Brunswick expands its team of senior advisors in Asia.
Brunswick Group, a leading corporate communications partnership, announced today that Dr. Jianzhong Lu has joined as a Partner in its Shanghai office. Dr. Lu will add to the firm’s corporate reputation, crisis and public affairs expertise in China. He will also provide counsel on key issues such as supply chain and sustainable business practices.
Dr. Lu joins Brunswick from RGE, an international resource development company, where he was Group Executive Vice President (China) as well as Chairman of its downstream subsidiary, Asia Symbol (Shandong). Prior to RGE, he was Acting President of BHP Billiton (China) and before that BHP Vice President of Corporate Affairs in charge of corporate affairs strategy and sustainable business leadership in China.
Tim Payne, Senior Partner and Head of Asia, said of Lu’s appointment: “We are extremely excited to have someone of Lu’s calibre joining our advisory team in China. He is a leader in communications and sustainable business strategy in the region with many years of hands-on experience. Lu will be an asset to our clients that are managing critical business issues in China and across the region.”
Susan Gilchrist, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are pleased to be building on the strong foundation built over the last ten years in Asia with the addition of Lu. His extensive operating and leadership experience brings another level of expertise to our deep bench in the region. He will provide our clients with a unique perspective on the communications opportunities and challenges facing companies in China’s evolving economic and regulatory landscape.”
Dr. Lu said: “It is a great pleasure to join the team of talented advisors at Brunswick. Effectively managing stakeholder communications and creating long term value through a sound, sustainable business strategy is absolutely vital to succeeding in China today. I am looking forward to bringing my experience in this area to Brunswick and helping companies achieve their business goals.”
The firm also recently announced four new partners in Asia that will significantly strengthen its advisory capabilities in the region. Three partners were newly promoted within the region – Ginny Wilmerding (Hong Kong), Will Carnwath (Singapore) and Patrick Eastwood (Hong Kong) – and Tim Danaher (Beijing) relocated from the London office.
Brunswick established its presence in Asia with the opening of its Hong Kong office in 2004. In the decade since then it has organically expanded with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Mumbai. The firm works seamlessly between its global offices to support clients involved in M&A, crisis, stakeholder engagement, corporate reputation and other critical issues.
Dr. Jianzhong Lu, Shanghai
Dr. Lu joins Brunswick from RGE, an international resource development company, where he was Group Executive Vice President (China) as well as Chairman of the Board of its downstream pulp and paper subsidiary, Asia Symbol (Shandong) Ltd. Prior to RGE, he was Acting President of BHP Billiton (China) and before that BHP Vice President of Corporate Affairs in charge of corporate affairs strategy and sustainable business leadership in China. He was also responsible for BHP’s Mainland China uranium business.
Previously, he served as a project consultant to the United Nations and UNCTAD trade efficiency program. Dr. Lu is founder of the CSR Thought Laboratory in Shanghai, which is a volunteer based collaborative forum for CSR managers of Fortune 500 companies dedicated to leading CSR and Sustainable Business practices. Dr. Lu is also a guest professor at Tianjing Nan Kai University and has served multiple noteworthy institutions in roles focused on sustainable business strategies.
Dr. Lu received a Ph.D. in E-commerce from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. He also holds a master’s of management and technology innovation from ECP, Paris, and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Zhejiang University, China.
Tim Danaher, Beijing
[email protected]
Tim joined Brunswick in the London office in 2011, relocating to Beijing in 2015. Prior to joining Brunswick, Tim was Editor of Retail Week, the leading publication on retailing in the UK, for seven years. He started his career as a journalist on Property Week, where he spent six years in various roles including Assistant Editor and News Editor.
Ginny Wilmerding, Hong Kong
[email protected]
Ginny advises Asian and multinational clients on financial and corporate communications, transactions, crisis, strategic positioning and stakeholder engagement. Her prior experience includes business development roles for Hutchison Whampoa and AT&T in Hong Kong and Shanghai and heading corporate affairs for US private equity-backed Internet services companies.
Will Carnwath, Singapore
Will is a former senior investment banker, with over 10 years in corporate finance at Piper Jaffray and Nomura, where he focused on healthcare and industrials in the investment banking group. He has worked on over 70 transactions including cross-border and international public company M&A, IPOs and secondary fundraisings.
Patrick Eastwood at MerchantCantos, Hong Kong
[email protected]
Patrick is Partner for MerchantCantos in Hong Kong, Brunswick’s creative communications agency. Before joining MerchantCantos, Patrick was a board director of Fishburn (part of AMV BBDO) where he led the branding and design part of the business advising clients including Barclays, Nokia Siemens Networks, Prudential, SABMiller and Standard Chartered Bank. Prior to this he was managing director of one of Europe’s leading design agencies, Omnicom-owned Pauffley.
About Brunswick Group LLP
Brunswick Group LLP is an advisory firm specializing in critical issues and corporate relations. Founded in 1987, Brunswick is an organically grown, private partnership with 23 offices around the world.
Contact:
Lin Zhu
Shanghai
Tel: +86 (21) 6039 6388
[email protected]