LONDON — Weber Shandwick has created another new leadership role within its corporate, financial and public affairs team, with the addition of former Edelman and Centrica director Sarah Richardson as managing director of its UK corporate practice.

The move comes just one month after the appointment of another former Edelman director, Anthony Marlowe, to the newly-created role of managing director for public affairs.

With a brief to grow a strong and vibrant corporate practice in the UK, Richardson starts work this month alongside Marlowe and Jon McLeod, chairman of corporate, financial and public affairs. She will report into UK and Ireland CEO Rachel Friend.

Richardson joins from Noble Purpose, the agency she founded in 2015, where her focus was on applying creativity to public policy challenges for the energy and educational sectors, as well as global foundations. She was previously director of public affairs at Centrica. While a director at Edelman, she also served a one year secondment as director of external affairs at Starbucks.

She told the Holmes Report: “I wasn’t looking to move but I met Rachel and was hugely impressed by the senior leadership team she’s pulled together. Weber has long married strategic creativity with executional excellence, and has a fantastic corporate pedigree. For me, great work is about three things: does it change the world? Can you do something truly creative? And is there a commercial imperative? My new role covers corporate, reputation and the social impact practice, and bringing the purpose, passion and energy of social impact work into a thriving corporate practice is hugely exciting.”

McLeod said Richardson was “a landmark hire” for Weber Shandwick: “As well as her extensive and impressive consultancy and client track-record, Sarah comes with experience as a journalist, a non-executive director and an elected politician. It is a real coup to have attracted talent of her calibre, with a widely-regarded and well-established reputation.”

Friend added: “Sarah is an impressive individual, whom I am personally delighted to welcome to the team. Her strength in overseeing and motivating teams, as well as in developing strategic visions for both C-Suite clients and internal audiences, makes her the perfect fit for us.”