Red Havas has announced the senior appointment of Matt Thomas as executive director – corporate affairs, expanding its presence in the strategic corporate communications following the launch of a corporate affairs arm.
Thomas, a 20-year industry veteran, will lead the company’s corporate and recently formed public affairs teams to service clients within Red Havas and across the Havas Village.
The newly created role encompasses oversight of crisis and issues management, strategic communications, corporate media relations, internal communications, stakeholder engagement, government, and investor relations, thought leadership, reputation management and media training.
The introduction of the Red Havas corporate affairs offering follows the formation of the public affairs practice headed by experienced public policy and stakeholder engagement campaigner Lawrence Muskitta in December 2021, and the subsequent appointment of exceptional political and strategic communications advisor Jacqui Munro as senior account director.
Thomas brings two decades of experience as a results-oriented, strategy driven communications professional across agency, consultancy, government, education, and the arts to the role.
His agency background includes three years at Icon Agency, most recently as director of public relations and content, where he grew a small team to win multiple agency of the year awards across Asia Pacific.
His work for government includes senior communications and advisory roles with Bayside City Council and Victoria’s Department of Health, Department of Education and Training, Department of Sustainability and Environment, and Department of Industry, Innovation and Regional Development.
Simone Gupta, CEO Havas PR Australia (responsible for One Green Bean, Red Havas and Organic Pacific), said: “Matt brings a clear strategic vision for how government and corporations approach corporate narrative, build and protect reputation.
“Red Havas has trusted long term relationships with clients across sectors that often look to us for this kind of counsel and strategic planning, led by Matt this is an exciting growth area for the agency,” she added.
Thomas welcomed the opportunity to help organisations navigate a rapidly changing landscape driven by digitisation, grassroots social movements, employee and investor activism and the impacts of climate change.
He said: “Red Havas is a great Australian success story. From a small office in Melbourne, the brand has become a major powerhouse in the global public relations sector.
“I’m delighted to be joining the agency at this exciting time to build on its existing strengths in corporate and public affairs and expand this offering to meet the evolving needs of clients across business, government and the not-for-profit sectors,” Thomas added.