WASHINGTON, DC—Porter Novelli Public Services has added digital and social strategist Helen Nowicka as executive vice president, digital. She will lead the Washington, DC, digital and social media practice.

Nowicka joins the DC office from Porter Novelli in London, where she led the UK digital team and provided social media strategy across the Europe, Middle East & Africa region. In her new role, she is charged with furthering the firm’s digital strategy and social media thought leadership as well as expanding the firm’s digital client engagements.

Previously, Nowicka was a director at leading UK agency The Red Consultancy, working on clients such as MSN, Expedia and McAfee before founding the agency’s social media practice, Shiny Red, in 2006 and becoming its managing director. She began her career as a reporter and has written for The Guardian, The Independent and The Times in the UK.