Alstom makes brace of hires after GE acquisition

Alstom, the French rail transport multinational, has hired Will Roberts and Alex Burrows as comms director and marketing and strategy director, respectively, to build the company’s  strategy and comms expertise in the UK and Ireland.

In November last year, GE finalised a €9.7bn (£7.36bn) deal with Alstom to acquire its energy units. These hires, the company says, “demonstrates Alstom’s commitment to the UK and Ireland markets.”

Roberts (pictured) spent four years as head of communications, emerging projects at Network Rail, and his clients have included Transport for London, High Speed Rail Industry Leaders, and a variety of other transport organisations.

He said: “There’s never been a more exciting time to join Alstom. With hugely welcome investment going into the railway across the country, and HS2 now firmly on the horizon, Alstom‘s new 100 per cent focus on transport provides a perfect opportunity to make a positive difference. Our job will be to tell Alstom‘s fantastic UK story.”

Burrows joins from engineering firm Atkins, where he was a client director in the transportation business. He was responsible for managing relationships with central Government, including the Departments for Transport and BIS. Previously he was technical director at Atkins, head of innovation challenges at Transport Systems Catapult and head of strategy for Centro, the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority.

He added: “Alstom is a world leader in railway systems and solutions and has an incredible range of products, from high-speed trains to metros and tramways. I am proud to be joining as marketing and strategy director and look forward to using my expertise in Government and transport policy to showcase the incredible work being done in the UK and Ireland.”