The Pinnacle Team
Butler, Genevieve
Genevieve is an international journalist and PR professional with more than 15 years of experience in media and communications. She worked as a journalist at Reuters Television in London, Scandinavia, Belgium and Frankfurt, as a producer on CNN's world business programmes, and as a reporter for newspapers including the Independent on Sunday, The Moscow Times, and the Australian Associated Press. Beyond journalism, Genevieve has worked in PR and communications for the Australian government in Brussels and the United Nations in Africa and New York.
Caine, Naomi
Naomi is an experienced newspaper and online journalist specialising in financial news. She began her career in journalism almost 20 years ago as a reporter on an international business magazine. She then worked on various magazines and newspapers, gaining a wide knowledge of finance and consumer affairs. Naomi joined The Sunday Times in 1996 and was editor of the personal finance section for six years. She now writes for a range of publications including The Times, The Sunday Times, Money Week and Yahoo.
de Polnay, Greg
Greg has been an actor, director, voice teacher and corporate and media presentation trainer for 35 years. He has several West End credits, over 100 TV appearances and 350 radio broadcasts to his name. Greg has an Advanced Diploma in Voice Studies (ADVS) at the Central School of Speech and Drama and an MA in Text and Performance Studies from King's College, London. He has lectured internationally on language and style, coached high profile individuals and worked for many organisations on public speaking and communication. Greg is a member of the Institute of Training & Occupational Learning (iTOL).
Dober, Joanna
Jo is a senior communications consultant and coach with 20 years’ experience in international campaigns and strategic communications. She has a unique overview of stakeholder communications having worked in the European Parliament, in a leading public affairs agency, in trade associations at national and European levels, in-house for the world’s largest branded goods corporation. For the past ten years she has specialised in the NGO sector, first as Head of Communications for the European Consumer Organisation and subsequently as Head of Communications for Friends of the Earth Europe. Joanna has campaigned on a range of environment and rights issues, including sustainable agriculture, climate change, fair trade and access to medicines in the developing world.
Farmer, Duncan
Duncan is an experienced newspaper journalist specialising in finance, business and property. He began his career on local newspapers and as a freelance on national titles
before landing a full-time job on The Sunday Times, where he spent five and half years on the business and personal finance desks. He left in 2001 to become deputy editor of a new Mail on Sunday personal finance magazine. Two years later, he went freelance once more and has been writing ever since on property, health, personal finance and business issues for a variety of national newspapers and magazines, including the Mail, Times, Telegraph, City AM and, occasionally, The Sun.
Gonzales, Michael
Michael Gonzalez is an international PR professional with 10 years of experience. He has worked in the UK and Sweden, most recently for LEWIS Communications as Head of European media strategy where he provided media and PR council and training for business and technology companies in Europe, the US and Asia. Michael is a former IPR Young Communicator of the Year Finalist and has worked for GQ and Maxim Magazine as well as Amnesty International and the Council of the European Union in Brussels. Michael speaks English, Swedish and French.
Hardie, Jennifer
Jennifer is a senior international public relations director with more than 14 years of experience across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America. Before founding Pinnacle in 2002, Jennifer worked as a director for Edelman Public Relations in Stockholm and as a consultant for Government Policy Consultants, now Fleishman-Hillard, in Brussels. Jennifer has also managed pan-European communications campaigns for many large companies, governments and NGOs. As Managing Director International, she is the driving force behind Pinnacle’s international PR training programmes. Jennifer is UK Council Chair for the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) and joins the IPRA Board in 2009.
Hardie, Will
Will is an experienced international journalist and experimental psychologist turned communications consultant. He studied psychology at Oxford before joining Reuters as an international correspondent. He covered financial and macroeconomic news in London, EU politics and general news in Brussels, and markets, corporate news and technology in Stockholm. Then as a Belgrade-based Balkans correspondent his key areas of focus included foreign policy, conflict, security, diplomacy and economic development. He returned to London as a senior sub-editor, then left to co-found Pinnacle. As Managing Director he oversees training content and delivery with a focus on media training and customised programme development.
Harding, Gareth
Gareth is an experienced international journalist and communications trainer. After graduating from the London School of Economics and working as a political advisor and speechwriter in the European Commission and Parliament, he turned to reporting on EU affairs for among others the European Voice, Time, United Press International, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune and New York Times. He is publisher and editor of European news magazine thiseurope.com, a documentary film-maker and a radio and TV pundit. Gareth is a guest lecturer at the European Journalism Centre and director of the University of Missouri Journalism School’s Brussels programme.
Hart, Duncan
Duncan is a senior PR director and media trainer with more than 17 years of experience. He moved from journalism into PR 17 years ago and held a number of senior in-house positions including Media Manager for British bank Alliance & Leicester. He moved into consultancy at Burson-Marsteller and more recently MS&L as Head of Financial Services. Specialising in corporate positioning, thought leadership and issues management, Duncan has worked with major companies including Bank of Scotland, Royal & Sun Alliance, Prudential, Western Union, i-flex Solutions, EDF Energy and Accenture. As Training Director, Duncan manages Pinnacle’s London-based training operation.
Hart, Robert
Robert is a veteran international newswire journalist and communications trainer. He worked for Reuters for more than three decades as a correspondent, news editor and regional editor. He was a correspondent in Singapore, in Vietnam at the peak of the war, and in West Germany. He later became global news editor, editor for Latin America and the Caribbean, editor for the UK and Ireland, and Chief Correspondent for Spain. Most recently Robert has trained Reuters graduate trainee journalists and run training workshops for the Reuters Foundation around the globe. At Pinnacle, Robert runs media training and writing courses.
Hawley, Felice
Felice is a versatile editor, writer and broadcaster with in-depth experience of economic and business news, including more than a decade covering European financial markets. During a 15-year career at CNN, she helped create and then produce “World Business Today”, the award-winning, live business programme. Moving from TV to text, Felice became Managing Editor of Hoover’s Online Europe, responsible for a team of journalists and all editorial content on the business information service. She now writes and edits for a range of clients. At Pinnacle, Felice is an engaging and popular trainer specialising in writing, media relations and media training.
Hayes, Roger
Roger is a senior communications professional, corporate social responsibility adviser and strategist. He has been the head of PR for Ford of Europe, EMI Music, Director General of the British Nuclear Industry Forum and is the founder of Echo Research, a leading international research company. Roger has worked extensively in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa advising governments, government departments, NGOs and multinational companies. He has hosted and moderated many conferences, roundtables and training seminars. Roger has worked for Pinnacle since 2004 and has run courses on crisis management, stakeholder engagement, CSR, strategic communications and high-level media relations.
Johnson, Amy
Amy is a senior PR professional with more than 15 years of experience in consumer marketing, corporate communications and public relations. She has directed multinational campaigns in the United States and Europe. Amy has worked with three top-ranked agencies (Porter Novelli – Washington and London; Weber Shandwick – Paris and Brussels; Hill & Knowlton – Brussels). She now works as a consultant providing support for integrated marketing communications and campaign management challenges, including industry and commodity branding.
Kirtley, Adam
Adam is an experienced broadcast journalist who has worked across radio and TV news for the BBC for many years. He specialises in business and financial news reporting. A well-known radio voice, Adam offers practical insight into how broadcast media operate and cover business stories. Equally at home in the studio or in the field, Adam has presented live broadcasts from around the world and produced features and documentaries for Radio 4, the World Service and Five Live. Adam broadcasts extensively for the BBC alongside his training work, which has taken him across Europe, North America and Africa.
Kolokotsa, Julie
Julie is a senior public affairs and PR consultant with 20 years of experience. She worked in Washington, DC, in the US Congress and later in Brussels at the European Parliament for a senior MEP and Committee Chairman. Julie has also been a freelance journalist (Tomorrow Magazine, Ethical Corporation), a senior policy adviser on public affairs and a guest lecturer on lobbying in the EU, environmental policy and various business issues.
Margrave, Dr Richard
Richard is a senior communications consultant and political strategist working for politicians, political parties, unions and NGOs in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. He has taught policymaking, media management and journalism on a variety of courses at British and American universities, including at the University of Oxford and University of the Arts, London. Richard has a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics. His specialities include speechwriting, strategic communications advice, public affairs, media relations, campaigns and policy formulation. Richard is currently Director of Communications to the University of Cambridge.
Marsden, Paul
Paul is a leading international expert in online communications, PR, marketing and engagement. Ex-AstraZeneca, Paul co-founded Brainjuicer.com, one of Europe's leading online market research agencies, before moving on to create ClickAdvisor.com, a Web 2.0 marketing research agency. His work is pioneering a new generation of research that harnesses mass collaboration and collective intelligence. Paul has led a number of high profile published research projects, including at the London School of Economics. He blogs with Fred Reichheld at netpromoter.com. Paul runs Pinnacle’s online PR training courses. A reformed bodybuilder, Paul is now a diving fanatic and qualified dive master.
Martin, Zena
Zena is an international marketing communications expert with more than 20 years of experience in the US, Europe and Middle East. She has worked for clients from start-ups to global enterprise on projects ranging from advertising and in-house marcomms to public relations. She has managed national and multi-national PR campaigns across many disciplines including consumer, corporate, technology, business-to-business, diversity and entertainment. She has been a senior director with Hill & Knowlton in London, Managing Director of two UK agencies (Blanc & Otus and piranhaKid) and MD of Firefly Communications’ Paris office. Zena specialises in diversity communications.
McClure, Helen
Helen is a senior PR consultant specialising in strategic communications. She has extensive experience in both journalism and PR, and has worked for in the private and public sectors. She served nine years with British Army’s Media Operations Group, as well as working for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency and QinetiQ. Later, as a PR manager for Zurich Financial Services, Helen developed expertise on social issues to head up Zurich’s public service business unit, Zurich Municipal. Today Helen runs Passion for Public Relations (P4PR), and provides consulting on strategic communications and corporate social responsibility.
Perry, Jenni
Jenni is a senior communications professional, PR consultant, strategist and writer. She has worked for government ministers and senior policy officials across various departments including the Department of Trade and Industry and for senior British royalty. In the corporate world, Jenni was UK head of public relations for a global pharmaceutical company, where as a member of the European communications team she was responsible for running PR and media training seminars. Her experience includes strategic public relations, corporate communications, media training, press office development, media relations, public affairs, sponsorship management, crisis communications, corporate social responsibility and professional writing.
Rigby, Michael
Michael is a senior PR director with more than 20 years of experience. As Managing Director of consultancy Countrywide Porter Novelli's internal communications subsidiary, he specialised in developing communications strategies for high-profile clients such as ALSTOM, American Airlines, BAA, Corus, Enterprise Oil, Huntsman, NatWest, Pilkington and Rolls Royce. As well as leading accounts dealing with change management, he oversaw the production of staff publications, reports, websites, CDs, videos and intranets. He can draw from personal experience of change programmes, highly effective and pragmatic communications strategies, internal branding campaigns, and a successful history of business development and staff and budget management.
Scheubel, Veronica
Veronica is a prominent international expert on corporate responsibility and communications. As head of Community Involvement at Nokia she successfully developed and managed the company’s global community involvement program with implementation in more than 20 countries including global communications, cause-related marketing, internal communications campaigns, and website management and reporting. Before joining Nokia’s Head Office, Veronica built up the social and cultural sponsorship programs for the company in Germany. Veronica left Nokia in 2005 to work as a senior adviser to a number of organisations on corporate responsibility and related issues.
Smedley, Elsbeth
Elsbeth is a senior international PR director with more than 17 years’ experience working both for agencies and in-house. She ran the PR division of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide's Brussels office for four years, managing a multinational staff developing and implementing PR programmes at local, European and global levels, as well as supporting public affairs and lobbying initiatives.
Taylor, Philippa
Philippa is a senior PR professional with more than two decades of experience. She worked for top London PR agencies such as Good Relations and Ketchum, working frequently on food, drink, lifestyle, consumer and healthcare topics. Her clients have included Nestlé, Masterfoods, Direct Debit, Le Creuset, TV Licensing, Crayola and Oral-B. Philippa’s experience includes strategic planning, media relations, sponsorship management, celebrity liaison, event organisation, website content creation, crisis management, product and service launches including road shows and exhibitions, presentation training and copy writing. Philippa is active in PR through her own business, Grand Union PR, and also supports other agencies.
Treanor, Eithne
Eithne is an international journalist and communications consultant with more than 20 years of experience as as a television reporter for major international networks including BBC, Sky, Bloomberg and CNBC Europe. Her areas of expertise include international business and politics. Eithne is an experienced media trainer and has coached a number of very senior executives and politicians on how they can control an interview agenda. Eithne’s effectiveness owes a great deal to her conscientious preparation for interviews, her flexibility in simulating a wide range of media situations, and her responsiveness to the specific training needs of individual clients.
Tufnell, Katie
Katie is a senior PR consultant with more than 12 years’ experience, both for agencies and in-house. She has been involved in international and national programmes across the corporate, business-to-business and crisis management fields for a variety of clients –national and international, large and small. Katie was a senior member of the business and corporate affairs division of Edelman PR Worldwide where she had a key role in the development and execution of national, European and international PR programmes. Her experience includes delivering media relations programmes, leading launch campaigns and being part of a mobile crisis press office.
Walter, Magda
Magda is a veteran journalist who has worked for CNN, NBC and CNBC, where she covered national and international politics, governments and elections for 20 years. She then worked as European head of media relations for the World Bank and a global media chief for children’s NGO Plan. Magda has trained journalists, managers and media officers, advised UN agencies on media strategies, and produced video campaigns for the governments of Zambia and India. She holds master’s degrees in History from Warsaw University and in Journalism from Ohio State University. Magda has lived in or travelled to more than 60 countries.
Wheeler, Adrian
Adrian is a senior international PR director and communications expert. He started his career as a local newspaper journalist, joined a City public relations firm, and went on to co-found Sterling PR, which was acquired in 1990 by Grey as its first PR office in Europe. Adrian was CEO of GCI UK until 2005, and as chairman was instrumental in developing GCI Europe into a 28-office EMEA network with 53 multi-country clients including Dell, BA, Novartis and Eli Lilly. Adrian is active in the PRCA, CIPR and IPRA and a member of the Vice-Chancellor's Communications Panel at Cambridge University.
Yassine, Ahmad
Ahmad is an international broadcast journalist and TV news presenter with CNBC Arabiya in London. Previously he was a news anchor with Arab News Network (ANN). At ANN he created a weekly show "Cover Story" where he examined leading stories in the press and looked at their impact on the Middle East. Ahmad conducts media training interviews for Pinnacle's clients in Arabic and advises clients on how the media operate in the Middle East.
Zetter, Lionel
Lionel is a leading international public relations and public affairs expert. Educated at the University of Sussex, he read History in the School of African and Asian Studies and took an MA in Strategic Studies. He held a number of senior positions in media and political communications and went on to become Chairman of the Government Affairs Group and President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. Lionel has spoken and written widely about politics, public affairs and public relations. He is a member of the PR Week Power Book and is 2008 Public Affairs News Personality of the Year.
