Brown to chair Cannings Purple

Karen Brown will become chair of Cannings Purple's board, replacing the communication firm’s founder Warrick Hazeldine who is stepping down in February.

Ms Brown joined Cannings Purple in 2014 after working in media and politics.

She previously served as the chief of staff to the leader of the government in the senate and federal minister for tertiary education, skills, science and research.

Ms Brown also worked as a journalist and worked her way up to become editor of The West Australian.

She will retire from her role as Canning Purple’s national director at the end of the year and replace Mr Hazeldine in February 2022.

Mr Hazeldine founded Cannings Purple in 2004 and helped it grow from a two-person operation to a team of 42 staff, making it the largest public relations firms in the state according to Business News’ Data & Insights.

In a statement, Cannings Purple said Mr Hazeldine was stepping away from the role to tend to his portfolio of directorships and his private equity advisory service.

“Now is the right time for me to retire as chair of Cannings Purple,” Mr Hazeldine said.

“It has been an honour to work with such high calibre people and quality clients for nearly two decades.”

He said Ms Brown was a trusted board advisor and her appointment had the unanimous support of the directors.

Cannings Purple managing director Annette Ellis said the team was grateful for Mr Hazeldine’s 17 years of leadership.

Mr Hazeldine will remain on the board as a non-executive director.

The firm also announced several other leadership changes.

Jo Monery has joined the corporate affairs team as a director, after working as the managing director, corporate and technology at Red Consultancy in London.

Anna Gillett will be director of the stakeholder engagement team after recently returning to Perth.

For the past ten years, Ms Gillett worked in Melbourne where she was principal consultant at Bastion Reputation Management and head of corporate communication and head of government and stakeholder engagement for Melbourne and Launceston airports.

Corporate affairs director Fran Lawrence has been promoted to a special counsel role, overseeing the firm’s property sector clients.

Cannings Purple director Carina Tan-Van Baren has been promoted to fill Ms Lawrence’s role.