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Greenway to succeed Craig as MAG comms chief

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John Greenway is to succeed Russell Craig as head of communications at MAG, Manchester Airports group.

Last Friday MAG announced it had won the three-way race to buy Stansted airport, paying circa £1bn for the Essex airport as part of a transaction which sees the Australian infrastructure investment company Industry Funds Management take a stake of 35% in MAG.

Manchester and Stansted are respectively the UK’s third and fourth largest airports. MAG also owns Bournemouth and east Midlands airports.

Russell Craig Russell Craig

Craig is joining Asda in Leeds as its head of communications.

He starts his new role on 18 February.

He leaves his role with MAG on 6 February when Greenway will take over from him.

At Asda, Craig will be reporting to the chief marketing officer Steve Smith. The position is based at Asda’s HQ in Leeds which could mean some regular long commuting days and week nights in Leeds for Craig who lives in Glossop.

Thirty six year old Craig joined  Manchester airport in 2003 as head of communications and in 2006 was added the broader responsibility of head of comms across the group which then included Humberside as well as Bournemouth and East Midlands.

Following graduation, Craig began his career as a press officer at Tesco in 1998 and two years later was promoted to corporate affairs manager at Tesco.com before joining Centrica as a media relations manager.

JG John Greenway

When quizzed as to why he was moving when arguably MAG was entering the most exciting period of its (corporate) life, Craig responded: “I’ve been doing this job for nearly a decade now and it’s natural to occasionally reflect.

“Asda is a household name in the UK and Walmart (Asda’s US parent) is a global brand.

“Major comms jobs in the North are few and far between and this was simply too good an opportunity to turn down.”

Craig was approached for the role by the London headhunter Taylor Bennett.

John Greenway, his successor, joined MAG in 2008 as environmental communications manager. He was previously with  the NWDA and prior to the regional development agency,  he helped manage comms for Keep Britain Tidy.

 

 

 

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