Portland has made additional senior appointments to its European operations, including a new lead for its EU public affairs and relations practice.
Carmen Bell returns to Portland as Senior Partner and Head of Office for Brussels. Bell has a proven track record of designing and conducting European policy and communications campaigns for over 13 years in the financial services, digital and sustainability sectors, and holds extensive experience advising businesses on the EU geopolitical agenda, including economic and trade relations with the UK, US and India.
Bell comes from Hill+Knowlton Strategies, where she was a member of the leadership team responsible for strategic direction and growth of the Brussels office. Prior, Bell steered the Brussels expansion of advisory firm Global Counsel as its EU Policy Practice Lead and was a Senior Policy Advisor at Insurance Europe, where she managed its campaign for the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Before arriving in Brussels, Bell worked as an attorney in the United States with international law firm Reed Smith.
Brussels leadership is also underpinned by the promotion of Paula Iwaniuk to Partner. With a decades long experience in EU public affairs, Iwaniuk specialises in political and regulatory risk, as well as strategic communications for clients. She has advised and designed advocacy campaigns for multinational companies on issues ranging from platform regulation to energy and circular economy to internal market issues. Iwaniuk also focuses on coalition management in particular having acted as the representative for the Drone Manufacturers Alliance Europe (DMAE), building specific expertise in EU aviation and drone policy.
The appointments add to last week’s announcement of Stéphane Harrouch joining as Portland’s new Head of Office in Paris, reinforcing the firm’s presence across Europe as it continues to grow and support clients in their public affairs, strategic communications and reputation management challenges.
“We are entering an exciting period with Carmen’s return and Stéphane joining us in Paris, which make great additions to our team globally as well as locally”, said Portland CEO Victoria Dean. “They will set the direction of travel for our Europe offer with the support of an already strong leadership team across our Brussels, Berlin and Paris offices. Portland’s investment in this talent represents our commitment to helping businesses tackle today’s rapidly changing environments and navigating the complex political and regulatory issues surrounding Europe’s digital and green transition”.
To find out more about the work we do in Europe, get in touch with a member of our leadership team.