ALDER UK - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Specialist Partner, Voice & Public Speaking
Job Titles:
- Specialist Partner, Proactive Education PR
Alison provides communications support to Alder's education and charity clients. Her extensive knowledge of the education sector is a huge asset to clients wanting to build their profile.
With more than 30 years' experience of education print and broadcast, she has served as education correspondent for national and local newspapers, worked on the BBC's first education consumer programme and was a feature writer and columnist on the Times Educational Supplement.
Alison helps schools build strong reputations by devising and delivering impactful media relations campaigns. She helps schools initially spot their own great stories and then uses her wide-ranging contacts to garner publicity in the appropriate media outlets. Alison's work has been instrumental in raising the profile of various clients and achieving the goal of strengthening both a school's image and reputation in the public eye.
Areas of Expertise
Education
Job Titles:
- Specialist Partner, Crisis Communications
Anthony primarily advises clients in the education and charity sector, and has particular expertise in dealing with high-profile sudden incidents. Anthony has been a specialist partner at Alder since 2012.
Prior to that he spent three decades in newspapers, working more than 20 years as an editor and senior editorial executive in the regional press. He also sat on the Press Complaints Commission and is a national and regional newspaper awards judge.
Anthony is known for his passion for plain English, well-crafted messaging and in-depth knowledge of crisis handling and public relations issues.
Areas of Expertise
Education
Job Titles:
- Specialist Partner, Media Relations
Ben uses his experience of the media to support Alder's clients in their media relations. His time working in the press gives him a unique understanding of the media industry, the news cycle and how best to manage a story.
He has held executive roles at some of the country's biggest-selling newspapers during almost 20 years working in the media. While leading news and features teams at News UK and Reach PLC, Ben has been at the centre of some of the most significant stories of the last two decades.
Ben has a strong network of newspaper, digital and broadcast contacts, allowing him to help clients get their message across or handle a media crisis. Ben also provides Alder clients with media training workshops, utilising his insider understanding of the tactics and strategies that journalists employ to effectively prepare spokespeople, communications teams and leaders for media enquiries.
Job Titles:
- Specialist Partner, Entertainment & Creative Industries
Ben is the Specialist Partner focussed on Entertainment & Creative Industries. He is a former national newspaper executive and national magazine editor and for the previous 10 years was Simon Cowell's UK and European Media Chief. In addition, he was also SVP - and de facto COO - of Cowell's business Syco Entertainment plus VP of Corporate Comms for Sony Music UK. He still consults regularly for Cowell, amongst a number of celebrities and corporate organisations he is associated with.
Areas of Expertise
Entertainment
Job Titles:
- Specialist
- Specialist Partner, Crisis HR & Cultural Transformation
Carrie is Alder's specialist HR partner, helping organisations put their people at the heart of their crisis response. Carrie provides clients with crucial consultancy regarding cultural problems and workplace scandals, with a keen focus on providing advice in the aftermath of an incident but also unearthing cultural problems before they lead to reputational damage.
Carrie spent ten years working across a variety of senior roles at News UK. Her role as HR Director for the Sun Newspaper honed her ability to manage complex people problems, as at one time 34 employees were arrested. Carrie is an experienced and qualified HR Director, OD consultant, facilitator and coach.
Carrie's experience of handling workplace cases of bullying, sexual misconduct and deeply rooted cultural problems greatly assists Alder clients as they seek to identify and remedy these complex organisational and reputational issues.
Areas of Expertise
Human Resources
Job Titles:
- Specialist Education Partner
Durell specialises in the education sector and advises Alder's clients across a host of topics, such as governance, inspection readiness, safeguarding, compliance and issues relating to leadership and management. Durell taught in independent schools for twenty years, more than half of which as a deputy head. As a school leader he specialised in curriculum development, appraisal, performance management, professional development and strategic planning.
Previously, he was Deputy Director and Head of Communications at the Independent Schools Inspectorate, where he was responsible for liaising with the Department for Education, Ofsted, local authorities, independent school associations, governors and heads on matters relating to safeguarding and quality assurance. His other roles have included Head of Governance and Compliance at RSAcademics and Chair of the Independent Schools Examinations Board.
Durell's variety of leadership roles across the sector ensures he is well placed to offer Alder clients expert advice when dealing with the whole range of issues can present themselves to schools.
Areas of Expertise
Education
Jack joined Alder following experience as a senior consultant at a range of specialist communications firms, advising clients in the worlds of technology, politics and charity. Jack's broader experience includes working at The Times and Legal 500, as well as Amicus ALJ, a charity providing representation for those facing the death penalty in the US, and the Kalisher Trust. He has degrees from the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and City, University of London. He is a trustee at the Crystal Palace Community Trust.
Areas of Expertise
Education
Joe supports Alder with case management, business development and marketing strategy. Having read European Studies at Trinity College Dublin and worked at two of the top 100 QS ranked Universities in the world, Joe provides strategic advice across all of Alder's practice areas, with particular focus on charity and education clients. Joe speaks Spanish and Italian.
Areas of Expertise
Education
Job Titles:
- Specialist Partner, Public Affairs & Campaign Planning
Job Titles:
- Specialist Partner, Broadcast
Mike helps clients navigate testing situations through his extensive experience and contacts developed from over thirty years working in private consulting and broadcast journalism at ITV and BBC News.
Mike is one of the most experienced journalists in the country and a former Broadcast Journalist of the Year. During a hugely successful career he has reported on an enormous variety of stories for ITV and BBC News, ranging from every general election since the 1980s to major accidents such as the Concorde tragedy, even managing to make frontpage news himself on every national newspaper when he exposed UK airport security measures after 9/11. Most recently he produced a landmark network ITV documentary analysing how ITV covered Coronavirus.
Mike advises Alder clients on transport incidents, industrial accidents and media engagement.
Areas of Expertise
Transport
Sarah manages accounts in Alder's specialist education practice, bringing experience from her background in charities and local authorities to provide essential logistical and advisory support. She also leads the development and implementation of Alder's marketing initiatives, both on and offline. Before working at Alder, she worked for a regional health charity delivering marketing campaigns through numerous engagement channels.
Areas of Expertise
Education
Steve helps Alder's clients manage complex reputational issues across a range of sectors.
A former Fleet Street journalist, he has held senior communications positions at British Airways, Cable & Wireless and The Football Association. Steve has provided strategic counsel and communications address to HNWIs, multi-national companies, NGOs, celebrities, major law firms, the emergency services, NHS trusts and senior medical professionals.
As well as guiding Alder clients through media minefields from Newsnight reports to major Sunday Times investigations, Steve has also delivered successful outcomes on topics from terrorism, COVID-19, industrial accidents, product recalls, employment issues, business disputes and litigation, plus healthcare issues in both the private and public sector.
Job Titles:
- Specialist Education and Charities Partner
Sue provides practical and strategic communications advice to schools and charities facing an array of challenging issues. She has an extensive knowledge of the education sector, and often advises schools on issues such as crisis response, mergers and leadership changes.
Her previous media experience includes investigative and news journalism work across Newsnight, BBC News, Watchdog, Dispatches, The Mirror and many other national papers plus radio, magazines and regional media. Sue then went on to work as Head of Media at Christian Aid, Director of Communications at ActionAid UK, followed by various senior consultancy roles before joining the Heads' Conference as Director of External Relations. There she managed media relations and helped members with a wide range of problems surrounding topics such as the IICSA inquiry, Covid-19, BLM, #MeToo and the 2019 general election.
Sue has been a trustee for both educational institutions and charities, and currently is a Governor at an independent UK school.
Areas of Expertise
Education
Susan supports the client facing team with back-office functionality to enable Alder consultants to be wholly focused on client issues. Having previously held senior management roles at global network agencies such as Ketchum & Weber Shadwick, her expertise lies in coordinating and managing high functioning teams. She has experience leading and managing highly successful communications campaigns for some of the world's biggest brands including Microsoft and Unilever, while working for major international PR networks.
Experience includes:
Job Titles:
- Specialist Partner, Strategy & Research
Tayo specialises in organisational effectiveness and has extensive experience in strategic planning, change management, project implementation, operations management, research, internal audit and impact evaluation across services, retail and charity sectors.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Manging Director
Tim gives crisis PR advice on issues including sudden incidents and fatalities; civil litigation; arrests and criminal trials; inquests; employment disputes; and EDI matters among many other subjects that can give rise to publicity. He has been involved in some of the highest profile media stories in the last decade, has a wide network of contacts throughout the media and the law, and now personally represents a number of leading businesses, charities, schools and individuals. He founded Alder in 2010 having previously been Director of the Press Complaints Commission. He studied history at Cambridge University and management at Cranfield School of Management, and has been a trustee of numerous educational and campaigning charities.
Areas of Expertise
Education