BRUSSELS — Nicholas Lunt has joined Burson Cohn & Wolfe Brussels as managing director for communications. He joins from Instinctif Partners, where he was a managing partner in Dubai.

This marks a return to familiar territory for Lunt, who spent 10 years in Brussels with Ogilvy before leaving in 2003 to become PR and communications adviser to the first elected prime ministers in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, followed by a year in Kabul where he was NATO’s civilian spokesman. From 2009 he led Middle East PR operations for M:Communications before joining Instinctif in 2014.

Dennis Abbott, current head of the Brussels communications team, becomes MD for communications and media relations. A former national newspaper journalist, editor and European Commission spokesperson, Dennis has been a mainstay on the Brussels media scene for more than 18 years.

BCW Brussels CEO Karen Massin, who was confirmed as Belgium market leader in July, said: “Nick’s arrival is a coup for our Brussels team. His extensive experience in foreign affairs, defence and international corporate communications will be a huge asset for our private and public sector clients.”

Lunt said: “I am delighted to be joining Karen’s team at an exciting time for our business and to be working closely with Dennis Abbott who built and led the communications team so successfully over the past four years. The Brussels team already has a strong local reputation for deep EU institutional knowledge, industry expertise, excellent digital capabilities and for acting as a hub for pan-European projects. My priority is to build on these solid foundations and to significantly expand our reach. It is very good to be back in HQ Europe.”