PayPal hired a new PR executive to help manage the company’s brand, according to PR Week. Ben Edwards will work to help consumers understand how PayPal can offer safer, simpler, and more affordable ways to manage and move money.

He will also work to let merchants know that PayPal is their “true payments partner,” PayPal spokesperson Martha Cass told the publication.

That echoes the mission laid out by PayPal CEO Dan Schulman who said last month after the company split from its parent, eBay, “As an independent company, we see a tremendous opportunity for PayPal to expand our role as a champion for consumers and partner to merchants, and to help shape the industry as money becomes digital at an increasingly rapid pace.”

Edwards will have his work cut out for him – PayPal is facing more serious rivals in recent years thanks in part to the rise of mobile commerce, from feisty startups to large financial institutions.

He is an Oxford-educated former journalist who comes to PayPal from IBM, which he joined in 2010, where he was responsible for designing and deploying IBM’s digital platform to the marketing organization, spanning marketing automation, analytics, content management, CRM and client experience.

Edwards will report to Christina Smedley, PayPal’s global brand and communications officer.