Andrew Gowers to head Trafigura corporate comms

Gowers will leave his current role as director of external relations at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe in mid-March to take up the role in April.

Reporting to Trafigura chief financial officer Pierre Lorinet, Gowers will manage reputation, media and government relations, and internal communications for the company. He will also be responsible for handling communications around health and safety and sustainability.

Gowers replaces Mark Eadie, who left the company in November to pursue other opportunities.

Gowers told PRWeek: ‘It’s an exciting opportunity to work for a big and successful company. There’s lots to do.’

The former FT editor was previously comms chief at Lehman Brothers and was head of media at BP during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Bell Pottinger-advised Trafigura hit headlines in the UK in 2009 when it attempted to prevent the reporting of a question raised in Parliament with the help of law firm Carter Ruck.

More recently reports suggest the multinational plans to float subsidiary Puma Energy on the London Stock Exchange. However Trafigura said it has no immediate plans and an IPO could be one of various options at some point in the future.

This article was first published on prweek.com