RSPCA hires PR expert as chief executive

Governance | Tania Mason | 3 Nov 2011

The RSPCA has lured its former communications chief back to the fold as chief executive.

Gavin Grant was director of communications and campaigns at the animal welfare charity for three years from 1988 to 1991. He will join the RSPCA again in January from global PR agency Burson-Marsteller, the largest PR firm within the WPP empire, where he was chairman.

Before joining Burson-Marsteller (B-M), Grant was director of global public affairs for the Body Shop International, reporting to the company founders, Anita and Gordon Roddick. Prior to that, he was director of public affairs for the Association of Unit Trusts and Investment Funds.

In his work at B-M, Grant has advised successive Liberal Democrat leaders including Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. He also serves on the advisory boards of British American Business Inc., the Princes Youth Business International and the Hansard Society.

During his tenure in the 1980s, the RSPCA lobbied for a ban on conventional cages, a campaign that will finally come to fruition in January when the law is changed. It also wanted compulsory dog registration to promote responsible ownership, and Grant has already intimated that he plans to reinvigorate this campaign. “The moves towards this in Wales are great but the bigger battle is yet to be won,” he said.

According to fundraising website SOFII, he was also reportedly behind the controversial ‘dead dogs’ ad that prompted Crufts to ban the RSPCA from the annual show. The ad was headlined ‘When the Government killed the dog licence they left us to kill the dogs’ alongside a harrowing image of a huge pile of canine carcasses.

Grant will succeed Mark Watts, who took over the CEO role from Jackie Ballard three years and is now ready to retire, though a date has not yet been set.

Directory: Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA)

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