Ruder Finn appoints Gemma Hart as head of internal comms

Gemma Hart, a former Sanofi and SAB Miller comms leader, has joined Ruder Finn UK as its head of internal communications.

She will lead Rudder Finn’s internal comms team and deliver a unified global proposition around the agency’s proprietary internal customer experience (ICX) methodology.

Hart was previously Sanofi’s head of internal communications for UK and Ireland. She was responsible for re-establishing the pharmaceutical giant’s internal comms and corporate social responsibilities strategies and engaging 1,700 colleagues across seven sites.

Before that, she was SABMiller’s interim group leadership communications and engagement manager and led the activation of its first global employee engagement programme.

She has also held senior communications roles for GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and London Ambulance Service.

“Internal communications is a vital and growing part of our business,” said Nick Leonard, Ruder Finn’s UK managing director. “With Gemma’s experience and drive, I know we can accelerate our progress and take our global proposition to the next level.”

Hart added: “I’m passionate about helping leaders engage their people to drive behaviour change, and with ICX we have a really neat way of standing in both employees’ and business leaders’ shoes to create experiences that will drive business performance.”