Shell picks brands chief to succeed Raoul Pinnell

Shell has promoted Brazilian marketer Bruno Motta to one of its most senior marketing positions following the retirement of Raoul Pinnell. Motta starts as chairman of Shell Brands International on May 1.

Pinnell is leaving Shell this week after ten years, as exclusively revealed on marketingweek.co.uk. It emerged earlier this month that the oil giant was planning to bring some of his responsibilities under the remit of corporate affairs director Roxanne Decyk (MW March 15) and it is thought that Motta will work closely with Decyk.

Motta is currently general manager for commercial fuels for Latin America. In that role, he is responsible for the sales and marketing of fuels to business customers across Latin America. He will relocate from Rio de Janeiro to Switzerland for his new role.

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, Nestlé 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 during his time at the company. He is returning to the UK from Switzerland to 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.