2021 Speakers

Laura Sutherland, Founder of PRFest & Stakeholder Engagement Specialist

Laura Sutherland is a stakeholder engagement specialist (website here). She is a Chartered practitioner with 20 years’ experience in integrated public relations and communication.

Laura is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and of the PRCA, recently stepped down as Chair of the CIPR Fellows’ Forum and Chair of PRCA Scotland. She is a former CIPR (UK) Board Director and Council member and former PRCA Council members. Laura remains on the Misinformation and Climate Crisis Strategy Group.

Laura was awarded the Sir Stephen Tallents Medal from the President of the CIPR in 2019. She won PRCA Dare Awards Consultant of the Year in Scotland two years in a row, 2018 and 2019. She’s been named in the CIPR’s 70at70 anniversary book, FuturePRoof’s “Once upon a time in PR, 21 public relations pioneers shaping our industry” and was included in the 2017 Vuelio Top Ten PR blogs.

Laura is host of the People Buy People podcast, founder of PRFest and she is also a mentor to PR professionals and to senior business leaders who need to better understand public relations and how to integrate it within the business.

Her work spans consumer, tech, entrepreneurship and corporate.

Tw: @laurafromaura

Insta: @laurafromaura

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauramsutherland/

Laura Sutherland, Founder of PRFest & Stakeholder Engagement Specialist

Laura Sutherland, Founder of PRFest and Stakeholder Engagement Specialist

Adeela Warely OBE, CEO Charity Comms

Adeela has been CEO of CharityComms since 2017. She is passionate about the strategic role of communications in driving social change and helping support a thriving community of communications professionals to share and learn together.

Adeela is currently helping to coordinate the #NeverMoreNeeded campaign to promote the essential role of Charities in crisis and how they shape our society in the long term.

Adeela has over 20 years’ experience in charity communications across multiple skills and functions: strategic planning, market research, media, PR, events, brand, publishing and digital. Before joining CharityComms, she led the development of organisational communications, brand, and audience strategies for Friends of the Earth, putting them at the heart of the charity’s campaigning success and supporter engagement.

Adeela Warley, OBE

Advita Patel

Advita is the Managing Director of CommsRebel, an internal communication and employee experience consultancy based in Manchester, U.K., the co-founder of A Leader Like Me, a global membership programme which helps underrepresented women of colour succeed further in their career and a co-host of an award-winning podcast called CalmEdgedRebels.

Advita helps organisations revolutionise the way they communicate with their workforce so they can create an inclusive culture where all colleagues can belong and understand the value, they bring to the organisation. She is also an experienced coach/mentor and works with teams and individuals to help them achieve their goals with confidence.

Advita has spoken at various events and appeared on several podcasts where she speaks about internal communications, measurement, DEI and imposter syndrome. She is a chartered PR practitioner, a Board Director and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. In 2020 she was named on the Northern Asian Top 100 powerlist and on the top 101 list for Inspiring Workplaces as one of the global influencers for employee experience.

Advita Patel, Co-Founder A Leader Like Me

Alex Malouf, Corporate Communications Director for the Middle East and Africa at Schneider Electric

Alex Malouf is a marketing communications executive who has spent the last 17 years in the Middle East. Alex has lived across the region, in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. He is the Corporate Communications Director for the Middle East and Africa at Schneider Electric.

A journalist by training and with a cultural mix that is both European and Arabic, Alex’s expertise spans communications and media, public relations and marketing for both multinationals in the energy, technology and FMCG space as well as several Gulf-based government institutions.

When he’s not putting pen to paper, Alex can be found advocating for the region’s media and public relations industry.

Alex Malouf, Corporate Communications Director for the Middle East and Africa at Schneider Electric

Jade Beddington, Head of New Business and Strategy, Radioactive PR

Jade Beddington is head of new business and strategy at Radioactive PR. She has more than a decade of experience, mainly spent in agencies in consumer PR. She’s worked across all kinds of industries – from fashion to motoring – everything from big brands to small businesses. Her role now is focused on new business and building communications strategies for clients – she’s a PR person that now looks after new clients.

Radioactive PR combines award-winning PR and social media experience with a passion for creative stunts and campaigns with a big digital PR focus. The agency is focused on delivering links that speak to Google and results that speak to people.

Jade Beddington, Head of New Business and Strategy, Radioactive PR

Katie Buckett, Co-Founder, OneFifty

Katie is the co-founder of digital marketing consultancy OneFifty. With a career spanning in-house and agency, she helps clients use data and behaviours to anticipate what, where, and how organisations should behave, digitally. And then makes that happen.

OneFifty is a leading digital marketing consultancy in the UK having been named PRCA Digital Agency of the Year in 2020 and listed earlier this year as one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe by the Financial Times. Its clients span corporate, B2B and B2B, including FTSE 100s Unilever, SEGRO and Sage and household names such as Airbnb, Mazda and [yellow tail] wines.

Katie Buckett, Co-Founder, OneFifty

Katy Howell, immediate future

Katy pioneered social media marketing, launching her social media agency, immediate future, 17 years ago, just as Facebook made its way onto university campus.

Often called in as the UK expert on social by TV, Radio and the press, she appears regularly on BBC news, Victoria Derbyshire, and Reuters, as well in The Telegraph, FT and Guardian. She’s considered the 4^th most influential social media marketing expert, named one of the 25 women who have made an outstanding contribution to digital by the Drum, is named as this year’s PRovoke Innovator 25 EMEA 2020, and was honoured to be amongst the Top 100 Asian tech entrepreneurs in the UK.

She speaks at conferences, runs masterclasses, and guest lectures at two universities. She’s co-authored 4 books on social and is a regular contributor to the press.

Her expertise lies in helping brands deliver significant impact by breaking the social boring: using social data to springboard creative that delivers growth to business. Her agency works with brands including; lastminute.com, Princess Cruises, Selfridges, Mission Foods, Google, Diageo, JD Williams, Fujitsu, Sony Music, and many more. They win industry awards every year for their smarts and innovation in social media.

Katy Howell, immediate future

Kevin Mtai, climate justice activist and environmental defender

Kevin Mtai is a Kenyan based climate justice activist and environmental defender.

He is the Co-Founder of Kenya Environmental Action Network (KEAN) and currently he serves as Africa Coordinator for Earth Uprising, Organiser with Climate Live. He’s also a member of youth organization, Loss and damaged Coalition, and he was Event Co-ordinator at Mock COP26.

He advocates for climate friendly plant based food at UNFCCC meeting with movement called Food at COP.

Kevin Mtai, climate justice activist and environmental defender

Mary Whenman, Director of Communications, British Business Bank

Mary is Director of Communications at the British Business Bank, the UK’s economic development bank. Her team was awarded In-House Team of the Year at the PRCA City & Financial Awards 2021; and Mary was awarded Outstanding Contribution for leading the Bank’s communications response to support smaller businesses through the Coronavirus pandemic.

Mary has previously held in-house roles at Inmarsat plc and Callcredit (now Transunion). Before her move in-house, Mary had a 25-year global agency career.

She was President of Women in PR for three years until January 2018 and is a member of the Advisory Board of BME PRros. Mary has featured in the PR Week Powerbook annually since 2015, is a Fellow of the CIPR, Member of the PRCA, a former Cannes Lions Glass Lion juror, a winner of the 2014 Power Part-Time awards, and a past-mentor on the PR Week Mentoring and Women in Sales mentoring programmes.

Mary Whenman, Director of Communications, British Business Bank

Matthew Riley, Communications Manager, Tonic Housing

Matthew is Communications Manager at Tonic Housing, the community-led, not-for-profit organisation behind the UK’s first LGBT+ retirement community. He previously worked at diversity and inclusion organisation, INvolve, and in PR and communications for a global fashion company. Matthew is also co-host and producer of Bottoming, the LGBTQ+ mental health podcast, which was created as a way to navigate difficult conversations and topics about their own and others’ experiences. Delivered with a dark and humorous twist, the podcast shows that mental health conversations may not always be pretty, but they can be made accessible and digestible with a few laughs.

Matthew Riley, Communications Manager, Tonic Housing

Naomi MG Smith, Account Executive, Westco Communications

Naomi MG Smith MCIPR is an Account Executive at Westco Communications, specialising in construction communications and community engagement for Westminster City Council’s Church Street regeneration programme.

Naomi is the youngest member of the CIPR Council (2021/22) and is an Accredited PR Practitioner. She was recently listed on PR Week’s 30 under 30, and as one of the most influential PR agency professionals in the world by Propel.

Naomi MG Smith, Account Executive, Westco Communications

Philippe Borremans, PR consultant and President of the International Public Relations Association

Philippe Borremans is an independent Public Relations consultant specialising in Emergency Risk & Crisis Communication and President of the International Public Relations Association (2021). He works on strategic communication projects for epidemic and pandemic preparedness with organisations like the World Health Organization, the European Union, and the West African Union. Before emigrating to Morocco, and later to Portugal, he was Chief Social Media Officer and CSR coordinator at Van Marcke Trading Group. For ten years he held several communications positions at IBM, including Corporate and Online Communications on national and European level. Philippe started his Public Relations career at Porter Novelli International in Brussels. He is a regular guest lecturer at universities and business schools across Europe and North Africa. Philippe is currently the President of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA).

http://www.riskcomms.com

Philippe Borremans, PR consultant and President of the International Public Relations Association

Polly Cziok, Strategic Director for Engagement, Culture and Organisational Development, Hackney Council

Polly Cziok is the Strategic Director for Engagement, Culture, and Organisational Development at Hackney Council. She is one of local government’s leading communications professionals and leads a department that specialises in engagement and insight led communications, inclusive communications, and public sector branding. Polly has played a lead role in Keep London Safe, the capital’s Pan London Covid comms response.

Polly started at Hackney in 2003 as a press officer and worked her way up the organisation to become Director of Communications. She took on her new, broader role last year. Prior to working at Hackney, Polly worked as a political adviser in local government and in the House of Commons.

Polly Cziok, Strategic Director for Engagement, Culture, and Organisational Development, Hackney Council

Grant Thoms, Place Store and Lecturer, University of Stirling

Grant Thoms is a practitioner/researcher/teacher specialising in public relations, public affairs and policy. Grant is partner with the Place Store and Lecturer in public relations and strategic communications at the University of Stirling, where he recently graduated MRes.

He has held a number of roles in third and public sectors, trade associations and professional bodies, contributing to business strategy, good governance, effective engagement and sustainability.

Grant is a Chartered Public Relations Practitioner and a member of CIPR, PRCA and ASPA.

Grant Thoms, Place Store and Lecturer, University of Stirling

Shayoni Lynn, Founder and CEO, Lynn PR

Shayoni Lynn FCIPR FPRCA CMPRCA is CEO and Founder at multi-award-winning strategic communications and behavioural science consultancy, Lynn PR. Shayoni is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) and Chair of PRCA Cymru.

In 2021, she was listed in the PRWeek Power Book – the definitive list of the most influential and respected communications professionals in the UK. In the same year, she was listed in the PROPEL 100 – a list of the most influential PR agency professionals in the world.

She represents Wales at the UK PR Council where she is leading a workstream on ethics and is a founding panel member and Vice-Chair of CIPR’s Behavioural Insights Interest Group, and a committee member for CIPR Education & Skills, and the Government Communication Service (GCS) South West and Wales.

Shayoni is a regular industry awards judge (CIPR, PRCA, CASE, PR Week, SABRE) and speaks on the use of data, behavioural insights, and measurement & evaluation at conferences globally.

Shayoni is an Associate Lecturer on the MA in International PR and Global Communications Management at Cardiff University. In 2019, she was recognised in the WalesOnline 35 under 35 list of top young businesswomen in Wales.

Shayoni Lynn, Founder and CEO, Lynn PR

Stephen Waddington, WADDS inc

Stephen is a professional advisor to creative agencies and communication teams. His agency clients include Allegory, Black House Media (BHM), Clearly PR, Don’t Cry Wolf, Hard Numbers, Lynn PR, Miramar Group, Reuben Sinclair, SourceCode, and Story Comms. He has also delivered projects for the Government Communication Service and the NHS.

He has a proven track record for founding, growing and managing change within creative agencies. His client work includes The Associated Press, Booking.com, Cisco, The Economist, IKEA, Intel, Optical Express, and Philips.

Stephen has held the role of Visiting Professor in Practice at Newcastle University since 2014, supporting the university and students through teaching and mentoring.

His books include Exploring PR and Management Communication (Pearson, January 2021), Platinum (CIPR, September 2018), Chartered Public Relations (Kogan Page, February 2015), #BrandVandals (Bloomsbury, November 2013), Share This Too (Wiley, September 2013), Share This (Wiley, July 2012), and Brand Anarchy (Bloomsbury, February 2012).

Stephen was President of the CIPR in 2014, during which time he helped return the organisation to its roots of professionalism as set out in its Royal Charter. Stephen is a Chartered PR Practitioner, a CIPR Fellow (Hon), a Fellow of the PRCA, a Certified Member of the IoIC and member of the IPRA.

Stephen Waddington, WADDS inc

Zander Mills, Corporate Communication Manager, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

Zander has worked in public relations for more than 15 years- including over a decade within the fire and rescue service. He is currently Corporate Communication Manager at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, leading a team which has won multiple awards for its delivery of properly planned, properly measured behaviour change campaigns. He has previously been a national chair of FirePRO, which represents communicators working in the fire and rescue service and is also a member of the LG Comms Executive Committee.

Zander Mills, Corporate Communication Manager, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

Dr. Martina Topić, Senior Lecturer in Public Relations at Leeds Business School

Dr Martina Topić is a Senior Lecturer in Public Relations at Leeds Business School, Leeds Beckett University, UK. She was project lead for the British Academy project on Women in UK’s Advertising Industry, HEFCE project on Women in British Journalism and HEFCE projects on Women in PR and Marketing and research-based teaching and student satisfaction. She currently leads the EUPRERA project on women in public relations, HEFCE-funded project ‘The Environmental Costs of Vanity? Mirrors, Beauty Industry and the Impact of Patriarchy on the Environment’ and she is a research lead for the #WECAN project (Women Empowered through Coaching and Networking), funded by the European Social Fund and Department of Work and Pensions. She is editor-in-chief of Corporate Communications: An International Journal (Emerald) and editor-in-chief of the book series ‘Women, Economy and the Labour Relations’ (Emerald). Her research interests include journalism practice, public relations history and women’s studies, with particular emphasis on ecofeminism and environmental affairs. She has co-authored a monograph on the Croatian media system and edited four books on cultural diplomacy (Peter Lang), religion (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Lexington) and sustainability affairs (Emerald). She has published more than 100 articles and book chapters, and currently, she is working on a monograph on women in communications industries in England and two edited books, women in the media (Intellect) and women and leadership in public relations (Routledge). Her new monograph (due in October 2021, with Routledge) challenges the CSR concept and neoliberalism (as well as neoliberal media) and calls for responsibility to be shifted back to the Government, whilst also advocating against technology as a solution to environmental problems.

Dr. Martina Topić, Senior Lecturer in Public Relations at Leeds Business School

Dr. Ioannis Kostopoulos, Head of Digital Marketing and Retailing research group at Liverpool Business School

Dr. Ioannis Kostopoulos is a Reader in Digital Marketing and the Head of Digital Marketing and Retailing research group at Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University . Prior to his current position he has taught Marketing and PR at several universities in the UK, Greece and Italy and has participated in many consulting and research projects. He has more than 50 publications, including articles in peer reviewed journals such as Information Technology and People, European Management Review, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice and International Journal of Innovation Management. In 2017 he published his first book on Marketing Communications.

Dr. Ioannis Kostopoulos, Head of Digital Marketing and Retailing research group at Liverpool Business School

Jahanara Chaudry, Consumer Technology, Golin

Jahanara is an experienced PR professional based in London. Her interests range from D&I and LGBTQ+ culture to technology and trends. She started her career at Nelson Bostock, focusing on B2B tech – where she discovered her love for technology and its intersection with daily life. She is a committee member of the PRCA Diversity Network and contributes to panels as a next generation PR practitioner. Currently, she works at Golin on the Consumer Technology team. Always around to chat and listen, she’s available to stalk on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Jahanara Chaudry, Consumer Technology, Golin

Professor Anne Gregory PhD, Chair of Corporate Communication at the University of Huddersfield

Professor Anne Gregory PhD, Chair of Corporate Communication at the University of Huddersfield, and a member of the CIPR’s #AI inPR Panel.

Anne co-leads the UK Government Masters programme for senior communicators, drawing participants from all major Government Departments and runs international executive education programmes for the European Commission, the Swedish Communication Association, ESADE in Spain and in Australia on strategic communication and leadership, so she understands the practitioner life.

Anne is also an international researcher having developed the Global Capability Framework for the profession in conjunction with academics and practitioners worldwide. She is author of over 80 books, book chapters, academic and popular journal articles and is co-author of the CIPR’s Ethics Guide to Artificial Intelligence in PR, published last year.. Professor Gregory is former Chair of the Global Alliance of Public Relations and Communication Management, past President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, holds the Sir Stephen Tallents Medal for her outstanding contribution to the profession and the Institute for Public Relations Distinguished Pathfinder award for research.

Professor Anne Gregory PhD, Chair of Corporate Communication at the University of Huddersfield

Will Fox, Senior Account Director, Cision

Will has been working with PR agencies and brands for nearly eight years, with over twenty years’ experience in the media space.

His experience has been gained through working with companies such as Westfield and Subaru, creating meaningful evaluation frameworks and impactful ways to showcase results.

Will Fox, Senior Account Director, Cision

Isobel Camier, Founder, Camier Communications

Isobel Camier delivers tailored communications training that addresses your business needs, by developing your people.

Her clients are consultancies and in-house teams who wish to support employee development to help attain business goals. All sessions, face to face or virtual, are designed to help your business increase its positive impact. Whether you need to address agency culture, employee skill gaps or support leadership, Isobel can tailor sessions to meet your specific objectives.

Drawing experience and knowledge from a 15-year career in PR, both in-house and in agencies, her style is known for being energetic and engaging. Recent clients have included Nelson Bostock, Health Unlimited,CC Group, SQN, Tamarindo and many more.

Isobel founded Camier Communications in 2018 having been Williams F1 Head of Communications & Partnerships. Prior to that she worked at Clarion Communications.

She has the privilege of being an accredited trainer for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, where she delivers training on a range of topics. She is also a member of the PRCA’s Virtual PR Agency Group.

Isobel Camier, Founder, Camier Communications

Paul MacKenzie-Cummins, Founder and MD of Clearly PR

Paul MacKenzie-Cummins is founder and MD of Clearly PR, Bath’s largest PR agency. He started the business in January 2014 after eight years operating as an independent PR and Editorial Consultant for clients throughout the UK, Europe and USA. He previously spent 11 years working in the advertising and publishing sectors.

Paul MacKenzie-Cummins, Founder and MD of Clearly PR

Oli Ballard, Editor, Business Leader Magazine

Oli previously worked at regional newspapers across the UK such as the Bath Chronicle and the Western Gazette, which was followed by a time working in politics in communications role for two MPs.

He is now Editor and Director at Business Leader Magazine, which he joined on the day it was founded. In his nine years at the business, he has overseen its growth and built a team of journalists and media professionals, with the title now the UK’s leading business media platform.

Business Leader – is part of the Ascot Group – and hosts various awards programmes and events as well as publishing a print magazine and digital content.

Oli Ballard, Editor, Business Leader Magazine

Rebecca Roberts, Founder, Thread and Fable

With over 17 years’ experience in marketing and communications, Rebecca founder her own consultancy Thread & Fable delivering award-winning campaigns within the sport, higher education, charity and public sectors. Her passion for youth marketing has led to her own Engaging Youth Reports, the Hear It Podcast, training and workshops about the issues, challenges, trends and opportunities surrounding children and young people, and how to do better by youth audiences by empowering their voice.

Rebecca Roberts, Founder, Thread and Fable

Michael Korjen, Head of Technology Practice, H+K, MENA

Michael leads H+K’s Technology Practice in the Middle East and North Africa region where he is a trusted counsel for local, regional and global clients in the telecommunications, IT, software and consumer technology sectors.

With more than 15 years of IT industry experience, Michael has served as a senior communications advisor to some of the world’s leading telco and technology brands, including the GSMA, Intel, the Mobile and Wireless Forum, Etisalat, stc, the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, Tencent, Huawei, Alibaba and Motorola. He specialises in thought leadership positioning, public affairs, content marketing, stakeholder engagement and issues management.

Prior to H+K, Michael managed communications in the Asia Pacific and MENA regions for US technology company, Neustar. During his five years in this role, Michael led global communications and stakeholder engagement efforts to influence one of the biggest changes to the Internet in its history, with the introduction of new Top-Level Domains. This included the launch of the world’s first Arabic domain name, شبكة. (pronounced dot shabaka, translates to .web in English) and leading the communications and change management strategy for the $120 million acquisition of Bombora Technologies.

Prior to this, Michael spent five years as a senior communications advisor in Australia to the world’s two mobile phone industry associations, who represent every telecommunications company globally.

Michael is an award-winning communicator. His awards include being named an IABC Communicator of the Year in 2015 and one of B&T Magazine’s 30 under 30 marketers.

He holds a Bachelor of Communications (Public Relations) from RMIT University with majors in business and politics.

Michael Korjen, Head of Technology Practice, H+K, MENA

Barbara Phillips, Founder of Brownstone Communications

Barbara is a skilled, experienced strategic communications leader and founder of Brownstone Communications Limited.

Barbara is also a long-standing racial justice activist, public speaker and trainer and sits on the board of a number of organisations:

• Sitting Magistrate – Ministry of Justice – North West London Justice Area

• Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) Board member July 2020 (voluntary)

• The Black Curriculum Advisory Board member/Chief Strategy & Communications Officer March 2020

• Founding Chair of the Race and Ethnicity Equity Board (REEB) founded in July 2020 by the PRCA in an effort to redress the lack of racial equity in the PR and communications industry

Barbara Phillips, Founder of Brownstone Communications

Priya Bates, Co-Founder, A Leader Like Me

Priya Bates, ABC, MC, SCMP, IABC Fellow

Priya Bates is an award-winning professional communicator with a passion for driving strong performance from the inside out. As President and owner of Inner Strength Communication, Priya builds strategic internal communication, engagement, branding and transformational change plans that enable, engage and empower employees to deliver business results. Her clients include organizations and leaders across technology, retail, financial, healthcare, mining and manufacturing sectors looking to build strategic internal communication expertise.

As co-founder for A Leader Like Me, Priya creates an empowered community for women of colour to help them build skills, define strategies, and find support to grow in their careers.

Priya is an Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) and was proud to become one of the first Certified Strategic Communication Management Professionals (SCMP) in the world. In 2010, she received the Master Communicator (MC) designation, the highest honour bestowed upon a communication professional from IABC Canada. In 2016, she was recognized as an IABC Fellow, a global lifetime achievement award for her contribution to the profession. Priya is also a passionate volunteer with the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), and is proud to have led the organization’s successful global rebranding effort.

Twitter: @priyabates

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/priyabates

Websites: www.innerstrengthcommunication.com https://aleaderlikeme.com/

Google emails: priya.bates@innerstrengthcommunication.com

Priya Bates, Co-Founder, A Leader Like Me

Melissa Fretwell, Marcoms Consultant and Business Director at Hoxby

Melissa has over 15 years experience of working in the TV industry at UKTV and Channel 4. Two years ago she made the leap to live in Ibiza (more workstyle than mid-life crisis) where she is a marketing and communications consultant working with global brands like Etsy, Diageo and BBC Studios through global B-Corp Hoxby. She is also a Chartered Institute of Marketing mentor and on the creative advisory board for charity Ideas Foundation who are all about inspiring a new diverse creative class.

Melissa Fretwell, Marcoms Consultant and Business Director at Hoxby

Leila Willingham – Business and Account Manager, Liz Lean PR

Leila is Business and Account Manager at Liz Lean PR and has been the driver behind the launch of the agency’s youth insight service and next gen engagement brand Digipigz. The concept bridges the gap between businesses and the next generation while providing ambitious young professionals with a likeminded community to network and connect with. With this network of young professionals, Leila has generated white paper reports on the future of the workplace, the next generation workforce and county regeneration reports, informed by the youth voice.

Leila is an ambassador for the next generation of professionals and has discussed the future of the workplace and next gen workforce on BBC News, at various UK conferences and on multiple podcasts.

Leila Willingham – Business and Account Manager, Liz Lean PR

Jo McLellan, Head of Media and Campaigns at the Met Office

Jo has been Head of Media and Campaigns at the Met Office since January 2019, leading a busy operational press office and campaigns team promoting weather and climate services and information widely, to help the UK make better decisions to stay safe and thrive. I am also the lead on reputation management and crisis comms for the organisation, ensuring consistent communications and messages when needed. It is a fast paced and busy team which I love, adapting quickly to new situations as they arise. This is the most recent job in my comms and marketing career, much of which has been at the Met Office, with a number of years previously in Account Management for a large commercial airline. Currently now also working from home, juggling childcare and life like most others although lucky enough to be doing that in the South West.

Jo McLellan, Head of Media and Campaigns at the Met Office