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.

John Shield

BBC

Director of Communications

John Shield joined the BBC as Director of Communications in November 2013. He is responsible for all of the BBC’s communications activity. Prior to this John was Director of Communications at the Department for Work and Pensions - John headed up all the communications activity for the department, including press, marketing and internal communications. John has both private and public sector experience, having been a Director at one of Britain's largest transport businesses and the Head of Communications for news, current affairs and sport at the BBC. He was also Director of Communications at the Department for Communities and Local Government, and Head of News at the Department for Education and Skills. He has also worked at the Foreign Office and No. 10.

Professor Elizabeth Stokoe

Loughborough University

Professor of Social Interaction - Associate Dean for Research for the SSPGS

Elizabeth Stokoe is Professor of Social Interaction in the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University, UK. She analyses the science of talk using conversation analysis, in settings including first dates, police interrogations, sales calls, and initial inquiries to services including mediation and doctors’ surgeries. She teaches on the BSc Social Psychology programme at Loughborough. Outside the university, she runs workshops with mediators, doctors, police and other professionals using her research-based communication training method called the “Conversation Analytic Role-play Method”. She has lectured at the Royal Institution and at TEDx, and her research and biography was the subject of BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific.

Abi Laughton

Tate Museum

Marketing And Communications Manager

Melissa Fleming

UNHCR

Head Of Communications And Public Information

As Head of Communications and Chief Spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Melissa Fleming leads communications efforts around the globe. Operating in 120 countries, UNHCR provides shelter and help for over 30 million people who have fled wars and persecution. In her role, Ms Fleming has introduced strategic communication planning designed to have more impact on the varied audiences, which include media, donors, governments and refugees themselves. She also directs global advocacy campaigns with a strong emphasis on social media. To garner support for a humanitarian cause, she believes communications must not only inform but generate empathy and stir action. She believes in the power of public speaking to move audiences. Her TED talk http://bit.ly/1zdmdPb , “Let’s help refugees thrive, not just survive,” has been viewed over 900,000 times around the world and has been subtitled in 25 languages. Over 1.2 million people have viewed her second TED talk about an extraordinary young Syrian woman, Doaa, who was one of the only survivors of a boat wreck that killed 500 refugees, including her fiancée. This is the subject of her forthcoming book, A Hope More Powerful than the Sea, to be published by Macmillan in Fall, 2016. She joined UNHCR from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), where she served for eight years as Spokesperson and Head of Public Information during the period the organisation made headlines for its inspection work in Iraq, Iran and North Korea and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. Prior to IAEA, she headed the Press and Information team at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and as a Public Affairs Specialist at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She started her career as a journalist. She lives with her husband and two children in Vienna, Austria and works at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. She is originally from Marblehead, Massachusetts. She has an M.A. in journalism from Boston University and a B.A. in German Studies from Oberlin College.

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.

Maxim Behar

ICCO (International Communications Consultancy Organisation)

President

Maxim Behar is a leading Public Relations expert with wide experience and strong presence in many countries all over the world. He travels a lot, often speaks in front of world leaders audiences, practitioners, students and opinion makers on the modern Public Relations and Social Media topics. Maxim is President of ICCO, the largest and most influential global organization of Public Relations professionals and practitioners. He is a dreamer and hard worker for a better, more dynamic and more ethical world. Maxim is also a practitioner - he likes chatting, networking, serious business projects, social media, rock music, gadgets and traveling, meeting new people and facing new challenges, reading and writing. Also he is a committed fan of golf, cycling and parachute jumping. One of his favorite rules in life is: If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough! In 1994 Maxim founded M3 Communication Group, Inc., the leader in the field of public and media relations in Bulgaria. Since then he has been the company's Chief Executive and Chairman of the Board of Directors. He is also Honorary Consul General of Republic of Seychelles to Bulgaria. Currently Maxim Behar is Chairman of the Board of World Communications Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of For Our Children Foundation, Vice-President of The Atlantic Club in Bulgaria, Board member (former long years Chairman) ofBulgarian Business Leaders Forum and tens other local and internationals organisations. Since January 2012 he was appointed Chairman of Hill+Knowlton Strategies in Prague, Czech Republic, and since then he has been managing simultaneously both offices in Prague and in Sofia. The company's clients list consist of globally renowned brands in various fields, such as energy, finance, technology, property management and real estate, fast-moving consumer goods, education, art, etc. Maxim has Bachelor's degree in Engineering Economics and an Advanced degree in International Economic Relations from the Prague Economics University in the Czech Republic. In 1981, during his studies, he began his career as a journalist in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Poland. He remained active in journalism until 1995. Maxim's latest book “Generation F” reached #4 of sales on Amazon (2012) and also his previous books “111 Rules on Facebook” and “Secondary Instinct” were considered best sellers in the country. He is fluent in Bulgarian, English, Czech, Polish and Russian, plays golf, drums, tennis and provides regular parachute jumps.

Malena Cutuli

Nestlé

AVP Global Communications, Food