SUMMARY
Board and Council Member; Assessor for the Chartered Status; Founder and Co-chair of the Energy Leadership Platform; Chair of the Foresight Panel - the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR);
Board Director of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Aberdeen Section;
Fellow of the UK’s Institute of Leadership, and Judge of its Digital Leadership Annual Awards;
Founding Fellow of the Commonwealth Communicators Organisation – The Commonwealth Secretariat;
Lead trainer for the Post Graduate Specialist Diploma in Crisis Communication - Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University;
Founder of SPE’s Leadership Development Initiative for Young Professionals, Middle East and North Africa;
Business mentor to the members of The Institute of Directors (IoD) and to the UK Government’s Communications Services (GCS);
Chief Examiner, Socially Mobile CIC;
Adviser to the Digital Democracy Commission, UK’s Parliament House of Commons
PUBLISHED WORKS
Chapter on “Culture in Crisis Communications” in: Harris P., Bitonti A., Fleisher C.S., Skorkjær Binderkrantz A. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham., 2020
Author of ‘Social Media and the Islamic State – Can Public Relations Succeed Where Conventional Diplomacy Failed?’ – Routledge, 2019
Editor of and contributor to ‘An Introduction to Energy PR’ – CIPR, 2019
Chapter on ‘Culture and its contribution to modern public relations’ in Platinum, CIPR, 2018
Chapter on ‘What’s in It for Me and Why Should I Do It? Addressing Diverse Motivations’ in The Book of Employee Communications, Strategies and Tactics; PRNews, 2017
Chapter on ‘Managing the Integration of Businesses: Merging Companies, Disciplines and Cultures’ in FutureProof, ed. 2, 2016
The Influence of Culture in Crisis Communication, Conference Paper, Annual International Conference on Journalism & Mass Communications (JMComm 2016), 10.5176/2301-3710_JMComm16.29.
Chapter on ‘Relationships with Stakeholders and Local Communities’ in Hydraulic Fracturing in the UK – St. John’s International University, 2014; Ethical Business Update, 2015
Chapter on ‘The Dangers of Social Media’ in Social PR, Mithra Publishing, 2013
EDUCATION
MA – International Affairs and Diplomacy; University of Buckingham
Post Graduate Diploma - Crisis (Response) Communication Management; The Chartered Institute of Public Relations
Certificate of Achievement – Religion, Conflict and Peace; Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University
Post Graduate Certificate - Change Leadership; Cornell University
Post Graduate Certificate – Strategic Management; The University of Derby
Post Graduate Certificate - Negotiation for Conflict and Dispute Resolution; United Nations Institute for Training and Research
Post Graduate Certificate - Cross Cultural Negotiations; United Nations Institute for Training and Research
Post Graduate Certificate - International Negotiations; United Nations Institute for Training and Research
Bachelor of Science (Hons) - Communication Sciences; The National School for Administrative and Political Studies
SELECTED PROJECTS
As Vice President, Communication and Strategic Alliances, supported the creation of the first Business Configurator in the world specialised in impact tech start-ups for the circular economy, with a strong focus on AI, ML and blockchain, spanning across edtech, medtech, life sciences, B2B SaaS, supply chain and logistics.
Led on the global media relations and influencer engagement strategy for the launch of Conscious Planet in 2022 – an initiative supported by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the UN Environment Program, World Food Programme, Partnerships For Change, International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Global Citizen Forum.
Created the first international conference in the history of the oil and gas industry to address the complexities of human risk in oil and gas exploration and production - “Another Perspective on Risk – The Next Tipping Point”, and the first international workshop seeking to address workplace discrimination in the oil and gas industry worldwide – “Breaking the Cycle of Discrimination; Workplace Challenges in the Oil and Gas Industry”.
Acted as senior reputation, issues and crisis management adviser to the Executive Team of British Sugar plc.
Leadership and Strategic Management Trainer for the World Bank’s “Supplier Development Project in Kazakhstan”, with the Ministry of National Economy as main project beneficiary, and Kazakhstan Industry and Export Centre as the main project partner.
Advised the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) leadership on the most appropriate international engagement strategy to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs) to Saudi Arabia.
Acted as Senior Expert Adviser, on international media relations, to the Government of Qatar.
Advised the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) on their crisis preparedness and response.
Led Averda Group’s crisis communication and response and corporate recovery during and post “Lebanon Waste Crisis” ensuring the Group’s reputational standing and global growth.
Led the International Stakeholder Engagement efforts of KazTransOil’s intelligent monitoring of oil pipelines and their associated facilities.
On behalf of the European Commission, led the communication team responsible for the “Harmonisation of Standards and Practices in the Gas Sector in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan)” Project
On behalf of the European Commission, led the communication team responsible for the “IFI Technical Assistance Support Fund for Facilitating Investments in Oil and Gas Projects across Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine” Project
Acted as the Intergovernmental Liaison for the “Pan European Oil Pipeline” Project between the five sponsor governments (Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia and Romania)
On behalf of the Government of Malta, performed the Reputation Risk Analysis for the privatisation of Malta’s national electricity company, Enemalta
Led Marexin’s public affairs efforts to secure a sapropel exploration licence in the Black Sea
