Corporate affairs chief to take on Pinnell role at Shell

Shell is poised to bring one of its most senior marketing positions under the remit of corporate affairs chief Roxanne Decyk following the retirement of veteran marketer Raoul Pinnell.

Pinnell, who is chairman of Shell Brands International, is leaving the oil giant at the end of the month after ten years, as exclusively revealed on marketingweek.co.uk. A Shell spokeswoman denies a decision on his replacement has been made, but sources say his responsibilities will be subsumed into corporate affairs director Decyk’s role.

The news comes just six weeks after a similar decision by rival BP to axe its top global brand marketing role and hand responsibility for the brand to its communications chief (MW February 1).

Shell moved Pinnell, who was previously vice-president of global marketing and communications, to his current role three years ago, when it set up Shell Brands International to oversee its global brands and trademarks (MW May 6, 2004).

Pinnell, a former marketer at Heinz, NestlÈ and Prudential, joined Shell from NatWest in 1997. He introduced a “customer data driven” approach to marketing and consolidated Shell’s global advertising account from 35 agencies into JWT in his time at the company. He will return to the UK from Switzerland at the end of March and concentrate on a number of non-executive roles.

Decyk was made corporate affairs director of Shell International in July 2005, following a brief spell as director of international.

She also spent three years as vice-president of corporate strategy, based in London.

Last month, BP decided not to replace Tom Vaughan as general manager of brand and marketing communications after he left to join law firm Burges Salmon as marketing director. The brand team now reports to BP group vice-president of communications and external affairs Mark Ware.?