ERM hires Sophia Sheikh to grow its Middle East communications business.
Sustainability consultancy ERM has hired Sophia Sheikh as director of strategic communications, PRovoke Media reported on 19 October. She will lead the development and growth of ERM's communications agency across the Middle East.
Sheikh has more than 20 years' experience in marketing, communications and content, 17 of them in the region, across sustainability, financial services and media. She joins from the Masdar-hosted World Future Energy Summit, where she led marketing and content, and earlier worked at Dubai World Trade Centre, helping to position Dubai as a destination for international business.
ERM says its Middle East communications business has already won mandates from government organisations, listed companies and private businesses in real estate, energy, manufacturing and financial services, including sustainability reporting and communications work. The offer covers integrated communications, brand building, reputation management and advocacy, drawing on ERM's sustainability reporting and stakeholder engagement capabilities. ERM, which has more than 8,000 specialists in 40 countries and territories, moved into communications with its 2022 acquisition of Shelton Group, a North American sustainability marketing specialist, and Emily Luscombe, formerly chief client officer at Instinctif Partners, joined in January 2025 to build the business in EMEA.
Sheikh called the Middle East 'an especially interesting market', pointing to the scale of ambition and investment across energy, infrastructure and economic transformation, and stressed the need to promote, and also defend, sustainability strategies and investments. The report does not say where in the region she will be based.
For Gulf brands with large energy and infrastructure stories, ERM's move adds another specialist option for explaining sustainability work to stakeholders and standing behind the claims made about it.
Why it matters
ERM is building a sustainability-led communications business in the region. Brands with big energy and infrastructure stories gain another specialist to help explain, and defend, their sustainability claims.
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