Heather Blundell Named CEO of Grayling UK

Grayling has appointed former Ketchum deputy UK CEO Heather Blundell as chief executive of its UK business.

Blundell joined Ketchum as chief growth officer for Europe in March 2022, after serving as managing director for UK client counsel and leading the Manchester office at Weber Shandwick. She worked with Edelman for seven years before joining Weber Shandwick in 2016. In January of this year, she was promoted to deputy CEO of Ketchum.

Simultaneously, Jonny Curtis, who formerly oversaw the UK business, has been promoted to the newly established position of Grayling Global's chief commercial officer.

The two appointments are the latest in a series of leadership moves at Grayling, which recently promoted Grayling global CEO Sarah Scholefield to CEO of parent group Accordience, whose agencies also include Red Consultancy, Citigate Dewe Rogerson and Cirkle.

As well as Curtis’ new role, Dickie Jukes – who has moved from global chair of Grayling to global CEO – has been building his global team, including Nathan Kemp as chief innovation officer, Fiona Koh as chief of staff, Laura Cowley as head of people and Steve Whiting as finance director.

Blundell said she “shared the same values” as the Grayling leadership: “I’ve watched and admired Grayling over the last few years. My focus will be on ensuring we use our scale and breadth to execute flawlessly for our clients and our people. In partnership with the UK leadership team, I have ambitious plans to take this already incredibly high-performing agency to new heights.”

Jukes added: ‘We are delighted to welcome Heather to Grayling UK; she brings enormous industry experience and expertise and a fresh perspective to our business that I am sure will prove hugely successful. Our UK network has flourished over recent years, and we are excited about this next phase of growth and innovation.

“I particularly want to thank Jonny Curtis for his expert leadership of Grayling UK, and I am delighted that he now is able to deploy his expertise as part of the global executive team.”