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At Pagefield, he is head of our crisis and issues management practice.

Prior to joining Pagefield, Stig was heavily involved in establishing proposals for a reformed regulatory system for the British press. This work, as Director, was the last of a range of roles – including press officer, Assistant Director and Deputy Director – he performed after joining the PCC in 2001 as a complaints officer.

While at the PCC, Stig established a ground-breaking 24-hour crisis advice service for those in need of support regarding press issues, acting as an advocate for organisations across almost every sector – from financial institutions to media companies and Government departments – celebrities and members of the public directly with newspaper editors and executives.

Stig has excellent contacts across the British press at a senior level, and has written for several newspapers and magazines including the Daily Telegraph, the Spectator and the Guardian. He has a double first in English from Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Prior to joining Pagefield, Tom was Public Affairs and Communications Manager at the Advertising Association, where he advised the UK’s leading agencies, brands and media owners on their political engagement while also raising the profile of the Association in Westminster and the media. During this time he helped lobby ministers on subjects as diverse as body image in advertising, the ‘commercialisation’ of childhood, alcohol marketing’s role in public health and the future of government’s communications function. He also helped connect the Association’s public affairs and press work, ensuring its communications worked more effectively to support its political goals.

As an adviser to Labour MP Graham Allen, Tom worked across party lines to help advance Mr Allen’s ‘early intervention’ agenda – which has now been adopted by all three main parties. His time in Westminster also included a period working at political information service DeHavilland.

A keen writer and NCTJ-qualified journalist, Tom has contributed to a host of political publications as well as national, local and trade press publications.

He graduated from the University of Nottingham with a BA (Hons) in Politics.

While working in financial services, Alun spent five years at JP Morgan and Greenwich Securities, focusing on the structuring and sales of derivative products across the equity, fixed income and foreign exchange markets.

During two years in Geneva, Alun developed his passions for international politics and development. As an intern, Alun spent time at ITN News in London, on public affair and international sales and at Channel 4 News, gaining valuable exposure to the core components of a world-leading news media organisation.

Alun graduated in Economics from Oxford Brookes University and has a distinction in an MSc in International Business from Edinburgh University.

Wendy’s diverse experience – gained in London, Sydney and Milan – spans the property, financial services, transport and education sectors and many areas in between. Prior to joining Pagefield she worked on bids and global engagement programmes at Ernst & Young that helped secure contracts with financial services clients worth over £500m, while also devising and delivering communications training for auditors.

Maintaining a particular interest in property and planning issues since studying for a Town Planning degree, Wendy has provided communications and consultation advice for high profile infrastructure projects including London 2012 Legacy, Crystal Palace Park, Stratford Station Olympic Upgrade and Thames Gateway Bridge. Other development clients/projects have included Travelodge, Genesis and One Group, a care home for people with disabilities, and a regeneration masterplan for Kent County Council.

Wendy has also worked on campaigns for the Learning and Skills Council, delivered a media relations programme in support of a Number 10 event launching online mentoring website, Horsesmouth, and advised the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on its stakeholder strategy for a Coroners Bill. While at the MoJ, she also supported media relations on high profile coroners’ inquests including Diana Princess of Wales and military deaths abroad. Wendy’s work at the New South Wales Parliament in Sydney saw her delivering communications strategies for the Assembly and its 12 committees, providing media relations support and training, developing visit programmes for politicians and schools, and publishing a monthly staff newsletter.

Wendy gained a Masters in Communications (Journalism) from Charles Sturt University, Australia after studying Town Planning at the University of New South Wales.

His engineering background includes an MSc in Renewable Energy Systems Technology from Loughborough University, and together with substantial development experience, gives him a skill set that has enabled him successfully to lead environmental and technical project negotiations. His in-depth understanding of the environmental and technical issues surrounding projects puts him in an excellent position to identify, and help find solutions to, potential problems facing projects.

In addition to being an Associate Partner of Pagefield Tom runs Gunsko Communications, which services the renewable energy, environmental and development sectors.

Prior to establishing Gunsko Communications Tom worked as ‘Head of Marketing and Communications’ at Partnerships for Renewables. During his time in this role he devised consultation programmes that exceeded ‘best practice’ to ensure that public sector clients could be confident that the community would be central to the development process. Public sector clients included: the Environment Agency, British Waterways, Forestry Commission Scotland, NOMS and Local Authorities.

Tom joined Partnerships for Renewables from AMEC‘s wind energy business where he was ‘Media and Government Relations Manager’. During his time at AMEC Tom was responsible for project negotiations and communications activity across a wind energy portfolio which included high profile onshore sites such as the Lewis and Edinbane wind farms and the Aberdeen offshore wind farm.

From training executives to deliver the company’s message more effectively to hands-on crisis management, Rob delivers strategic counsel that can literally change the news agenda. Rob is an accomplished broadcaster. He trained at the BBC and then worked on business programmes for BBC1 and BBC World, reporting from the United States, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan, France and Ireland. He was appointed an ITN News Anchor for the launch of Channel 5, and had his own daily programme for seven years, interviewing everyone from Cabinet Ministers to pop stars; sporting heroes to convicted criminals. He has also hosted quiz shows, documentaries and talk shows on Five. Rob has advised major corporations and organisations on communication strategies with internal and external audiences and, in particular, handling the broadcast media. He has provided media training courses, presentation coaching, speech-writing services and crisis communications advice to some of Britain’s best-known companies. In the corporate market, Rob has worked with PepsiCo, Bupa, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Freeview, ITV, MAN, Mazda, Motorola, Musgrave Retail Partners, Renault, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Saatchi & Saatchi, Camelot, Unisys, Volvo and the Breast Cancer Care charity. In the public sector, Rob has provided media training to senior politicians in the UK, the Executive members of a County Council, the leader of a major City Council and parliamentary candidates. Rob is a Senior Trainer and Consultant for the BBC World Service Trust, working alongside broadcasters in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Serbia and Azerbaijan. He has worked with ITN for Saudi Arabian TV, and advised a new commercial television station in Mongolia and the national broadcaster of Cyprus. Rob has a dual honours degree in French and Economics from the University of Sheffield.

Sue Elliott has an unusually valuable combination of campaigning, drafting & editing skills and regulatory knowledge, developed over three decades in both regulatory and corporate assignments. She learned how regulators think by being one for much of the early part of her career. In senior roles with two high profile statutory regulatory bodies, she worked at the heart of licensing processes and in her day-to-day dealings with companies developed substantial experience of reconciling conflicting interests to achieve a result in which both regulator and regulated felt that their aims had been met. Three years in-house in a dynamic corporate environment – as a senior policy adviser and latterly as Head of Corporate Affairs for Granada Media Group on the LWT Board – completed a 360° perspective on successful commercial operations in highly regulated industries. During the next ten years as a freelance consultant, advising government departments, a range of corporate clients and senior individuals, she developed particular expertise in oral and written communications, helping to achieve successful outcomes in a number of politically sensitive campaigns. These skills combined with her regulatory background make her a unique asset in major bid projects: she was a key member of the winning bid teams for the National Lottery third licence (where she was Bid Editor on Camelot’s two million-word application document) and for the broadcast rights to the 2012 London Paralympic Games, awarded in 2010 for the first time to Channel 4. Sue has a degree in Philosophy of Education. She chairs a small conservation charity in the London Borough where she lives.

With Pagefield since day one, he has been working for clients from a wide range of industries, including property management, the National Lottery and international business organisations.

Oliver’s career has spanned the communications spectrum and the political divide, taking in public affairs, media handling, crisis management, high-profile campaigning, work for a Conservative MEP and advising the former Labour Deputy Prime Minister. He began his career executing lobbies for the property and automotive industries in Westminster and the European Union. He successfully campaigned on planning and housing-related legislation, the EU’s Directive on CO2 emissions and the promotion of the UK’s car manufacturing industry.

In 2007 Oliver was recruited by ITV plc to help the company develop a fresh and ambitious policy agenda, executing EU and UK campaigns on Digital Britain, successful cross-industry resistance to proposed advertising restrictions and the company’s over-arching focus on deregulation. A crucial element of ITV’s campaigning was the reinvigoration of ITV’s parliamentary support. Through close, constant and trusted contact with MPs and Peers, Oliver re-energised the All-Party Parliamentary ITV Group, transforming it into one of the most popular and effective in Parliament. The Group’s support was instrumental in delivering ITV’s UK policy objectives and in containing negative political and stakeholder reaction to the consequences of ITV’s on-screen cost efficiency review, including the controversial restructuring of regional news. Oliver also played an instrumental role in delivering ITV’s commitment to the former Government’s Change4Life movement.

Immediately before joining Pagefield, Oliver was Head of Corporate Affairs at the UK Film Council, where he provided senior counsel on corporate communications, acting as a spokesman with international, national and specialist media on the full range of issues in the film sector.

Oliver graduated in European Studies and French from Durham University.

Anthony’s understanding of the City from his time at JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Allianz/Dresdner Kleinwort is matched by his knowledge of politics and political strategy. In addition, he has developed a close interest in UK energy policy and is working with a number of stakeholders on initiatives to address long-term policy challenges.

While working in the financial services sector, Anthony was based mostly in London but also spent four years in Hong Kong. He held roles at JP Morgan, the Bank of New York, Deutsche Bank and Allianz/Dresdner Kleinwort managing multi-million pound business relationships providing portfolio yield enhancement using repos/securities lending and money market fund techniques. Anthony’s clients included a range of major central banks, sovereign wealth funds, governmental and international investors across Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. Among his responsibilities were the Bank of England, the national banks of the Czech Republic and Hungary, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the central banks of Korea and Taiwan and Bank of China.

Immediately before joining Pagefield, in the run up to the 2010 election, Anthony was asked by Francis Maude MP, then shadow Cabinet Office minister, to join the Conservative Party’s implementation unit, developing recommendations for efficiency gains in public sector procurement. He has also advised Michael Gove MP, then as shadow secretary of state for Education, inspired by his voluntary work for the Prince’s Teaching Institute. He was subsequently invited to join the PTI’s Development Committee by its chairman, Harvey McGrath, also Chairman of Prudential Plc.

In July 2009, Anthony volunteered for Project Umubano, led by then shadow international development minister, Andrew Mitchell MP, advising the Rwandan government on attracting inward investment. In 2004-5, Anthony was the Conservative Candidate for Darlington and honed his campaigning skills in that election and many others over 30 years as a political activist.

At Pagefield, Anthony is able to blend his expertise of financial services, public policy development and politics – all in one role.

He graduated in Modern History from Balliol College, Oxford where he was President of the Union.

He brings more than 20 years of experience in public and regulatory affairs, corporate public relations and campaigning to clients including the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, Camelot and Discovery.

As a corporate client himself for nearly two decades, Mark has a crystal clear understanding of what makes a good communications agency: delivering intelligent, integrated and energetic campaigns, providing considered political and media counsel, and specialising only in those disciplines in which you and your people excel. Pagefield operates within this simple and transparent framework.

Mark was the main Board Director responsible for Camelot Group plc’s campaign for the £50 billion third lottery licence, transforming the company’s reputation from one of Britain’s most unpopular corporations to the world’s most respected lottery operator. He also led Camelot’s negotiations for the new licence, working with a team of legal, commercial, technology and regulatory experts to nail down a 10-year deal.

As Public Affairs Director for ITN, Europe’s largest commercial news operator, Mark ran the company’s successful campaign to win the ITV News contract, together with a raft of lobbies to protect freedom of expression in broadcast journalism. His press teams – embedded in each ITN newsroom – promoted ITV News, Channel 4 News, 5 News, LBC, News Direct, EuroNews, the ITN News Channel and IRN. Mark’s deep understanding of modern newsroom culture has allowed him to build and manage some of the best in-house press teams in the country, generating hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of positive media coverage for ITN, Camelot and ITV plc.

Mark honed his knowledge of government at the Industry and Parliament Trust, working to educate business leaders about Westminster, Whitehall and the European Union institutions and parliamentarians about the commercial world. Having closely observed the relationship between business and government at first hand, Mark began his commercial career as a corporate lobbyist for the Independent Television trade association, cutting his teeth on successful campaigns to deregulate the commercial broadcasting sector.

Mark graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from St Anne’s College, Oxford.

Over 20 years in the marketing sector Barry has seen social media grow from a little understood concept to become the core element of any integrated campaign. Barry’s area of expertise is in web operations and audience engagement, monitoring and assessing online conversation and developing communication strategies and tactics to communicate client objectives. He has over twenty years’ background in marketing consultancy, providing business and communications solutions to high profile clients in most sectors including government and public bodies, retail, telecoms, IT, finance, food and beverage, media and luxury goods. His extensive experience ranges from new product development, market research and staff training to trade and consumer marketing, sales promotion and investor relations. Appointed MD of three PR, design and marketing services agencies, he was also General Manager of an international chain of retail internet outlets, and has experience in consumer magazine publishing. Barry has raised millions in business investment on behalf of clients and has a track record in charity fundraising, including substantial amounts for the National Deaf Children’s Society, Sadler’s Wells and Crusaid. At Oxford, Barry studied Classics and Law and has an MA in Modern Languages.

Lucy started her career at the Telegraph where she was a key figure in the team that managed the newspapers’ successful shift to a newspaper in ‘opposition’, helping to establish its reputation as a source of alternative political comment, working with key figures such as Boris Johnson and Charles Moore. She also worked closely with the editorial teams, delivering PR support to a number of newspaper scoops and exclusives. Colin Gibson, former editor of the Sunday Telegraph Sports commented: “Lucy was extremely proactive and delivered outstanding results for the Telegraph where I was sports editor of the Sunday Telegraph
She is well versed in all communications disciplines such as consumer campaigns, trade media, corporate reputation and crisis management, including handling the media fall-out from death of an ITN journalist during the Iraq war.
She has proven expertise working with blue chip corporates, such as Cable & Wireless as well as Government agencies, including the Intellectual Property Office, where she worked on the copyright consultation and the Digital Britain report.
At ITN, she helped defend the organisation’s reputation as a serious provider of broadcast news in the face of significant cutbacks, as well as the ‘news at when’ controversy, and seeing the broadcaster through a major rebranding exercise. She also oversaw the image and reputation of presenters like Mary Nightingale, Kirsty Young, Katie Derham, Tom Bradby and, of course, Trevor McDonald.
Nigel Dacre, former editor of ITV News commented: “Lucy had a real skill in handling complicated and sensitive media issues – from the comings and goings of newscasters, to the battles over News at Ten.”
Lucy was a member of the press team at Conservative Party Central Office during Michael Howard’s election campaign and more recently, under David Cameron, where she dealt with press surrounding the arrest of civil servant Damien Green and the Caroline Spellman ‘nannygate’ affair.
At the Equality and Human Right’s Commission Lucy worked on a string of high-profile inquiries, including the Commission’s Stop and Think report which looked at the disproportionate rates of stops and searches on ethnic groups, as well as being part of the team which delivered the communications surrounding the seminal How Fair is Britain report.

Vanessa began her career reporting to the Chairman of a City-based insurance company where she worked on a range of corporate events and major projects including major client receptions and high-profile dinners. During her time with drinks company Tia Maria International, Vanessa was responsible for arranging an international launch reception at their plant in Jamaica – a not inconsiderable feat of organisation in the days before email and the internet! Since then, Vanessa has spent the majority of her working life as a senior Executive Assistant working for Chief Executives, Chairmen and Board Directors across the satellite and independent terrestrial television sector, including Music Box, ITV Network Centre, Carlton Television and ITN.

In addition to her corporate work, Vanessa is committed to working with charities – especially those devoted to helping young people – and spent a number of years working for the Teenage Cancer Trust, developing their volunteer strategy.

Vanessa also has a significant entrepreneurial streak and has her own business organising iconic events for private individuals, including weddings and civil partnerships, and for charities, such as ChildLine – for whom she has arranged a series of events at Royal Palaces hosted by members of the Royal Family.

Vanessa has the Institute of Marketing Diploma from City of London Polytechnic and is actively involved in community projects for the London Borough where she lives including fundraising for her daughter’s school and supporting a social inclusion project.

Lucy’s expertise as Publicity Manager was developed at ITV where she handled press for a wide range of factual and entertainment TV programmes. Working on many of the channel’s biggest shows including Dancing on Ice, Tonight with Trevor McDonald and I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! saw her running significant press campaigns and advising overseas broadcasters including RTL in Germany. Lucy also set up a system to promote I’m A Celebrity with two PR teams, one office-based and one on location. This system became the blueprint for ITV’s other big reality shows.

Lucy also specialises in crisis management and successfully steered her way through many sensitive stories at ITV including accusations of racism, allegations of TV fakery and the environmental impact of filming on location in Australia and Fiji.

As a freelancer, Lucy has worked for a wide range of companies promoting everything from TV shows and celebrities to books and ipad applications. She has worked for a range of press offices including Avalon, the BBC, Consolidated PR, Harper Collins, IMG and ITV News.

Before moving into PR, Lucy was a senior reporter on one of the country’s biggest selling regional newspapers, The Shropshire Star.

Peter Ibbotson graduated from Oxford University in 1965 with a first-class degree in Modern History. Since then, he has had extensive experience in broadcasting and print media, and the political world within which they connect. At the BBC he was editor of Panorama, and Deputy Director of Programmes, Television. As Assistant Head of the Current Affairs Group he guided the BBC through its evidence to the Peacock Inquiry. Later as Adviser to the BBC Chairman he assisted in the Licence Fee negotiations and the establishment of the BBC Trust. He has since advised numerous media companies – radio, television and print – and taken part in a number of successful broadcasting licence applications. Peter was Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Television and corporate consultant to Channel 4 Television and ITV plc. More widely, he has advised companies such as Associated Newspapers, Mirror Group Newspapers, Kingfisher plc, Camelot Group plc, together with public bodies including the Royal Opera House, the V&A and the British Council. He is a former Governor of the English Speaking Union. Peter has unparalleled experience of the dynamics of public relations between organisations and political audiences. He has acted as go-between at the most senior levels, and is skilled both in refining policy positions, and in promoting them effectively through both the spoken and the written word.

Prior to joining Pagefield, Michelle completed internships for Ben Bradshaw MP, then Minister for Health Services, and in the Fundraising, Partnerships and Events team of the progressive think tank Demos. Michelle has contributed to research projects in conjunction with the Scottish Refugee Council and was formally a Senior Ambassador for the government education scheme Aim Higher.

Clients have praised Michelle for using her solid academic background and passion for politics and the media, to deliver fresh ideas and solutions for them.

She holds an MSC in International Political Theory from the University of Edinburgh and a First Class BA in Politics and Philosophy from the University of Sussex.

Integrated communications is, Kate believes, absolutely vital to effective campaigns. She has always enjoyed working very closely with colleagues in public affairs and consumer relations to co-ordinate successful communications programmes.

In addition to leading the media relations for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant – one of the biggest events ever to be staged in London – Kate and the team are managing all the media logistical requirements for the event itself, to ensure its global coverage is of the highest possible standard.

Before joining Pagefield, Kate worked in corporate and business communications at Hill & Knowlton and Cohn & Wolfe, where her clients included B&Q, Kingfisher, Intel, P&G, The Learning and Skills Council, HSBC, Friends Provident and Barclays Wealth.

Kate has had a long-term interest in corporate responsibility which began when she was asked to lead the launch of Juice, a renewable electricity product, for npower in 2001. The product was a partnership between npower and Greenpeace – a most unlikely pairing at the time – and incorporated high profile media – both corporate and consumer-facing -issues planning, community relations and campaigning. Since then, she has worked on CR and sustainability programmes for BT, B&Q, Kingfisher, HSBC, P&G and Intel. She also worked to raise the media profile of One Young World, a global youth leadership forum set up by EuroRSCG and on Virgin Media’s CR programme, Virgin Media Pioneers.

A proficient media trainer, Kate has helped a wide variety of people prepare to face the media – from the completely inexperienced to the well-practised and skilled. In mid-2010 she devised and ran a messaging and media training workshop for the Chairman, CEO and directors of the UK’s leading renewable energy company, Solarcentury, and then trained three inexperienced managers for the Department of Health Social Enterprise. Much of Kate’s career has been spent in agencies but she cut her teeth in-house in the fast-moving press office at Which?

Although she now calls England home, Kate is an Australian national and has a degree in English Literature and Performance Studies from Sydney University.

In addition to her core support role, Ellie spent her first few months with Pagefield co-ordinating our move to new premises. She provides support to our client teams and, alongside Vanessa Hales, assists with Pagefield marketing.

Prior to joining Pagefield, Ellie spent five years at PR agency Fishburn Hedges where, as a team assistant, she worked with high profile clients such as Tetra Pak, Tesco Finance, Sungard, BT and EEDA. She also managed the logistics for Barclays’ successful “Spaces for Sports” campaign with dance group Diversity. Whilst carrying out her team assistant duties, Ellie was also PA to the Chief Executive and an integral part of the New Business team.

Ellie’s career started as a Project Co-ordinator at the National College for School Leadership in Nottingham, where she was responsible for leading nine regional co-ordinators in key aspects of the NPQH programme for potential head teachers. She graduated from Nottingham University with a 2:1 BA Hons in Ancient History & Archaeology.

John’s talent is to turn complex policy issues into compelling copy that accurately reflects the voice of the individual commissioning the project. John’s clients include Barclays, the BBC and the BBC Trust, the British Council, the Cabinet Office, Camelot, 3i, the Independent Schools Council, Morgan Stanley, the Periodical Publishers Association, and Prudential. John’s background is journalism. He has held many of the top jobs in UK journalism, including editor of BBC Newsnight, features editor of The Independent, programme editor of Channel Four News and of ITN’s News at Ten, editor of news and current affairs at the World Service, and head of BBC TV News Programmes. Awards include a Broadcasting Press Guild award, a BAFTA nomination, and a Golden Nymph from the Monte Carlo Television Festival. John holds a degree in English from St Catherine’s College Oxford.

Her extensive experience is brought to bear for a range of clients at Pagefield including EDF Energy, Jersey Finance, HP, and Camelot.

Sara began her career in Parliament working for the Labour MP, the Rt Hon Peter Shore . On her departure from his office in 1997, Peter said of her “There is no one who will work as hard to find the answer, no one as committed to getting the answer right and no one more likely to do so. Set her a problem and she will find a solution. For Sara there is no such word as ‘can’t’”.

Sara went on to work for UNICEF as a parliamentary adviser before joining the Advertising Association (AA), counselling the industry on public and regulatory affairs. She was promoted to Director of Public Affairs at the age of 28, where she acted as the chief spokesperson on controversial issues such as food advertising aimed at children, industry self-regulation and alcohol advertising. She helped devise and implement the successful campaign to deliver a co-regulatory structure for broadcast advertising within the Communications Act which established Ofcom.

At Transport for London (TfL), Sara broadened her political awareness as she navigated the often-tricky relationship between TfL, the Mayor’s office and the GLA. Her community engagement work and public consultation programme for the Thames Gateway Bridge project was recognised as ‘exceptional’ by the Public Inquiry considering TfL’s planning application. As Head of Group Public Affairs she provided senior counsel on local, regional and national politics, stakeholder relations and community affairs whilst handling a major organisational change programme.

Sara took her experience as a client to Hill & Knowlton in 2005 where she offered strategic public affairs counsel to companies including Kellogg’s, Britvic, B&Q, Kingfisher and Allied Bakeries. During her time at Hill & Knowlton, Sara sought to deliver on the promise of the ‘one-stop-shop’ model, working to offer integrated campaigns combining consumer and corporate PR, public affairs, internal communications and branding.

Sara’s love of politics was ignited at Exeter University, where she gained a First in Politics, and was further nurtured at the LSE where she completed a Masters in Political Economy. She also studied at the renowned Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Aix-en-Provence.

Prior to joining Pagefield, David worked on the Yes to AV campaign in the West Midlands, helping Birmingham finish in the top 20% of regions, despite the campaign’s disappointing national result.

David cut his teeth campaigning for the Labour Party in Lancaster and Fleetwood before interning with polling company YouGovStone. He has an in-depth knowledge of the social media and online political landscape through his editorship of up-and-coming blog ‘The Grapevine’, which secured a place in the Total Politics Top 10 non-aligned blogs of 2011.

David has a degree in politics from Lancaster University.

He works with clients including CH2M Hill, EngineeringUK and ConstructionSkills on major infrastructure projects; together with ASDA on planning issues; in addition to providing advice to Freesat, Camelot, Boehringer Ingelheim and Hewlett Packard.

Simon started his consultancy career back in 1997 and since then has advised some of the UK’s most high-profile organisations on politics, corporate communications and social media engagement. He was called upon to help support Eurostar’s reputation during the service disruptions in Christmas 2009 and 2010. Simon subsequently developed and implemented a social media crisis strategy which was rolled out throughout 2010 and resulted in a marked upswing in positive online comment about the company.

At the vanguard of political social media Simon was using Twitter at the 2008 Party Conferences. In 2009 he developed a groundbreaking project with Channel 4 News to use Twitter to bring the party conference debates to a wider audience. His widely replicated “Twinge” event, trended globally and attracted senior speakers such as Eric Pickles MP, Daniel Hannan MEP, David Miliband MP, Guido Fawkes and Ed Balls MP.

He also has a deep understanding of traditional public affairs across a broad range of disciplines with particular expertise in financial services and investment banking. He has worked closely with blue-chip clients like J P Morgan, Capital One, Barclaycard, National Savings and Investment and Nationwide, and companies like Liquidnet in a highly specialised role.

Simon led the Starbucks account team in launching several new products and CR initiatives, managing new store openings, and developing stakeholder activity for the brand. Through this work, and activity with WRAP, he became an expert on environmental stakeholder programmes.

He also has wide-ranging experience in procurement and advising government service providers through his work with Hewlett Packard, formerly EDS, and Atos. He has also worked with major engineering firm, Arup, Virgin Trains and a wealth of engineering firms.

Simon has a Masters in Political Science from Birkbeck College, University of London.

As Head of Corporate Affairs at Channel Four from 1995 to 2000, Sue Robertson successfully campaigned to scrap the arcane funding formula arrangements during the passage of the 1996 Broadcasting Bill and then went on to lead the successful campaign against privatisation. For the last 10 years at Channel 5 as Director of Corporate Affairs sitting on the main board, she helped realise several successful re-positions of the channel and implemented a major reorganisation and rationalisation of her department. Sue re-focused the PR and communications strategy so that it built Five’s reputation as a serious public service provider of history, arts and children’s programming and was recognised for its contribution to the sector. Sue also led Five’s negotiations with the Government and Ofcom on all the major regulatory and legislative reviews of the past decade, and was responsible for Five’s distinctive stand to retain public service status without public funding. Sue Robertson is one of the most respected corporate affairs executives known within and around Westminster. Legislators, commentators, journalists and regulators seek her advice and input because her knowledge and experience comes from operating in their worlds. From her time as David Owen’s Press Secretary, as a producer of Question Time and Newsnight, to her role as one of the BBC‘s key negotiators between all political parties and the Corporation 1992 – 1995, to her most recent responsibilities at Channel Five: Sue brings knowledge and experience that achieves results. Sue Robertson is a fellow of the Royal Television Society and a member of the International Press Institute. She graduated in History from Bristol University.

Ben has over ten years’ communications experience, advising high-profile, highly-scrutinised organisations and senior public figures on media relations, reputation, issues management, stakeholder engagement and integrated campaigning. With high-level media contacts across news, business and commentary desks – and amongst key opinion formers – Ben works with private and listed businesses, helping them overcome reputation issues and enhance their public profiles. He started his career as a local, trade, online and national news journalist, writing for a variety of news organisations and journals including The Independent on Sunday, The Press Association, Marketing and New Media Age. He worked for mobile operator Orange, where he held a variety of corporate and consumer PR roles and was responsible for corporate messaging and issues management in the UK. He helped support the roll out of the Orange brand in new markets in Europe and Africa and played a lead role in their push into the small business market, developing the Orange Small Business Awards, The Orange Word and The Orange Prize for Fiction initiatives. Ben also worked closely with The Home Office, creating and implementing the communications strategy for Orange’s anti-mobile phone theft initiative. During his time at Orange, the company overtook Vodafone to be rated number one for consumer reputation. Prior to joining Pagefield, Ben spent over six years at Camelot as Controller of Corporate and Media Relations. Working closely with Chief Executive Dianne Thompson CBE, and successive Chairmen Michael Grade CBE and Sir Peter Middleton, Ben was a key member of the senior team that helped Camelot first to normalise and then dramatically enhance its media, stakeholder and public reputation. His team oversaw all of Camelot’s financial reporting and issues management. During his time at Camelot the proportion of positive coverage of the company rose from less than 30% to more than 90%. Ben graduated from The University of Manchester with a BA (Hons) in English.

Sallie has worked in publicity and PR since 1978 when she joined the Publicity team at Yorkshire Television. She became Head of the Department in 1984 – overseeing the marketing department creating all YTV’s advertising, printed sales materials, publicity brochures, etc.  Sallie’s department was also responsible for a range of other functions including viewer relations, internal communications and regional activities including sponsorship of arts and charities in the community, and event management. In 1996 Sallie left Yorkshire Television to travel over the Pennines – she joined Granada Television as Chief Press Officer.  In 1997 when Yorkshire Tyne Tees Television was taken over by Granada, Sallie was made Head of Media Relations for the North.  In this demanding role Sallie had overall responsibility for all aspects of consumer PR and for the Group’s media issues in the North during a period of intense media interest in the changes across the ITV landscape. Concurrently with this role, Sallie was made Head of Regional Affairs for Yorkshire Television, which included detailed communications with local MPs on the changes and issues facing a consolidated ITV. In 2004 Sallie was promoted to Director of Programme Publicity in the consolidated ITVplc, managing an internal team of 35 programme publicity specialists and a budget of over £2 million. This role involved working closely with some of the Nation’s most famous names, often dealing with difficult and sensitive issues in the press. In this position Sallie worked alongside the Directors of Marketing and Corporate Affairs. Sallie retired from ITV in September 2010 and is now works part time as an Associate Partner at Pagefield on projects that interest and enthuse her!

Before joining Pagefield, Stephanie worked for over two years at global communications consultancy Grayling where she worked across a range of sectors including academia, media, financial and professional services, technology, leisure and international politics. Her work for clients such as Eversheds, the Economist Group and Nabucco Pipeline, provided valuable experience in reputation, issues and crisis management, media relations, events and international account co-ordination.

Prior to joining Grayling, Stephanie completed an internship at children’s education charity, Debate Mate, where she focused on marketing and corporate sponsorship.

As an undergraduate, Stephanie was president of her university debating society and ran a programme teaching politics and debating at schools in areas of high child poverty.

She graduated from Newcastle University with an Upper Second Class BA in English Literature.