Leading global PR agency, LEWIS, has appointed Paul Charles, former PR Professional of The Year, and currently Director of Communications for Virgin Atlantic, in the new role of Chief Operating Officer. Paul takes up his post in January and will report to CEO Chris Lewis.

Paul has advised Virgin Atlantic President Sir Richard Branson since he joined the airline in 2006 and, most recently, spearheaded Virgin Atlantic’s successful 25th birthday campaign.

Paul has been a non-executive Director of LEWIS PR, whose global roster of clients includes Sanyo, Pret A Manger,and Audi, since 2005. Before joining Virgin Atlantic, Paul was Director of Communications at Eurostar and a presenter and reporter for BBC News on programmes including Radio 4’s Today, Radio 4’s MoneyBox, BBC World Business Report, Radio 5 Live’s Financial World Tonight and BBC1’s Breakfast News.

Paul commented: “I’m thrilled to be joining a great team at LEWIS PR in this important new role. It’s a fantastic business which has journalistic values at its core and which continues to go from strength to strength even during the downturn. LEWIS has a very exciting future ahead of it and will play a key role in the consolidation re-shaping the industry. I was honoured and privileged to work at Virgin Atlantic, one of the world’s greatest airlines, and will always remember the exciting times I had there.”

Commenting on his appointment, the founder and CEO of LEWIS PR, Chris Lewis, said: “Paul joins us at a very significant stage for the agency, and he will be instrumental in supporting our next stage of growth. Paul’s depth of corporate communications expertise will prove instrumental in the development of agency strategy, but also provide a great source of knowledge for both clients and staff.”

LEWIS PR employs 250 people at 39 wholly-owned offices across the US, EMEA and Asia Pacific, with regional headquarters in London, San Francisco and Singapore. In 2009, revenues were more than $31million.