ALMERE—Frank Peters, most recently managing director of the Dutch operations of Porter Novelli, has founded Virtus Communications, a boutique agency specializing in reputation management and crisis consultancy. The firm will work with brands in the finance, agriculture, food and health industries. Peters worked at Porter Novelli the Netherlands for almost 19 years, initially as managing partner and for the last five years as managing director.

LONDON—Alan Boyd-Hall joins Grayling as director of planning and infrastructure within the public affairs team. Boyd-Hall previously worked at Grayling for five years and returns after 15 months at National Grid where he worked on political and community stakeholder engagement programmes across the company's energy and property portfolios. In addition, Chris Owen joins to lead Grayling's technology practice. He joins from Octopus Communications and also previously worked at Bite and Edelman. In additionally, Louise Bucknall has been appointed to lead the Grayling Midlands office, having previously held roles with Taylor Woodrow and Saatchi & Saatchi.

LONDON—Hanover has launched a specialist sports reputation practice to grow the profile and brand of leading sport bodies and events across Europe. The practice is led by Gavin Megaw, former marketing and communications director at The Football League and regular sports broadcaster, and has been retained by the NFL to increase engagement with key opinion leaders, media and fans on this side of the Atlantic.

KILKENNY, IRELAND—Nutrition and ingredients group Glanbia has appointed Michael Patten as global corporate affairs director accountable for group-wide public affairs, reputation, communications and sustainability. He will report to Siobhan Talbot, group managing director, and will join the group management committee. He joins Glanbia after over 10 years with Diageo, where he is currently global public affairs director. Earlier, he was director of communications for Glanbia from 1997 until 2004.

LONDON—Hotwire has been appointed by Veracode, a provider of cloud-based application security services. Hotwire has been tasked with supporting Veracode’s rapidly expanding European operation and its key message around the dangers of third party application security threats. The account encompasses storytelling development, influencer relations and content creation. 

LONDON—Cubitt Consulting has been appointed as communications adviser by the board of The Global Law Summit for its inaugural international event for legal and business leaders, which will take place in London in February, 2015.

SHEFFIELD—Roaring Mouse has been appointed by San Francisco-based technology company Good.Co to launch its workplace personality profiling application in the UK. Roaring Mouse will implement an integrated PR and social media campaign to drive adoption of Good.Co's iOS and Android applications among students and young professionals, alongside activities schooling employers about the benefits of measuring cultural fit when recruiting.