. One of his last projects in Riyadh was to conceptualise and execute for The Centennial Fund the participation of the National Entrepreneurship Center in Global Entrepreneurship Week; an assignment which was put in place on a two-week turnaround.