Berkeley PR has hired former Whiteoaks board director Louise Burke for a new account director role as it continues to expand its senior team.

Burke brings more than two decades of agency, in-house and freelance PR experience to the Theale-based consultancy and will play a central role in international campaign coordination, reporting to director Paul Stallard.

She is a technology PR specialist with key client experience including account directorship of Autodesk, Xerox, Tektronix and Intersystems. She left Whiteoaks in 2006 to establish Zapp Communications, which provided freelance PR and marketing services to technology, healthcare and construction companies and PR agencies.

She most recently completed a year's tenure as marketing and communications manager at data storage preservation specialist Arkivum, where she ran lead generation campaigns encompassing media and analyst relations, social media, events, partner marketing, and website management. She has also worked in-house at Fontware and at agencies 3G Communications and Keene Communications.

"Louise joins Berkeley PR with an enviable international contact network and a formidable level of senior PR experience," said Stallard. "She is the kind of PR professional you don't want working for anyone but your company. She embodies everything I could want in an account director, which is why we created the new role for her."

"In all my roles, the key element of a successful campaign has been the ability to tell a compelling story," said Burke. "Berkeley PR's primary focus on storytelling matches perfectly my approach to executing excellent PR campaigns."