Mr Brown, director of PR agency Influential former deputy editor of the Liverpool Echo, is to take up a director role at the Mines Advisory Group which operates across the world. Tony McDonough reports

One of Liverpool best-know media professionals, Jon Brown, is to leave his role as a director of PR agency Influential to join the global clear-up of deadly landmines.

Mr Brown, former deputy editor and head of multimedia at the Liverpool Echo, is to take up a director role at the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a global humanitarian and advocacy organisation, before the end of the year.

It finds, removes and destroys landmines, cluster munitions and unexploded bombs in places affected by conflict. He will join an eight-strong Manchester-based leadership team at MAG, which employs almost 5,000 people in 25 countries.

Mr Brown has spent several years as a director of Influential which employs around 30 people in Liverpool and Manchester and he will continue to work on projects for its clients until his departure. He said: “Influential has achieved significant year-on-year growth over the last five years, has a brilliant senior management team in place, great staff and represents some of the UK’s most dynamic businesses.

“The opportunity to join MAG was one I could not turn down. In the last 30 years, the organisation has helped more than 18m people in 68 countries rebuild their lives and livelihoods after war.

“Its staff work in the most difficult and hazardous environments in the world in order to save the lives of others and to help rebuild communities afflicted by conflict. It is a huge privilege to be able to play a small part in that work and in the global push to consign these inhumane and indiscriminate weapons to history.”

Influential managing director, Sara Wilde-McKeown, added: “Jon goes with our very best wishes because we know this move represents the fulfilment of a personal vocation and is an opportunity for him to apply his insight in support of an issue about which he feels passionately.”

MAG was a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for its part in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, of which the late Princess Diana was a famous supporter. Mr Brown will assume overall responsibility for engagement and fundraising.

Jane Cocking, chief executive of MAG, said: “I am delighted to welcome Jon to the leadership team at MAG. His passion for our cause, along with the depth and range of his experience, will be invaluable as we continue to push to save lives and build safer futures.”