Patrick Tooher, a former business editor of the Mail on Sunday, has joined Citypress to head up its financial services practice.
Tooher also worked for the Independent, Sunday Express, Daily Express and Investors Chronicle during a 16-year journalism career.
Since leaving the Mail in 2005 he’s held senior communications roles at KMPG and the Co-operative Group. Latterly he was corporate PR business lead for the Co-op and was previously head of PR for the Co-op Bank.
In his new role, his first with a PR agency, Tooher will oversee Citypress’ financial services practice, working with the likes of the Post Office, Lloyds Banking Group and the Wesleyan Bank.
He will also join the Manchester-headquartered agency’s seven-strong leadership team and its 10-strong specialist crisis and issues management unit.
Tooher said: “Having spent my career in senior media and in-house roles, I’m excited about the opportunity to bring those skills to bear inside an agency like Citypress, whose focus on senior consultancy, break-through campaigning and quality content is a strong fit with my expertise.”
The agency’s MD, Martin Currie, added: “Patrick is one of the market’s most experienced practitioners, combining board-level communications expertise with senior editorial insight. His appointment adds further bandwidth to our leadership team at a time of growth for the agency, whilst adding significant value to clients across the network.”
Aside from Manchester, Citypress’ 60-strong team operates from London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Bristol.