ROCKLEIGH, N.J. - Roger Ormisher was appointed Director of Public Relations for Volvo Cars of North America effective from the beginning of July. 

In this newly created position, Mr. Ormisher is responsible for establishing a new communications base for Volvo on the West Coast prior to Volvo's headquarters move to Irvine, CA in September 2001. 

Mr. Ormisher comes to the position after spending nearly eight years at Volvo Cars UK where he helped re-establish the public relations department, taking Volvo from 27th place to number 1 in 1998's UK Motoring Journalist's survey. 

Originally trained at the London College of Printing in periodical journalism, Mr. Ormisher entered the automotive industry in 1986 as Press Officer for the Automobile Association, the United Kingdom's cousin to AAA, with special responsibility for technical matters. From 1988, he was the Press Officer at Renault UK until joining Volvo in September 1992 as Media Relations Manager. 

He held a number of increasingly more responsible positions in the department, acting as launch editor of the award-winning Volvo Magazine, planning and implementing PR strategy for Volvo's return to BTCC racing, and managing Volvo UK's events and sports marketing functions. Mr. Ormisher also served as Deputy Chairman of the UK's Motor Industry Public Affairs Association, which has a membership of more than 400 communications specialists. 

"I'm looking forward to the challenge presented by my move to the US, and helping to build on Volvo's excellent reputation with the media, while at the same time communicating the company's exciting new product range," comments Roger Ormisher.

(July 13, 2000)