Midlands-based Willougby PR has restructured its management team, with managing director Julia Willoughby stepping back from the day-to-day running of the business.

Taking over from Willoughby is Jane Ainsworth (managing director) and Jo McCarthy (deputy managing director). Both have been with the business for over a decade and been directors for nearly three years.

Willoughby will now become the agency’s chief executive, taking on a strategic role and mentoring the senior managers as the company gears up for its twentieth anniversary.
The announcement follows a record year for Birmingham-based Willoughby PR (WPR) in which turnover increased by 18 percent after a string of high profile account wins  - including Tesco, Toby Carvery, Innkeepers Fayre, Westfield, the East Midlands Development Agency and Laing O’Rourke.

“The time is right for me to hand over the reins to the next generation,” Willoughby said.