FRAMINGHAM, MA—Office products retailer Staples has appointed Kirk Saville as vice president of global communications, reporting to Steve Fund, Staples senior vice president of global marketing.

In his new role, Saville will lead integrated communications at Staples that engage customers, associates and other stakeholders. He will oversee Staples' internal and corporate communications, marketing public relations, community relations and corporate events.

Saville joins Staples from The Hershey Company, where he served as vice president of corporate communications. Prior to Hershey, he served in communications and public relations management roles at Aspect Communications, a telecommunications software company, and Bell Labs, the research and development arm of Lucent Technologies. Previously, Saville was a journalist, working at major newspapers.

Saville replaces Paul Capelli, who left the company at the end of 2011 to take the senior public relations role at QVC.