DEVCOMMS - Key Persons
Aleksis studied Politics with International Relations for his undergraduate degree at the University of York. He then stayed on to complete a masters in Conflict, Governance, and Development. Aleksis is half-Finnish and originally from Suffolk, now based in our Cambridge office.
Alice provides DevComms with Business Support which encompasses organising project events, project team support and office management. Alice has been with DevComms since the beginning and plays a key role in the day-to-day smooth running of the business.
Bernadette has a background in banking and business management and wanted to bring her experience to an accounting role. She has joined our growing Group team as a Finance Assistant, alongside Ellen. Bernadette has truly embraced the spirit of remote working as she currently lives in Jersey!
Job Titles:
- Finance Manager
- DevComms' Head of Finance
Caroline is DevComms' Head of Finance. She began her career in finance 10 years ago and has been with DevComms since the very beginning. Caroline is a dedicated team member whose knowledge and capabilities are business critical.
Charles Bushe - Chief Commercial Officer
Job Titles:
- Group Commercial Director
Charles has delivered highly successful property communications strategies across a range of sectors, working with clients including Sainsbury's, Inspired Villages, Countryside and Highwood. Charles has a degree in History from the University of Exeter, as well as a Masters in International Relations. He has a keen interest in local and national politics, publishing a monthly article for UK Property Forums entitled Spotlight on Westminster. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and has a track record of effectively overcoming difficult political and local issues. Charles has worked on many significant projects, including major town centre regeneration schemes, large scale residential proposals and the very first planning application to ever be determined virtually by Westminster City Council. Charles' team has built trusted and constructive relationships with politicians, the media and community influencers in many local authorities across both the South East and London.
Dom has extensive experience in politics and grassroots campaigning, having been an elected City Councillor on Birmingham City Council and having worked in Parliament for two MPs in the Midlands. He remains politically active and benefits from an extensive political network across the region.
Ellen holds a strong background in Finance and Administration and joined DevComms this year as a Finance Assistant. She brings a wealth of financial knowledge and experience into the office and holds a AAT foundation certificate in accounting.
Ellen's superb communication skills enable her to deal confidently with the team when it comes to dealing with complex financial tasks. Her relaxed and friendly style makes "number crunching" easy to understand and puts the team at ease. She is a highly motivated and dedicated member of the team which helps drive the team forward when it comes to financial planning.
Ellen is a continuous learner and continues to develop in her role through studying. At present she is currently working on a professional qualification through the Association of Accounting Technicians.
Emily has worked her way to Senior Account Manager in her three years with us, having joined in 2021 as an Account Executive, with a degree in Economics, Politics and International Relations. Emily is leading on public affairs support for a range of projects including urban extensions, regeneration schemes and large strategic residential developments. She is leading on day to day liaison with political and community stakeholders and on the preparation and implementation of communications strategies.
Hem is a Politics graduate from the University of Liverpool and joined DevComms this year as an Account Executive.
From analysing legal operations to researching recruitment contracts, Hem brings a wealth of analytical knowledge to DevComms. He is super organised and highly effective when it comes to planning and prioritising.
Hem holds excellent communication skills having worked with various stakeholders in his career and is adaptable when dealing with different levels of people be it members of the public or councillors. His passion in politics makes complex and controversial topics interesting and exciting. e bring
Hem is keen in many sports, especially rugby of which he has represented numerous teams. He also has a keen interest in economics, politics, and current affairs.
Jack has ten years of experience developing campaign strategies and providing engagement advice - five years in consultancy and five in Party and Parliamentary politics.
He has extensive experience delivering stakeholder and community engagement strategies across a range of sectors, particularly for strategic site promotion and pre-application consultation. He is still actively involved in politics in the midlands and the northwest and has an extensive political network.
Jade is Associate Director and heads up our East of England office in Cambridge where she has worked on major infrastructure projects, residential schemes and commercial development.
She maintains an interest in politics having previously worked as a Senior Caseworker for an MP and also having served as an elected unitary Councillor where she held the position of the youngest ever female Speaker of the Council as well as having Planning and Healthcare roles.
Jade has a strong background in community public relations roles including at the Federation of Small Businesses where she helped develop, shape and promote local policy and contribute to national policy. She has also worked extensively with the media, helping to develop messaging and campaigns at the local and national level
Jade is a Member of the CIPR.
James leads our South West office in Bristol. The South West team works with a wide range of developers including Churchill Retirement Living, McLaren Property, AJC Group, Godwin Group, Barratt David Wilson Homes. and Canford Renewable Energy.
James has fifteen years' experience in achieving Local and Neighbourhood Plan allocations on complex and controversial sites and a range of planning consents for large residential projects, retail and major mixed-use schemes and renewable energy projects.
James also leads on our digital services, including our digital consultation toolkit Consult With You and using online tools to better consult. James develops our digital engagement strategies and ensures their seamless integration into our comms plans.
Job Titles:
- Senior Account Executive
- Senior Account Manager
Leah joined DevComms as a Senior Account Executive from a role in digital marketing where she edited and managed online content and social media accounts. Leah has a degree in Business Management and has a keen interest in property development including the importance of the role of effective community engagement in the built environment. Leah is providing PR support on a range of projects including renewable energy and retirement living schemes. She is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Lily has joined the team as our Content Creator. She is based in our South West office. She has recently completed a degree in English at the University of Bristol, with experience and interests in photography, videography, and documentary filmmaking.
Job Titles:
- Group Operations Director
Maria has 18 years' hands-on experience in all aspects of successful project delivery, from neighbourhood plan allocations to mixed-use town centre regeneration schemes and remediation planning consents. She has extensive experience of proactively working in the public and private sector with communities and stakeholders to address key issues concerning development and helping to build support from the ground up. Maria specialisms include developing strategies to help increase the reach of DevComms consultations to maximise accessibility, involvement and inclusivity. More recently, Maria is also involved in promoting DevComms as a business and a brand, Maria holds the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Diploma.
With a considerable amount of passion and knowledge about the political sphere Nicholas joined the South West team as Account Executive. After studying politics and public policy for four years, Nicholas then worked in the office of his Member for Parliament.
Paul has over 20 years' experience working in property communications, with professional qualifications spanning politics and planning. He has a wealth of experience working in stakeholder engagement across sectors such as strategic plan making, retail and mixed use schemes, alongside residential schemes of varying scales. Paul manages some of DevComms' largest projects including public and private sector JVs, Garden Town projects and strategic urban extensions. Paul's specialisms include building trusted relationships with stakeholders, running stakeholder forum events and media liaison.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations
Previously, Pavitar has held senior positions at London-based PR and public affairs consultancies and has extensive experience of stakeholder engagement, excelling at community led regeneration schemes. Her wide-ranging experience includes working on residential, mixed-use, transport, commercial, energy and infrastructure projects for some of the UK's largest corporates.
In addition, Pavitar has strong working knowledge of local and regional government. She has served as an elected councillor since 2010 and is the Deputy Leader of Slough Borough Council together with being the Cabinet Member for Housing, Highways, Planning and Place.
Pavitar is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and is qualified in leading Charettes, an advanced public consultation technique, from the National Charette Institute.
Rob is the Managing Director of DevComms. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and has worked specifically in the planning and property area of communications for 25 years. He has provided strategic advice on proposals across all sectors of property including large urban extensions, strategic planning, retail, sports stadia, urban regeneration, remediation and large scale distribution. Rob frequently chairs property industry panel discussions, writes thought leadership articles for the property press and delivers CPD to the development industry on best practice stakeholder engagement. Rob is particularly interested in drawing out opportunities for social value and inclusion across DevComms projects.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, Commercial
Sam has joined DevComms this year with a strong and experienced background in sales, business development and client account management in the art industry.
Through Sam's professional experience, he is an exceptional communicator when it comes to dealing with both commercial and private stakeholders. His empathy and quick understanding enables him to build deep rapport and strong relationships. He is highly motivated and driven when it comes to success and uses his out of the box thinking to really inspire those around him to achieve their own successes. When working with clients, Sam strives to deliver the best level of service and maintain relationships that last a lifetime.
Tiffany started her DevComms journey as our Business Support Administrator and took her wealth of skills and expertise to the role of Brand Manager. She has a background working as an administrator manager in a fast-paced busy hospitality environment combined with years of experience arranging events in music too.
Tiffany is super organised and proactive when it comes to planning and prioritising. She uses her inventiveness to feed into the management of social media and marketing, and her infectious energy, positive demeanour and excellent communication skills enable her to deal confidently with a range of suppliers to refine relationships for our event and exhibition supplies and needs.
Tiffany has many areas of interests such as singing, dancing, playing sports such as badminton and horse riding, design, and scrapbooking. All of which bring so much experience and creativity into DevComms and make Tiff a fascinating individual to learn from.