LONDON, 12 January 2012 – Weber Shandwick, one of the world’s leading global public relations firms, today announced the appointment of Bill Royce as senior vice president, Cleantech, Energy & Sustainability EMEA.  Royce’s appointment is effective immediately. He will report to Colin Byrne, CEO EMEA.

Royce will be responsible for building an integrated Cleantech practice in the EMEA region, generating new business, and providing clients with high-level advice on energy and sustainability issues. He will be a member of Weber Shandwick’s EMEA leadership team.
Royce joins Weber Shandwick from Burson-Marsteller where he was EMEA practice chair, Energy Environment & Climate Change and a steering committee member of the Global Energy Practice.
During more than seven years with Burson-Marsteller, he led the global account relationships with Shell and De Beers, and led regional account work with Vestas, Nike, Neste Oil, Novozymes, the Moroccan Investment Development Agency and Metso Corporation. He was previously senior counsel with Hill & Knowlton Australia, after 15 years in politics and public administration.
Commenting on the appointment Byrne said, “I’m delighted Bill is joining us. His tremendous experience and knowledge of clean technology, energy and sustainability is perfect to build on the many client engagements we already have across EMEA and globally in this space.”

Royce commented: “The next decade will see a major transformation of our energy systems and business practices as companies adapt to resource constraints and the impacts of global warming. This is a great time to join Weber Shandwick and help navigate clients through difficult and challenging stakeholder landscapes.”
The Weber Shandwick Cleantech and Renewable Energy practice, founded in 2005, includes communications veterans, former entrepreneurs, policy experts, ex-journalists and social media strategists with experience in a variety of sectors, including renewable energy generation, power storage, energy efficiency, utilities and smart grid, materials, advanced transportation, biofuels, green IT and more.