Our 2017 Academy Speakers


Pinky Badhan
Pinky Badhan is a CSR professional with over 10 years experience working within CSR in the private sector.
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Jamie Baker
Jamie Baker has a strong background in communications, digital media and research and analytics.
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Cllr Judith Blake
Cllr Judith Blake was elected as the first ever female Leader of Leeds City Council in May 2015.
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Iain Bundred
Iain helps WPP’s government and public sector clients in building capacity, procuring the right agency support and delivering best-in-class communications.
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Alastair Campbell
Alastair is is Head of Communications for UK Counter Terrorism Policing at New Scotland Yard.
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Jimmy Carnie
Jimmy Carnie has been a Senior Product Manager at Public Health England since 2015.
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David Coates
David Coates is responsible for Newsquest Media Group’s businesses in the North of England.
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Amanda Coleman
Amanda has more than 25 years’ experience both as a journalist and in communication roles.
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Clara Eaglen
Clara graduated from University College London and worked for a Healthcare PR agency specialising in marketing strategy and public relations.
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Suzanne Edmond
Suzanne Edmond joined the Department for Transport in July 2016 as Deputy Director of Communications Strategy and External Affairs from Centrica plc, where she was Head of Communications.
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Rebecca Evans
Becky Evans is a senior communications officer at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, leading on arts, culture and heritage press and Government communications on the Great Exhibition of the North.
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Chris Kirk
From covering parish council meetings as a 'cub' reporter, to working in the heart of the Prime Minister's communications team in Number 10, Chris has gained a wide and varied experience working in journalism and PR for 15+ years.
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Katie Florence, Strategic Communications Manager – Department for Education.
Katie is a communications professional with over 10 years’ experience in marketing, events, stakeholder management and digital strategy across health and education.
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Jill Flynn
Jill has worked in public sector communications for many years, in the main as Marketing Manager for one of the largest cultural attractions in Manchester.
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Russell Grossman ABC, DipPR, FCIPR, FCIM, FRSA
Russell Grossman has been a communications practitioner for over 30 years, and a Senior Civil Servant with the UK Government since 2006.
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Carl Holloway
Carl has worked in communications roles across the public sector since graduating from university and has experience in health, education and local government.
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Rob Irvine
Rob Irvine has been editor-in-chief of the Manchester Evening News, the MEN Media weeklies and the Huddersfield Examiner since April 2012.
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Shelina Janmohamed
Shelina is the vice president of Ogilvy Noor, the world’s first bespoke consultancy for building brands with Muslim audiences.
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Sarah Jennings
Deputy Director, Communications, Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
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Yasmin Kaye
Yasmin Kaye is a campaigns officer for DCMS, which she joined from the Ministry of Justice newsdesk.
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Sue Kiddy
Sue Kiddy moved into communications after training and working as a newspaper journalist and has supported internal comms for some of the world’s best-known brands, including Shell and Nike.
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Ben Kitching
Ben is Local Campaigns Manager at the Cabinet Office, covering the South West region.
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Hayley Lewis
Hayley is an award-winning psychologist, with nearly 20 years’ experience of facilitating and coaching groups.
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Kath MacLeod
Kath MacLeod is the Head of External Communications for the Department of Communities and Local Government, with responsibility for all the department’s media, digital and marketing activity on key policy areas such as housing, local government and faith and integration.
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Jamie McKittrick
Jamie McKittrick has recently joined the Cabinet Office Government Communication Service as the Head of Insight and Evaluation from the private sector.
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Joe Murray
Joe Murray has designed, delivered and evaluated Learning and Development projects across government for the last decade, most recently heading the Government Communications Service's Early Talent Programme.
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Karen Murrell
Karen Murrell, Head of Marketing Partnerships (Public Sector), is responsible for PHE’s package of support for local authorities who want to campaign on public health issues.
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Toby Orr
Toby Orr is Director of Communications at the Department for International Trade, responsible for developing and delivering the communications strategy for the new government department.
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Roger Parry CBE
Roger is Chairman of: Aves Enterprises (private equity); MSQ Partners (marketing communications); Mobile Streams (mobile media); Oxford Metrics (Software) and YouGov (data analytics).
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Claire Pimm
Claire Pimm works at Cabinet Office as the Deputy Director for PM priority campaigns, research and insight.
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Dr Kevin Ruck
Dr Kevin Ruck is the editor and co-author of the text book ‘Exploring Internal Communication’.
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Andrew Simpson
Andrew Simpson is the Head of Digital Communications in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
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Tim Singleton
Tim Singleton was appointed as Director of Communications for the Department For International Development in January 2017.
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Poli Stuart-Lacey
Poli Stuart-Lacey has been interim Director of Communications at HM Revenue and Customs since May 2017.
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Professor Ralph Tench
Professor Ralph Tench's research focuses on two communications strands, firstly for social impact and secondly in organizational strategy, behaviour and performance.
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Georgia Unsworth
Georgia is a Campaigns Manager working within the Cabinet Office GCS Local team, covering the North of England.
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David Watson
David is Head of Marketing for young people at Public Health England, responsible for major national campaigns such as the Change4Life anti-obesity drive.
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Robyn Western
Robyn Western is the Assistant Campaign Manager covering the South West & Wales within the Cabinet Office GCS Local team.
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Neil Wholey
Neil is Head of Evaluation and Performance at Westminster City Council, and is currently on secondment to the Cabinet Office as Head of Audiences.
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Dr Paul Willis
Dr. Paul Willis is Professor of Corporate Communication at the University of Huddersfield.
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Charlie Woods
Charlie Woods is a Senior Digital Product Manager at PHE, focussing largely on mobile apps such as Active 10 and Smart Recipes to encourage behaviour change nationwide.
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Julia Corkey
Julia is Director of Policy, Performance and Communications at Westminster City Council.
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Rob Irvine
Rob Irvine has been editor-in-chief of the Manchester Evening News, the MEN Media weeklies and the Huddersfield Examiner since April 2012.
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Claire Norman
Claire has more than 15 years experience working in communications across the NHS and local government.
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Dave Worsell
Dave manages Granicus Europe. His team is currently supporting over 150 major UK and European public bodies
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Mark Fletcher-Brown
Mark Fletcher-Brown is a director of Reputation Counsel, a communication consultancy.
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Roger Davidson
Roger is Director of Engagement and Communications for Health System Transformation at NHS England.
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Anastasia Knox
Anastasia Knox is a Research Director at BritainThinks where she leads on their health work.
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John McTernan
John McTernan is Senior Vice President and Head of International Political, based in London.
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Simon Enright
Simon is Director of Communications at NHS England. Simon enjoys using the skills learned in nearly two decades at the BBC to help influence audiences and inspire change to improve health care in England.
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Sophie Payne
Sophie is Head of Customer and Communications at Buckinghamshire County Council/NHS Aylesbury Vale and Chiltern Clinical Commissioning Groups.
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Julie Clayton
Julie is Head of Communications and Engagement NHS North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group, and West, North and East Cumbria STP Communications Lead.
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