Burson-Marsteller

Robyn de Villiers is the founder and Chairman of Arcay Burson-Marsteller and has more than 20 years of experience in communications strategy development, issues and reputation management, crisis communications, media relations, employee communications, public affairs and investor relations.

Robyn launched Arcay Communications in South Africa in 1989. In the 1990s, she saw that Africa represented a vast, largely untapped market, so she started to develop a network of communications affiliates that could serve client needs right across the continent. Today, her original vision has turned Arcay Communications Africa into a unique network of indigenous, in-country communications consultancies staffed by local people equipped to provide communications services that are market relevant in 50 of the 55 African markets.

Robyn provides strategic counsel and practical implementation advice to major clients. Past and present clients include Murray and Roberts, WesBank, the International Marketing Council of South Africa, Vodacom, Shell, ExxonMobil, BHP Billiton, SABMiller, Danone Southern Africa, Westinghouse, Lilly, HP, Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS), Kenya Airways, Vestas, Alliance One International, the Bond Exchange of South Africa, Medtronic Africa, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Barclays Africa and Middle East, Dell, Vodacom, Discovery and McDonald’s South Africa.

In the late 1990s, Robyn also launched an internship programme to provide practical experience for final year communications students in Africa. Today, the Arcay Communications Training Academy offers its training and skills development to communications professionals and clients across the continent.

Robyn holds a BA (Languages) degree from the University of Port Elizabeth. She is a Chartered Public Relations Practitioner and holds full membership of both PRISA (the Public Relations Institute of South Africa) and IPRA (the International Public Relations Association) and is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). Robyn is a member of the board of the National Business Initiative (NBI), a voluntary group of leading national and multi-national companies, working together towards sustainable growth and development in South Africa through public private partnerships, practical programmes and policy engagement with government. She is also a member of the National Business Initiative’s three-man audit committee.