Sarah Brown is the head of external communications at Merlin Entertainments, where she works on corporate and brand communications strategy, announcements, and reputation management, as well as providing strategic consultancy on marketing and communications to the company’s global teams and its charities.

Sarah has experience of working directly with many of Merlin Entertainment’s brands and attractions in the United Kingdom, including the likes of Warwick Castle, Edinburgh Dungeon, and LEGOLAND Discovery Centres in both Birmingham and Manchester.

Georgie Cade is an experienced communications leader with a strong track record of reputation management and delivering high-profile campaigns. She is Head of Communications for University College London (UCL), ranked a top 10 global university (QS, 2023) and The Sunday Times’ University of the Year.

Georgie has more than a decade of communications experience across private and public sector. She thrives in the sweet spot where crunchy challenges meet with a purpose-driven agenda. She is qualified with a CIPR Strategic PR Diploma, IPA Foundation, MSc (1st Class) and BA (1st Class).

She is a strong advocate for the professionalisation of communications as a strategic discipline, and for helping develop peers and future talent. Alongside a committee role on the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ Greater London Group, she is also a Sponsor for a 100+ Communications Community of Practice, set up an Impact Fellowship Scheme upskilling cohorts in media and policy engagement, and now scaled to its fourth year, and an annual scheme of Student Journalists trained at UCL.

Elspeth joined the Brand Performance of Landor in November 2021. She is responsible for commercialising the BrandAssset Valuator (BAV) and other Intellectual Properties, driving thought leadership, pioneering the development of AI-driven products and establishing best practices. 

Prior to joining Landor, Elspeth held the leadership role in spearheading the rapid expansion of Kantar BrandZ™ rankings for more than 10 years.  As the Global BrandZ™ Valuation Director for Kantar, she was responsible for the brand valuation, ranking analysis, client management and external communication for the suite of Kantar BrandZ rankings including the Global Top 100 and country brand rankings for China, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, the UK, the U.S., France, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

Elspeth has in-depth knowledge in Return on Investment measurement as well as monetising brand as the most valuable asset a company owns. She has written for and been interviewed by leading business titles including the CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Sky News, as well as leading marketing press such as the Global Marketing Alliance, Marketing Week and WARC, and has spoken at reputable events at House of Commons, London Stock Exchange and Institute of Directors in the UK and British Embassy in China.

Valentina D'Efilippo, an award-winning designer, creative director, and author, is renowned for her ability to inspire, move, and connect people through data-driven experiences.

Her work includes the critically acclaimed "The Infographic History of the World," co-authored with James Ball and available in eleven languages, and the innovative "Britannica’s Encyclopedia Infographica," a children's encyclopedia filled with facts and infographics about the universe, wildlife, and human anatomy.

Valentina's creativity and insight have led to collaborations with diverse organizations, from startups to global brands, in various fields and formats, including theatre performances, exhibitions, and digital platforms.

Beyond her projects, Valentina is passionate about education and knowledge sharing, offering coaching to corporate teams, lecturing at institutions like Columbia Business School, and running popular Masterclasses. Her contributions to the field have been internationally exhibited and are part of the permanent collection at the Weltmuseum in Vienna. In recognition of her influence and innovation, she was named one of Campaign’s 30 Future Creative Female Leaders in 2018.

Mark is an Executive level marketer of 25 years now pursuing a portfolio career. In his last executive role at Direct Line Group (DLG) Mark was Managing Director for Marketing & Digital and was a long-standing member of the Executive Committee. Prior to DLG Mark worked at HSBC, 118118 and Mars in a broad range of marketing and commercial roles.

Mark now combines Executive coaching with a number of non-exec, advisory and Trustee roles with Accenture, the Marketing Society, Saracens Rugby, HMRC, The Institute for Customer Services, The UK Sepsis Trust, Save the Children, and OnSide.

Mark also co-hosts a podcast - The Places We'll Go Show. With 140 episodes to date, guests have included the likes of Paul Polman, Karen Blackett OBE, Sir Martin Sorrell, Victoria Gosling OBE, Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Clive Woodwardand a wide range of CEOs and CMOs.

Mark founded the “Sprintathon” in 2016 which is a mass-relay marathon charity event that has so far raised £900k for Stand Up To Cancer to beat cancer faster. Mark is a Fellow of the Marketing Society and of the Marketing Academy. He was recognised as the Marketing Society Leader of the Year in 2018 and with an Honorary Fellowship in 2023.

Heather, with over a decade of experience, excels in driving creative content production and launching impactful social media campaigns. Her keen eye for emerging trends and passion for storytelling have consistently elevated brand narratives across various platforms, engaging audiences and fostering community growth.

As the Head of Social and Content at iQ Student Accommodation, Heather focuses on building sector differentiation, drawing from her expertise gained at consumer brands like Virgin Active and Mazda Motors. Her skill set spans content creation, social media strategy, and digital analytics, allowing her to craft campaigns that resonate with target demographics while achieving measurable business outcomes.

Dave Murphy is head of media for the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s data protection and freedom of information regulator. His team focuses on raising awareness of people’s data protection rights, looking for creative and engaging approaches across press, web and social media.

Earlier this year, they won PR Moment’s public sector campaign of the year in April for a campaign around predatory marketing calls, and have also been nominated for in-house team of the year at the upcoming CIPR Excellence awards.

Dave has previously worked for the Health Research Authority and City of London Police.

Alex was one of the early UK pioneers of brand social media adoption. He has built awarded social media, service, communications, and digital marketing teams for consultancies, agencies and within major brands. First at O2, as head of Social Media, and then as co-founder of OneFifty, he’s demonstrated how it’s possible and desirable for major organisations to use social media at scale across customer services, sales, retention, brand and communications activity.

OneFifty is a social-first, digital marketing consultancy which closes the gap between how audiences live digitally, and how brands appear. Alex has helped to build a 35-person strong business, working with brands including Toby Carvery, Yellow Tail Wines, OVO Energy and Sage.

Paul Quigley is co-founder and CEO of NewsWhip a predictive media monitoring platform that helps comms and insights professionals proactively monitor and defend their brand’s reputation. NewsWhip has grown to be trusted by thousands of brands, agencies, and journalists to spot breaking news, unpack crises and issues, and better understand which stories are engaging audiences in over 80 countries.

Jennifer works as an Insights Consultant at CARMA, providing strategic guidance on global measurement and evaluation programmes. She is one of the best young talents in the industry – evidenced by her AMEC award as the Young Professional of 2023 and her CIPR award as the Outstanding Young Communicator of 2019.

Jennifer has vast experience working on international media analysis solutions for government entities and large global organisations. She is also a committee member of the CIPR’s Greater London group and a member of the PRCA.

As CEO of Caliber, a Copenhagen-based brand and reputation analytics firm, Shahar helps organizations build trust through providing a mix of strategic consulting, stakeholder insights and digital solutions. He has an MBA from Columbia Business School and over 20 years of experience working at leading consultancies in New York, London and Copenhagen – advising some of the world’s largest companies in the areas of marketing, communications, business strategy and stakeholder relations.

Shahar’s activity in the areas of reputation management and corporate branding extends to public speaking in industry events, publication of thought leadership and guest lecturing at academic institutions like the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, Copenhagen Business School, Quadriga University in Berlin and Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Stephen is the founder and managing partner of Wadds Inc., a professional advisory and research firm for the corporate communications industry. He’s an entrepreneur who has benefited from disruption in media and technology during his career in public relations. He built an agency during the 90s supporting companies creating the infrastructure and applications that were the foundation of the internet. He did it again ten years later, scaling one of the first agencies to work across paid, social and earned media.

Stephen is also a PhD researcher at Leeds Business School, investigating the relationship between public relations and management. He has written more than ten books on management and communication, including Exploring Public Relations and Management Communication, and served as President of the CIPR. He is an Honorary Fellow of the CIPR and Fellow of the PRCA.