Alex Bell has left the Manchester Evening News to take up a PR role with Roland Dransfield.
Bell had spent almost eight years at the Trinity Mirror title, the latter three as a business journalist having spent the first five as a crime reporter.
He has been appointed head of media at the Manchester-based agency and will oversee all current accounts as well as looking to bring in some of his own.
He’ll be managing a team of around six and will report to associate director Caroline Aspinall, who he worked alongside earlier in his career at the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo.
Bell told us that while he would always consider himself to be a journalist and would “miss a lot of people” at the MEN, his new workplace offered him the opportunity for the management role he had been looking for.
“It’s really exciting and so far it feels quite natural,” he said. “I’m still working in the business community and have a lot of relationships and good contacts within the region who I will hopefully continue to work with, just in a slightly different way.
“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Lisa (Morton, managing director) and how her team operates, and we’re at the stage where we now want to take it to the next level.”
Bell can now be contacted on alex.bell@rdpr.co.uk.
The Roland Dransfield team now numbers around 10 and works with clients including luxury home builder PH Homes, fit-out contractors Workspace Design and Vardags family law firm. It has also been appointed by Hermes Real Estate to relaunch the Citygate scheme in Manchester.
