Richard Farnsworth, former director of external communications at the BT Group, has joined Reckitt in the newly created role of vice president, corporate communications.
He starts his new role today and is based at the firm’s headquarters in Slough, UK. He report to Sheila Redzepi, chief communications and corporate affairs officer.
Farnsworth will lead what he describes as a “relatively small but mighty team” that covers corporate media relations, social impact and partnerships, digital and social channels and stakeholder policy and engagement.
Commenting on his reason for changing jobs, he told In.Comms: “The opportunity to join Reckitt’s corporate affairs team at this moment in the company’s evolution was too exciting to ignore and I’m feeling really energised by the prospect of a new challenge.”
Farnsworth added: “The main priority will be to drive Reckitt’s reputation among global media and corporate stakeholders by growing recognition for its growth strategy, executive communications, and showcasing the quality of Reckitt’s product portfolio, global footprint and social impact initiatives.”
He has worked in comms for 20 years and started out at financial and corporate communications agency the Maitland Consultancy – joining as a graduate trainee and ending up as associate partner in the space of six years. Farnsworth left to become business media relations manager at SABMiller in 2012. Four years later he was promoted to head of global media relations. In 2017 he spent several months as global director of communications and media relations at Anheuser-Busch InBev – after it had acquired SABMiller. He went on to become interim head of communications at ArcelorMittal before joining the BT Group in 2021 as corporate external communications director.
Farnsworth is the latest in a series of senior hires made by Reckitt in recent months. Kasia Kehoe, ex-global communications director, content and owned corporate channels at Unilever, joined Reckitt as head of digital channels in September. And Claire Thwaites, former senior director, government and public affairs, EMEA, at the LEGO Group, joined Reckitt as vice-president of global government affairs in October.