Chime appoints a new Chief Executive of the Bell Pottinger Group.

Paul Bell, Chief Executive of Bell Pottinger Sans Frontières, has been appointed Chief Executive of the Bell Pottinger Group, Chime’s public relations division, with effect from January 1st 2010.

Announcing the appointment, Lord Bell, Chairman of Chime plc, said: ‘Paul’s promotion is well-earned and I believe will enhance the management of the public relations group and our fire power. Of course Kevin Murray continues to be Chairman of the Bell Pottinger Group, and he and Paul will work together to further grow the public relations division.

“Paul has spent the last year or so further integrating Sans Frontières [Chime’s strategic and geopolitical communications agency] into the public relations group. He has done this extremely successfully, while at the same time managing the Special Projects operation in the UK, USA and overseas, which continues to be one of our biggest income and profit contributors.

“Paul will bring to the Group his own style and leadership qualities together with the great experience he has earned and learned over the last five or six years with us.

“Changes that follow this appointment will unfold over the next few months and Paul will advise you of these as and when they are relevant. I am sure you will join with me in congratulating Paul on his promotion.”

Commenting on his appointment, Paul Bell said: “This is a wonderful company. It offers clients an extraordinary diversity of talent, and multiple points of entry to our services. It provides all the necessary specialist capabilities needed to message effectively in a complex, fragmented media and communications environment as well the ability to aggregate and integrate those capabilities, in order to deliver unified, multi-disciplinary campaigns.

“It is a privilege to lead the Bell Pottinger Group; in doing so I shall be continuing to rely and draw on Kevin’s deep experience and wise counsel; and I look forward to working with Tim, Chris Satterthwaite and the wider BPG executive team in strengthening our position as the UK’s leading public relations group.”

A former journalist, Bell spent his earlier career covering South Africa’s transition from apartheid and held senior posts on several leading publications. In the mid-1990s he served as director of communications for the country’s Electoral Commission, helping deliver its historic first non-racial, democratic general election.

In 2000 he returned to Britain to take up a post as a consultant for Bell Pottinger, and from 2004 led the team which built the company’s specialised practice in the development and deployment of strategic communications product for security-stabilisation and conflict-mitigation. In 2008 he was appointed Chief Executive of Bell Pottinger Sans Frontières.