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.

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.

Mary Jo Jacobi

Former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, Former Assistant US Commerce Secretary for President George H.W. Bush, British Civil Service Commissioner

Former Senior Executive, HSBC, Lehman Brothers, Royal Dutch Shell And BP America

Mary Jo Jacobi Jephson is a renowned expert in reputation, brand and crisis management drawn from her extensive experience at senior levels of the corporate, public and voluntary sectors on both sides of the Atlantic. Most recently, Mary Jo was Executive Vice President of BP America during its response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Previously she led reputation management for Royal Dutch Shell, Lehman Brothers, HSBC Holdings and Drexel Burnham Lambert. She also devised and executed the award-winning global brand strategies for Lehman and HSBC, including the first-ever use of airport jetties for brand projection and thought leadership. She is a non-executive director of the Weir Group PLC, Mulvaney Capital Management and Panafsat and a member of the advisory board of Fink Africa. She is also a Visiting Fellow of Oxford University'ss Centre for Corporate Reputation. Mary Jo was the first woman to chair the board of the Ladies Professional Golf Association and subsequently served on the board of the Ladies European (Golf) Tour. She is a frequent broadcast commentator, lecturer and public speaker around the world.

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.

Steffen Ruebke

Henkel Beauty Care

VP And General Manager

Steffen has been traveling the world with us since 2012. He has been a regular speaker at our Marketing Kingdom events all around the world and has delivered cutting edge presentations on the importance of customer marketing in today’s marketing world. Plus, he has worked with big superstars like Heidi Klum and the legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld so he has some truly inspiring stories to share with you.

Assel Karaulova

Kazakhstan Press Club/PG Communications

President, CEO

Prof. Jonathan A.J. Wilson

4xLinkedIn TopVoices Winner, Branding Professor & Speaker

Prof. Jonathan A.J. Wilson is an award-winning practitioner and academic with two doctorates – specialising in what he calls the ABCDs of business and culture: Advertising, Branding, Communication, and Digital. After receiving an MBA and a Chemistry degree in the ‘90s he began his career in advertising, before later deciding to experiment with the idea of being a brain for hire.

Prof Wilson has over 200 pieces of published work, given over 100 conference talks, travelled to 40 countries, and worked on branding everything - from countries to people.

He received a Top Voices award from LinkedIn for 4 consecutive years, recently appeared in their US primetime television advertisements, and is a LinkedIn Learning Instructor with a trending course on ‘Unlocking Authentic Communication in a Culturally-Diverse Workplace’ attracting 10k learners in its first month. FutureLearn also hosts his Expert Track online course on ‘Personal Branding: How to Brand Yourself Professionally, Authentically, and with Passion’.

Prof’s music and voice feature on the early Grand Theft Auto video games, he’s performed internationally on television and stages like Glastonbury music festival, and he holds a bunch of Dan grades in Japanese martial arts – so expect some kick ass edutainment.

​​Website: http://drjonwilson.com/ 

Twitter/Instagram: @drjonwilson

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjonwilson/

Andrew Widger

Pfizer

Senior Director, Global Media Relations

Andy is a Senior Director at Pfizer Inc, leading the strategy and execution of corporate Media Relations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Andy has led communications for over 25 years, across differing sectors and geographies, working with executives and their leadership teams around the world to manage business and share price sensitive announcements and issues.

In his current role as Pfizer’s lead spokesperson in the region, Andy has managed proactive and reactive communications for a company with a “headline profile” throughout the pandemic, covering ground-breaking scientific and commercial developments, as well as matters of significant public health importance in a highly complex and regulated industry sector.

Prior to Pfizer, Andy headed up communications within media businesses – for the BBC’s commercial arm and the UK’s news agency the Press Association – supporting these businesses’ commercial and corporate objectives with multi-channel engagement programmes tailored to different audiences around the world.