Head of PR & Communications

• Oct 2019 - Present

Delighted to be working for this innovative affordable housing provider in the East Midlands as part of my first 'outside London' role in many years (a change is as good as a rest as they say). Leading a five-strong team to raise brand awareness, inform and engage our customers and help create a highly engaged and dynamic workforce. Delighted to be working for this innovative affordable housing provider in the East Midlands as part of my first 'outside London' role in many years (a change is as good as a rest as they say). Leading a five-strong team to raise brand awareness, inform and engage our customers and help create a highly engaged and dynamic workforce.

Independent Consultant

• Nov 2018 - Oct 2019

Director of Communications & Marketing

• Jul 2013 - Jul 2018

Responsible for strategic and operational delivery of all communications functions in this rapidly growing London-based housing association with a turnover of c. £250m, assets of £5bn and a 1,500-strong workforce. • Leading a team of 12 communication professionals. Best Companies team engagement scores up to ‘two star’ level and persistently in the top three for the business. • Responsible for annual budgets of c. £1m. • Significant experience of crisis management around issues such as residential fires (following the Grenfell Tower fire), evictions and estate regeneration. • Delivered major brand consolidation and development. Ranked in the top five housing association brands by the Abel Monitor 2016. • Implemented challenging, outcome-based KPIs for the function. • Leading a transformational programme of growth and development for communications and marketing, including development of public affairs, video production and digital workstreams. • Delivering significant, demonstrable improvements in understanding, brand profile, engagement and reputation with key stakeholders including trade and local media, local authorities, customers, central government and industry peers. • Co-ordinated and enhanced commercial marketing across the business for income generation programmes as diverse as retirement homes, luxury properties, a conference centre and backpacker’s hostel. Show less

Head of Communications & Marketing

• Apr 2007 - Feb 2013

Organisational lead on communications and marketing for this large national charity supporting victims of crime. Responsible for both strategy and operational delivery. • Led a high-performing team of seven communication professionals.• Delivered full re-brand and the charity’s first national cross-media advertising campaign with a £1m budget. Led to over 70% public awareness of the charity and achieved 6% increase over two years in the number of people ‘extremely or very concerned’ about the needs of victims.• Managed a media team securing media coverage worth an average of £1m a month.• Led a national campaign to persuade police and crime commissioner candidates to ensure future funding for victims. 32 of the 41 elected pledged support.• Primary relationship manager with Buckingham Palace for the charity’s President, HRH The Princess Royal. Managed over 40 royal events, including four at the Palace. • Commissioned and delivered a new website, managed in-house, growing visits by 50% over three years to 50,000 a month.• Overcame significant safety and data protection concerns to deliver the charity’s first social media strategy and Facebook and Twitter presence.• Secured £40,000 funding to develop in-house video production unit. Show less

Head of Communications

• Apr 2001 - Apr 2007

• Created an internal communications campaign to persuade over 70 local trustee boards to vote to abolish themselves to create a single national charity. This successful campaign resulted in a 90% ‘yes’ vote.• Planned and delivered seven three-day residential conferences for 500 delegates. Feedback showed consistently high guest satisfaction.• Developed and managed an open-source extranet providing core business information and communication for over 8,000 users.

Independent Consultant

• Jul 2000 - Apr 2001

Provided high-level strategic communications advice and editorial services for a range of large-scale organisations – focusing on the health and science sector. • Clients included: Nature yearbook of science and technology; Eureka (a Brussels-based, pan-EU scientific research organisation); Hayward Medical Communications, a contract publisher of medical journals. • Provided a start-up toolkit for Eureka to establish a new in-house media relations function. • Edited and did pre-production work on layouts of a major NHS review of cancer treatement. Show less

Communications Manager (Medical & Education)

• 1997 - 2000

Led a four-strong team responsible for health promotion communications and for showcasing research funded by this high-profile national charity. • Delivered extensive national, specialist and international media coverage on heart-health and scientific issues. • Project-managed launch of the charity’s first website (Yahoo ‘site of the week’). • Managed relationship and projects with public relations, creative and advertising agencies. • Worked on the production of the charity’s first television advertising campaign. • Lead spokesperson on the controversial issue of animals in medical research. • Conceived, developed and launched new heart information packs which generated 11,000 public requests in first week. Show less

Press Officer

• 1994 - 1997

Set up and ran the first professionally-staffed press office for this large government research funding agency. • Broke the news worldwide that combination therapy was an effective treatment for HIV. Achieved headlines as far afield as China, Canada and Argentina. • Extensive national and international media coverage of other medical research news and breakthroughs including genes responsible for breast cancer and malaria treatments. • High-level issues management including Gulf-War Syndrome, the link between BSE and CJD, organ retention, and the effects of power-lines on health. Show less