Thierry Nicolet

Schneider Electric

Senior VP Global Press Relations

Thierry Nicolet has been leading the Business Press Relations activities of Schneider Electric since 2008, covering 50 countries. He interfaces with a network of local Marketing Communications Managers, PR Managers and over 40 PR Agencies, and made the company's world wide impressions triple in the past 4 years. Prior to his current position, Mr. Nicolet lead the Press Relations expansion world wide for more than 5 years at APC (until its acquisition by Schneider Electric) by setting up and analysing key performance indicators, engineering robust global processes and by providing guidelines, assistance and coaching to Marketing managers and their selected PR Agencies. Mr. Nicolet has over 23 years of Marketing Communications experience after graduating in Business Administration and International Trade from European Business School Paris. Fluent in French and English and conversational in German, he entered APC as an Sales Engineer and rapidly expressed an interest for Marketing Communication to become Marcom Manager for France, UK, The Nordics, Middle East and Africa. He then got involved with product marketing after which he also headed the Direct Marketing, Email Marketing and Customer Retention activity for the whole region to finally take the role of PR Director for EMEA. This wide scope of responsibilities has given him an extensive proficiency in Marcom demand drivers which he now uses to support Schneider Electric’s strategies, messages and solutions introductions.

Heather Mitchell

Unilever Hair Care

Global Head Of PR And Social Media

Heather has nearly two decades of PR and social media experience, currently leading earned media strategies for Unilever’s global hair care portfolio, including TRESemme, Dove Hair, Toni&Guy and Clear, among others. She previously lead PR and social media for Unilever’s personal care brands in the US, including award-winning and sales-generating work on AXE and Suave. Some of her achievements at Unilever include revolutionizing how the company measures PR by creating a proprietary qualitative measurement system and creating one of the industry’s first and most successful community management strategies in the social media space. Prior to Unilever she held PR roles at Gatorade and Jim Beam Brands, and began her career at PR agencies working on P&G, Mattel, the 1996 Olympics and many other consumer brands. Heather was named the 2012 PR Person of the Year by PR News for her innovative and industry-leading work at Unilever.

Patrick Jephson

Former Chief Of Staff To Princess Diana

International Reputation Expert, New York Times Bestselling Author & Consultant, Netflix's "The Crown"

Patrick is a consultant, journalist, broadcaster and New York Times and London Sunday Times bestselling author, based in Washington DC.  His byline has appeared in every major UK newspaper and international titles as varied as TIME magazine, People, The Spectator, Paris Match, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the National Catholic Reporter.  He is a published authority on corporate and personal branding, addressing conferences worldwide as well as events at the US State Department, the American University and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. 

He also writes, presents and advises on factual and drama programs, appearing on every major US network as well as British and international platforms.  His two decades of news and current affairs assignments have included on-screen conversations with figures such as David Frost, David Dimbleby, Barbara Walters and Larry King. 

He is founding partner in JephsonBeaman, a boutique communications consultancy specializing in international high-profile, sensitive and UHNW services.  With more than twenty-five years’ experience in the government, luxury and family office sectors, Patrick’s portfolio has included Ferrari, Harrods, Beretta and Hawker Beechcraft as well as national agencies and NGOs.  He has also worked on reputation and legacy briefs with European, Middle Eastern and Asian families, including royalty. 

Patrick owes much of his practical communications experience to Princess Diana, who chose him to be her equerry and only private secretary/chief of staff.  He served the Princess for eight years (1988-96), responsible for every aspect of her public life, worldwide humanitarian initiatives, and private organization.  Under relentless media scrutiny, his tenure covered the period of Princess Diana’s greatest popularity as well as the constitutional controversy of her separation from Prince Charles.  In recognition of his service, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order.

Patrick was born and raised in Ireland and holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Cambridge University.  As an officer in the British Royal Navy he served all over the world before being selected for royal duty.  In March 2015 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Alex Malouf

Schneider Electric

Corporate Communications Director MEA

Donald Steel

Former Chief Communications Advisor, BBC

Vice President, Crisis Communications, Kenyon International Emergency Services

Donald Steel has built a global reputation as a crisis communicator.  For more than 25 years he has given strategic counsel to organisations and high profile individuals in a range of serious situations, including aircraft incidents, terrorism, kidnapping, serious accidents, executive and personal misconduct, fraud, litigation and inquests and serious regulatory and diplomatic issues.

He was for 11 years, the chief media spokesman of the BBC.

In his own practice, based in London, he worlds with a range of corporate, government, NGO and individual clients across the UK, Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East, North America and Asia Pacific and Australasia.   His clients includes airlines, hospitals, universities, hotel groups, UN agencies, orchestras, the Eurovision Song Contest, arts venues and high profile artistes.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in London and of the Royal Society of Arts.  He is a regular guest lecturer at the London School of Economics and the China Media Centre of the University of Westminster.

Alongside his own practice, last year he was appointed Vice President, Crisis Communications at Kenyon International Emergency Services, the worlds longest serving and most admired responder to incidents involving fatality and injury.  Based in Houston, Berkshire (UK), Beirut and Santo Domingo, Kenyon’s clients range from leading airlines, cruise companies, hotel groups, governments, police forces, local authorise and companies across the world who work in high risk situations.  In this role, Donald leads a team of senior crisis communicators based around the world, ready to respond to clients.

He was a member of Aviation Futures, a recent think tank of the UK Civil Aviation Authority supporting the CAA on planning the regulation of future developments in aviation.

Mohamed Al Ayed

TRACCS

CEO

Mohamed Al Ayed has been engaged in the public relations practice in the Middle East for more than twenty years and came to prominence in 1998 when he established TRACCS in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In just over 17 years he has grown the single operation to become the largest public relations network in the MENA region with 14 offices across 13markets, serving a diversified portfolio of international brands, leading local companies, government agencies and NGOs. Deeply committed to establishing an indigenous public relations industry imbued with a natural understanding of regional cultures and sensitivities, Mohamed has built TRACCS by employing and training local talent. In addition, he and the management team at TRACCS have up-skilled hundreds more through training programs conducted for employees of clients. Continuing his quest to develop local talent, Mohamed innovated the Driver’s Seat initiative, an educational program designed to create awareness among university students about the importance and value of public relations. Launched in Saudi Arabia in 2012 in partnership with leading universities the program has created a positive impact among the 300 students who have benefited by engaging in interactive sessions and workshop activities. In 2013 the Driver’s Seat initiative won two prestigious global awards as the most innovative program and now in its fourth successful year the program is being extended to educational establishments across MENA. As part of his mission to promote the public relations industry across the region Mohamed organized and chaired Saudi Arabias first Public Relations Forum, drawing approximately 400 of the Kingdom’s leading PR practitioners and subsequently running for four consecutive years. The success of this initiative spread to Kuwait, Lebanon, and Oman, where TRACCS is an active promoter of the industry. A believer and practitioner of Corporate Social Responsibility, Mohamed organized the first CSR Forum in Saudi Arabia under the Patronage of HRH Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia’s late Crown Prince, and spearheaded the National CSR Initiative, a kingdom-wide public awareness campaign on the importance of social responsibility in Saudi Arabia. He also chaired the first CSR Conference held in Kuwait City organized the first CSR Forum in Amman Jordan under the Patronage of HM Queen Rania Al Abdullah. Mohamed is a member of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA)and has served two terms as Vice President of the Western Province for IPRA’s Arabian Gulf Chapter. He served as a board member of Communication on Top which organizes its annual public relations forum in Davos Switzerland, where he participated as a keynote speaker for three consecutive years. He is also a member of the Arthur Page Society, a prestigious organization that includes CEOs of the largest global public relations agencies and heads of corporate communications officers. Together with the TRACCS Management Team, Mohamed has built TRACCS into one of the most successful enterprises in the Middle East communications industry, earning a place on the list of the fastest growing companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and gaining global recognition with multiple award wins year after year. In May 2015, TRACCS was named "Best Consultancy to Work For" in Continental Europe, Middle East, and Africa, took home a Gold SABRE for Best Campaign in the Middle East, and was awarded Best Employee Program for its internal program "The Maestros by the Holmes Report." TRACCS also won six Stevie Awards in 2015 giving it a total of 60 regional and international awards and accolades. TRACCS is ranked 107 (up from 109 in 2014) in the influential Holmes Report’s Global Rankings, the only Middle East agency to be included among the top 250 public relations companies worldwide.

Esra Erkal Paler

Elsevier

EVP Global Communications

Considered to be one of Europe's most prominent communications professionals, Esra has a wide experience in building corporate reputation through communications, media relations and public affairs across various industries. She currently heads the Corporate Affairs function at Coty.  Previosly, she was Head of Global External Affairs at AstraZeneca. Prior to that, she was Director of Corporate Communications and External Affairs at L’Oreal, and Head of Corporate Affairs at Unilever. Esra is also the Chairwoman of the British Skin Foundation.

Hussein Dajani

Nissan

General Manager - Digital and Customer Experience (CX) Transformation - Africa, ME, Turkey, & India

Hussein has over 18 years of solid holistic Omnichannel Marketing Communication experience in the space leading and building seamless Phygital Customer Experience Journeys within multinational agencies (JWT, Leo Burnett, and TBWA) and Fortune 500 companies (Virgin Mobile, Red Bull, Nissan Motor Co.), across the Middle East, Africa, Turkey and India region.
After a 2 years stint with hug digital, as its Chief Digital and Operating Officer, which he grew exponentially till he lead to its sale to WPP, Hussein joins Nissan Motor Co. as General Manager Digital and Customer Experience for Africa, Middle East, India, and Turkey, for Nissan and Datsun brands, to be responsible for its Digital Transformation. Furthermore, Hussein plays an active role in the advisory council of the World Marketing Congress, as a Director with the Customer Institute, and as an expert advisor in ISMA (International Social Media Association).