Testing co. Exova hires corporate affairs lead

Exova, which tests safety, quality and performance of products across sectors including aerospace, food and pharma, has appointed Compass Group’s Andrew Pickup to the newly-created corporate affairs director role.

Reporting to Ian El-Mokadem, CEO, Pickup takes on responsibility for strategy development, all internal and external comms activities and stakeholder engagement for the group.

He joins from support services company Compass Group where, as corporate affairs director, he led on all communications as well as corporate responsibility and public affairs. He was previously head of strategy for Onetel, Centrica’s telecoms business.

El-Mokadem said: “Andrew has excellent strategy development experience which will help to shape the future direction of the business as we continue our growth journey. Combined with the renewed focus he is already bringing to our group communications, we welcome the addition of someone of Andrew’s calibre to our senior team.”