MOSCOW--Grayling has announced the expansion of its senior management team in Moscow.

The new structure follows the move in 2011 of former country manager, Shirley Hanley-Ryder, into a new position as regional director for Turkey, Russia, CIS and SEE.

Deputy general director, Vladimir Melnikov, has been promoted to country manager for Russia and CIS and Pavel Melnikov (no relation), vice president for public affairs and regulatory affairs. Former consumer and lifestyle head, Inna Semenyuk, becomes chief operating officer while Polina Nepryakhina becomes senior account director in the consumer and lifestyle PR team.

Eugenia Skobeleva returns to Grayling in a new role as senior vice president and head of client services, and Chris Rogers becomes vice president and head of corporate PR, having transferred from Grayling’s UK offices in May 2011.

“I am delighted to announce these promotions and the creation of new senior jobs which reflects the great success of our business over the last 18 months in particular. We are very proud of the blue chip business we have won which reflects our position as one of the leading agencies promoting international brands in Russia,” said Shirley Hanley-Ryder. “We are expecting our growth in Russia to continue in 2012 so we need the highly professional senior management team in place in order to conduct existing projects and win new clients."

“We predict the major growth opportunity in 2012 in Russia will come from digital marketing and communications and expect to double the size of our digital team over the coming months. With existing clients such as Facebook, Skype and eBay we are well placed to capitalise on this opportunity. We are also well prepared for the eventual return to health of the IPO sector with our investor relations capability.”