OSLO — Rapidly-growing business strategy and communications consultancy BoldT has brought another former Burson-Marsteller country lead onboard to open its fourth European office.

Matthias Graf will join the consultancy in August as a founding partner, to lead BoldT’s DACH region, as well as its culture and transformation consulting business.

Graf has been the CEO of Burson-Marsteller Switzerland for the past five years. A former journalist, he was previously global head of communications for Swiss publishing house Ringier. Graf has also held European comms roles for Google, Dow Chemicals, Sony and Deutsche Telekom.

BoldT was launched in Cologne and Brussels in October last year by former Burson-Marsteller EMEA CEO Jeremy Galbraith, and chairman Herbert Heitmann, who previously led global communications for Bayer, Shell and SAP.

They were joined by ex-MEP Michiel van Hulten as a founding partner for the launch, followed by former Burson-Marsteller Norway CEO Morten Pettersen, who is leading the agency’s new Nordic business and its crisis communications work from this month.

Galbraith said Switzerland was an important market for the new consultancy, as it is home to some of the world’s largest companies: “Employee engagement and nurturing a strong culture are at the core of all organisations’ transformation. Matthias has successfully led culture change programmes and employer branding in major organisations and as a consultant. We can’t wait for him to get started and to start hiring in August.”