JAKARTA—ICON Indonesia has appointed Chris Barnes as managing director and equity partner in its Jakarta office. Barnes previously held senior roles with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, including general manager, business development, international financial services, where he developed offshore growth opportunities in the Asia Pacific Region, and general manager, government and industry affairs. He was also senior adviser (political and media) to the Australian Finance Minister.

SYDNEY—Weber Shandwick has appointed Peter Roberts as head of the firm’s corporate practice in Australia, as current head Lisa Popplewell assumes a new role as general manager of the Australian office operations. Roberts comes to Weber Shandwick from Bell Pottinger in London, where he managed the agency’s crisis management practice. He previously served as head of communications for BBC News. In addition, senior account directors Belinda Thomson and Lukas Picton are joining the corporate practice from Buchan Consulting and RSPCA NSW respectively.

HONG KONG—GCL Group, a leader in the global energy industry, has appointed Strategic Public Relations Group as the public relations consultant for its acquisition of a Hong Kong-listed company that has been renamed as GCL New Energy. SPRG has helped GCL New Energy to shape its positioning and mission, provided media relations training to the management and bolstered public awareness about this new company.