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.

Gudjon Arngrimsson

Icelandair

VP Corporate Communications

Gudjon Arngrimsson has been vice president of corporate communication at Icelandair since 2005. He joined the airline in 2000 as the public relations manager, having previously been the governments millenium commission programme director. His background is in Icelandic print and TV journalism, as well as advertising and PR. He has also written several historical books.

Liz Young

Sony Music Entertainment

EVP Corporate Communications

Liz is the Executive Vice President of Corporate Communications for Sony Music Entertainment, and responsible for corporate giving and major events. She previously worked as Executive Vice President of Corporate Communications for Bertelsmann, Inc, and represented the Bertelsmann Foundation in the United States. As Vice- President of Mazda North America, Liz was the founder of the Mazda Foundation USA. She was also a registered lobbyist for US Japan trade.

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.

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.

Piers Rosenfeld-Schreiber

BT

Corporate Affairs Director, Business

Piers is an international expert in reputation management. He currently leads corporate affairs team for Business at BT, with operations in over 70 countries. Previously he headed corporate communications for Jumeirah, the luxury hotel group, headquartered in the UAE. As an advisor on corporate affairs and crisis communications he has undertaken international assignments for many public and private sector organisations. His earlier career included leadership positions in a listed Dutch telecoms company, Ogilvy PR, The Rowland Company (Saatchi & Saatchi) across central and eastern Europe and as PR Officer for the European Commission in Prague. A Cambridge graduate, with an MBA from Strathclyde, he started his career as a university lecturer in France and the Czech Republic.

Tomas Matesanz

Cruises Lines International Association Europe (CLIA)

Head of Communications and Public Affairs

Senior executive with 20 years of relevant experience in all facets of external, internal and crisis communications, corporate marketing and brand awareness campaigns. Successes include awards, most recent one this year at the International Business Awards, for developing wide-ranging of brand awareness and reputation recovery campaigns supporting new products, public companies and brands, securing media coverage in numerous high-profile outlets, elevating awareness and visibility, public affairs and industry relations efforts, and repositioning of corporate messaging. Expertise in tourist, airline, cruise travel, health, and food industries, as well as communication in Governmental affairs, public companies and administrations. Assistant professor at IE Business School (Madrid), specialized in brand awareness and reputation management. Relevant Experience advising and managing the communication of different Public Administrations and Governments at the highest political level. Public Affairs functions within European Union and European National Governments arena. He currently holds the position of Vice President of Communication and Public Affairs for Europe of the most powerful cruise line industry association, CLIA, overviewing 15 European markets. Tom is responsible for establishing public affairs and communication strategy as well as setting up media relations groundwork operations across Europe under CLIA local chapters, including Brussels before the European Union. Develop long-term and short-term strategies to anticipate and manage a complex array of reputational issues.

Sietse Bakker

Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Executive Producer

Katie Morse

Nielsen

VP, Digital Marketing

Katie Morse is currently the Vice President, Digital Marketing at Nielsen. She joined the company in 2014 and has previously worked on digital marketing initiatives for brands including American Express, Radian6, and Billboard – including creating the social media strategy for the 2012 and 2013 Billboard Music Awards. In her role at Nielsen, she is responsible for leading social media, search marketing and analytics initiatives, and providing guidance and counsel to Nielsen’s marketing, communications, data science and operations teams in 106 markets around the world with proactive consumer marketing efforts and reputation management issues. Katie holds a bachelor of science in Business (Marketing) from North Carolina State University and sits on the advisory board for The Ticket Fairy, and recently won a Shorty Award for Nielsen’s “Nielsen Around The World” campaign. 

Michel Bergeron

Business Development Bank of Canada

Senior Vice President, Marketing and Public Affairs

Michel Bergeron was appointed Senior Vice President, Marketing and Public Affairs in 2012. He oversees branding and advertising, client experience, economic analysis, corporate communications, marketing, public and media relations, research, and digital experience. Mr. Bergeron has over 20 years of private, public and parapublic experience, dealing with financial sector issues, strategic planning, communication, branding and international trade matters. He joined BDC in 1999 and has held a variety of field and corporate positions during his career with the bank, including Senior Manager, Loans; Director, Corporate Planning; Director, Strategic and Business Solutions; and Vice President of Corporate Relations. Mr. Bergeron began his career in the federal government, where he worked in international trade negotiations for the Department of Finance. He is a board member of Futurpreneur (formerly the CYBF) and IC2 Technologies Inc. He was appointed in January 2016, president of the marketing group, a CEO network of Québec. Mr. Bergeron holds Law degrees from Laval University and Dalhousie University, and a Master of International Relations degree from Laval University. He also holds the Corporate Director (ICD.D) designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Kim Blanchette, APR

CASTLEMAIN | ARGYLE

Executive Vice President, Settlements

Kim has more than 30 years of experience in strategic communications, engagement, brand and reputation management, and crisis communications and media relations at the provincial, federal, and international levels, with a focus on public sector and regulatory bodies, including Energy Resources Conservation Board and the Alberta Energy Regulator.

Kim leads Argyle’s Reputation Risk and Public Affairs practice, helping organizations build reputation equity through the relationships that build confidence and earn trust. As part of the Believeco:Partners leadership team, Kim manages Argyle operations in Western Canada working with a talented team of engagement and communications professionals. Kim is also senior counsel to Argyle’s work in Class Action Settlements, providing trauma-informed, culturally appropriate communications and support for settlements including the Sixties Scoop, Federal Indian Day Schools, Day Scholars and First Nations Drinking Water. 

 An accredited public relations professional, Kim is a member of the Canadian Public Relations Society College of Fellows and the first Canadian to become Chartered in public relations with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.  A former CPRS national president and the 2021 recipient of the Phillip A. Novikoff Award, Kim continues to support ethics and professional standards in PR practice across the Country.