Trainer biographies – CIPR Approved and Specialist
We will only use CIPR Approved Trainers to lead our workshop sessions. This is our commitment to you that we will only provide excellent standards of training using reliable trainers who have demonstrated their own commitment to continuous learning and regular skills updating, and to raising standards of professionalism throughout the industry.
All are specialists in their respective fields and come from a variety of backgrounds including in-house, consultancy, and academia. In addition, all have a wide range of professional experience. In order to achieve this training standard, all have undergone a rigorous approval process and have demonstrated a commitment to excellence in training.
93% of our delegates rated our trainers as very good or excellent and 88% said the workshop attended met their objectives.
Karen Ainley MCIPR worked as a newspaper journalist on weekly and evening newspapers in Essex before moving into radio with BBC Essex in 1991 as a reporter and newsreader and then onto BBC Look East as a bi-media reporter for regional television. She left the BBC in 1999 and is a co-founder and director of Mosaic Publicity. Karen has trained a number of key representatives from organisations such as EDF Energy, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, T-Mobile, Rail Safety and Standards Board, plus many universities, local authorities and businesses. She is a past President of Colchester Chamber of Commerce. Karen is also a podcasting expert and has written a mini guide to podcasting for CIPR members.
Jeni Beattie MCIPR founded Accolade Media Training 25 years ago, and has been teaching the art of facing the media ever since then. Jeni's media career started in print journalism, and her advice is based on experience at the sharp end of issue management dealing with problems such pressure groups, environmental disasters and redundancy programmes. Jeni has worked across Europe helping clients put across powerful, positive and persuasive messages. She has worked on broadcast media interview skills with national government agencies, banks, accountancy firms, NHS Trusts, universities, and the chemical, nuclear and pharmaceutical industries.
Kevin Bentley MCIPR has spent more than 20 years with the BBC, first in London then as a TV reporter with BBC Look East and a parliamentary reporter and producer on the BBC's East at Westminster programme. He has also worked as a journalist for various BBC local radio stations.
He is a past National President of the Round Table organisation. Kevin is now a director of Mosaic Publicity and has media trained key spokespeople from many local authorities including Suffolk County Council, Essex County Council, Northampton Borough Council and Mid Suffolk District Council. He has also trained representatives from Network Rail, Rail Safety and Standards Board, Learning and Skills Council, Countryside Properties, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and many more.
Debbie Binner MIPR Debbie Binner, a former national and regional TV news presenter, set up her own media and communications training consultancy, One to One Communications, in 2005.
Debbie now advises a range of UK and international clients on maximising media and communications performance.
In a career spanning 18 years, Debbie has worked in both journalism and PR. She spent 10 years as a daily TV news presenter and reporter and has written for many national newspapers and magazines. She has also headed up communications departments in the NHS and in international business publishing.
A well-known speaker, Debbie delivers many talks on media and communications in seminars across Europe. She is also currently indulging her passion for personal impact in her new book: The 7 Laws of Personal Gravitas.
Debbie works with a range of leading professionals to provide an extensive suite of courses in media and communications.
Caroline Black MCIPR Caroline is an experienced communications professional with a background in senior management roles. A writer and trainer, she recently completed a book entitled 'The PR practitioners desk top guide' and now manages a successful training consultancy.
Jonathan Boddy MCIPR is a vastly experienced tutor and trainer having worked in the specific field of Media and Crisis Skills training for nearly 15 years. He has worked alongside a wide range of organisations helping them to communicate effectively under a variety of challenging circumstances. Currently he is a consultant to several organisations including those from the food and drink sector, the NHS and the airline industry.
Tricia Boyd FCIPR is a consultant, trainer and interim manager. An early career in publishing led into PR. She has been managing director of a team of 30 people as well as leading HR and change management roles in large consultancies. In 2002 Tricia set up her own business, working for public and private sector clients and mixing consultancy work with in-house interim assignments.
Jonathan Bracken MCIPR is a partner and head of public policy at a specialist London-based parliamentary law firm. An expert in the fields of public affairs, legislative drafting and regulatory policy. He has over 20 years experience of working on high profile lobbying campaigns and public affairs projects in the UK, Europe and the United States.
Di Burton FCIPR is the managing director of Cicada Communications Limited, which she founded in 1987. She advises at board level on leadership issues and stakeholder management for a range of blue chip organisations. For the past 14 years she has been directing the MA in Public Communication programme for the Government Communication Network in Leeds.
Di is a Consultant Fellow and holds an Honorary Fellowship at LeedsTrinity University College. She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Di is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and leads several CIPR workshops, covering topics from employee engagement to managing teams.
As an industry expert, Di has worked at 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences. She also acts as a judge for the National APPRO Awards for Excellence in Police Media communication, and judges the annual Yorkshire Press Awards and CIPR Excellence Awards.
Magnus Carter MCIPR has an international reputation for media and crisis communications consultancy and training. He started his journalistic career as a newspaper journalist, and later gained more than 20 years experience in news and current affairs broadcasting, working with the BBC and commercial companies in both radio and television. He was a senior postgraduate journalism lecturer for the University of West of England and is currently an Associate Consultant to the Bristol Business School.
Magnus founded Mentor Consultancy in 1998 and has since then worked with many corporate and public sector clients, to ensure that media encounters become a positive opportunity even in times of crisis and that individuals within those organisations gain recognition through excellent communication skills. He is a member of and approved trainer for the CIPR.
Linda Cressey MCIPR is a consultant and independent trainer specialising in communication, management and personal development training. Prior to this, Linda was a fundraising manager for the national children's charity ChildLine. She now delivers public and in-house training for many companies and organisations throughout the UK.
Catherine Cross MCIPR is Director of Media Training at Hill & Knowlton, Catherine combines experience from an extensive career in broadcasting with her understanding of the PR industry. She has trained numerous internationally renowned corporate clients, using her wide-ranging knowledge of journalism from more than ten years as a reporter, producer and presenter in local radio, BBC network radio, Regional Television, and at the World Service. She also studied print and broadcast journalism at the University of Colorado, in the United States.
Tessa Curtis MCIPR is an independent consultant with over 20 years' experience in public relations, journalism and training. She runs her own consultancy, Tessa Curtis Associates, which advises UK and international clients.
Previously MD of the Corporate, Financial and Strategic media practices at Weber Shandwick, Tessa also led the European Professional Services and media training practices at Trimedia; and has acted as a session leader at PR industry events and judge for the PR Week awards. She is a faculty member of The Management School London, where she teaches CIPR professional qualifications.
Originally a journalist, Tessa was for many years City Correspondent of The Daily Telegraph and later Business Correspondent at the BBC, regularly appearing on the main TV news and programmes including Today and Newsnight. A graduate of Oxford University, she lives in London.
Gill Dandy MCIPR is a communications professional with over 20 years' consultancy and in-house experience in the public relations industry. She was a board director of Shandwick Communications, working with consumer and retail clients, before moving into the not-for-profit (nfp) sector as communications director for a charity. She currently works as a trainer and communications consultant for charity and nfp clients. Gill is Chair of Fifth Estate, the CIPR's nfp sectoral group, and was previously a judge in the nfp category of the CIPR Excellence Awards.
Millicent Danker MCIPR founded the stakeholder-relations firm Perception Management International (PMI) Group with offices in Kuala Lumpur, London, Lusaka and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as communications training provider Mentor Communication Resources, 15 years ago after a 20 year career that included communications advisory roles at Petronas and Tanjung plc/UTSB.
As one of Asia's leading public relations practitioners, she has been active in active practice in the industry for 35 years, offering her insights in the areas of corporate strategy, stakeholder management, media, crisis and issues management, communications programme and policy development, corporate transparency and communication ethics, leadership communications, strategic messaging, communications training and workshop facilitation at director and Board level.
Maud Davis MCIPR is a PR consultant and CIPD qualified trainer, who delivers workshops for the CIPR and is part of its team of mentors.
She has managed PR accounts in agencies for over 15 years, working in the fast moving consumer goods, charity and publishing sectors. Her experience includes British Meat (post BSE), PDSA, Kellogg's, the Royal College of Midwives and Slimming World magazine. Today, she works as an independent consultant for PR and marketing agencies, advising and implementing high profile media relations campaigns.
She is also course leader on the CIPR Advanced Certificate in London, is a tutor on the CIPR Foundation course and online Advanced Certificate course and serves on the Marcomms group committee of the CIPR. Maud recently became an accredited Belbin team roles consultant.
Leona Deakin is a chartered occupational psychologist and co-director of consultancy Deakin Carmichael. She specialises in many areas that complement the world of PR including internal communication, senior team facilitation and change management. Leona is an experienced trainer, facilitator and coach who is keen to help PR professionals understand how psychology can help them to achieve their goals.
James Filleul worked as a News Editor for the BBC in Jersey before establishing - Direct Input - a leading Channel Island PR, Marketing and Training Agency. James has run extensive training programs in the Channel Islands and off-shore jurisdictions as well as the Middle East and Caribbean. Delegates have included politicians, representatives from the Ministry of Defence, CEO's from a variety of business sectors as well as members of the Ruling Family in Bahrain.
James is a member of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce and a regular speaker and presenter at business and corporate events in the Channel Islands. James also runs courses in Creative Writing, Media Awareness, Producing Effective Press Releases and Business Presentation Skills. As well as training and delivering seminars James advises clients on implementing PR strategies and how to maximise promotional opportunities.
Nick Fitzherbert MCIPR provides training in Creative Thinking and Presentation Skills. In each case he builds upon traditional training methods with magic-based techniques to help business people direct and hold attention, persuade and convince, and generate a multitude of ideas. Nick spent 20 years in PR consultancy, working for consultancies such as Countrywide and running his own for seven years. It was during this time that he developed an interest in magic. By matching his PR experience with fresh insights gained through The Magic Circle, Nick identified the Rules of Magic which make his training impactful, memorable and fun!
Liam FitzPatrick's background includes external and internal communications having worked in-house and in major consultancies. Over the years he has delivered communications programmes for clients in a number of sectors. In recent years his consulting work has concentrated on developing teams of communicators and helping to define professional competencies. He also works on the communication skills of line managers and senior leaders.
Liam runs the Change and Internal Communications practice for Bell Pottinger and is one of the co-authors of the definitive competency model for internal communicators. As well as being a regular columnist in the CIPR magazine Profile he is a contributor to the Gower Handbook on Internal Communications.
Lorraine Forrest-Turner MCIPR is employed by the HPS marketing group in Marlow, Lorraine Forrest-Turner as a copywriter, PR practitioner and communication skills trainer. Over the last 25 years, she has worked across all sides of the PR business (journalism, consultancy, in-house and freelance) and is now a CIPR Accredited Practitioner and Trainer. Originally qualified in audiology, Lorraine worked for the NHS with the deaf and hard-of-hearing before moving into the performing arts – experience that she has brought to her communication skills training. Lorraine is also a member of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain and the author of a non-fiction book and two published stage plays.
Ashley Gibbins MCIPR has worked as head of communications for two London boroughs, in tourism, and in commercial and industrial PR. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists and a lecturer on communications. More recently, Ashley set up his own consultancy specialising in corporate, campaign and event management projects.
Judi Goodwin MCIPR is a freelance journalist and trainer with wide experience in both print and broadcast media. She specialises in helping professionals in PR and corporate communications to develop a journalistic writing style. Judi began her training career with the University of Manchester and now trains in the Far East and Europe. She has run in-house courses for The Countryside Agency, The Royal Mint, Lloyds TSB, the NUJ and IPC Magazines. She brings a whole-person approach to her training, with an emphasis on coaching and creativity.
Andy Green FCIPR
Andy Green lectures and runs training events around the world to inspire audiences and delegates to harness their creative abilities and manage the creative dimension in their work. Andy is author of 'Creativity in Public Relations' – the first book on the subject, now in its third edition and translated into Chinese, Croatian, Indonesian, Korean, Polish and Russian. He has also written 'Effective Personal Communications in Public Relations' on how each of us can change our world.
Andy is a Fellow of the Institute and has over 25 years experience in public relations, marketing and brand development. He has won numerous awards for his work. Andy runs a successful public relations consultancy in Yorkshire as well as his own creativity consultancy, and is also a director of the Wakefield Media Centre which claims to be Britain's only moo-ing building!
Laurel Hetherington FCIPR is a freelance PR trainer and a public relations examiner for the CAM Foundation. She has lectured on CAM Certificate and Diploma courses for 10 years and runs many in-house training workshops.
Neil Jones MCIPR has over 30 years experience in reputation management, public relations, internal communications and training. He provides emergency response cover for several oil industry clients; manages a specialist health and safety internal communication programme and edits and writes a number of internal publications including new technology and HSE newsletters for an oil major and a worldwide group's quarterly staff magazine.
Dennis Kelly FCIPR is the director of marketing and student recruitment at Teesside University and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. Dennis is an experienced public relations practitioner and was the founder and managing director of a major UK public relations consultancy. He also spent 12 years in a senior capacity with BT, and his experience encompasses all aspects of internal and external communications, in both the public and private sectors. He has been responsible for numerous award-winning campaigns and has been recognised in the CIPR Excellence Awards. Areas of special interest include strategic planning, integrated communications, crisis communications and issues management.
Vyvyan Kinross MCIPR was a journalist specialising in Middle East affairs before founding Kinross + Render, which grew into a Top 50 marketing and PR consultancy. During his 25 years in marketing and PR, Vyvyan has worked internationally and in the UK for clients across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. He started silverFox Training to focus on coaching, mentoring and sharing experiences with others in the PR profession.
Sally Ann Law is a psychologist who has been working for almost ten years as a life coach. She coaches private individuals as well as corporate clients from around the UK and Europe. She appears frequently on television, e.g., BBC Breakfast News, and regularly contributes to radio discussions on a wide range of topics. She writes articles and provides quotes for numerous newspapers and magazines and is often employed by PR firms where her expertise is of relevance to strengthen their client campaigns. She also gives talks and workshops on a variety of coaching-related subjects, e.g., time and stress management, effective career development, work/life balance and interpersonal confidence.
Una McSorley MCIPR specialises in the development and facilitation of corporate communication strategies, the provision of media skills and crisis management training.
She has 18 years experience in public relations, marketing and communications for both the public and private sector and has extensive experience of working within the health sector in NI.
Paul Murricane
Since forming Media Mentor, Paul has media trained over two thousand people throughout the UK. He is highly experienced in corporate communication, having trained senior executives from The Walt Disney Company, McDonald's Restaurants, Disney, Zurich Insurance, Iceland Foods, Birmingham City Council, Pfizer and Transport For London.
Paul was nominated for a BAFTA award for his Dispatches programme "The Truth Of Christmas Island" and won an RTS award for investigative journalism for "Aids Hits Home". He then took the post of Head of Corporate Affairs at Scottish Television.
Paul Noble FCIPR is an independent public relations trainer, consultant, academic, mentor and speaker/facilitator. He a CIPR-approved trainer, covering topics ranging from writing skills, through planning & evaluation and crisis management, to winning new business (for PR consultancies).
Paul is an e-learning specialist and is a course leader of the PR Academy's online delivery of the CIPR's professional Diploma. In addition, he is chief examiner of the CIPR's Advanced Certificate. He also provides management support to growing PR consultancies, as well as mentoring young professionals.
Paul has more than 30 years' experience in senior consultancy, in-house and academic environments. In the 1980s, he set up his own PR consultancy before moving into financial services to head up a large corporate communications department. In the 1990s, he ran the PR degree at Bournemouth University where he continued to teach at post-graduate level until recently.
Paul is a Fellow of the CIPR and a CIPR Chartered PR Practitioner, as well as being an assessor for the designation. With Dr Tom Watson, he is the author of Evaluating Public Relations (2nd edition published in 2007).
Warwick Partington MCIPR is managing director of Media Training Masterclasses Ltd. He formed the company in 1996 after a 20 year career in the broadcast radio and television industries. After qualifying as an engineer, he began broadcasting as a reporter/researcher for ITV's farming programme before becoming a producer/director of investigative documentaries for ITV and Channel 4 television. With his experience of journalism, he moved into directing live news and current affairs for ITV and Sky News where he worked on the programming launch team.
After leaving Sky News, BT Business Television contracted him as a programming consultant, during which time he worked alongside a team of international business psychologists working on change management programmes for global businesses. This developed his interest in training senior executives to communicate more effectively using broadcast media techniques. After a three year sabbatical in which he gained training qualifications, he worked as a consultant for the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Authority before founding Media Training Masterclasses at the BBC Training & Development Centre.
In 2008, the company developed their new brand to include media interview training alongside executive communication & development skills training, forming MTM Skills Training Ltd. It specialises in all forms of personal communications coaching for leaders, senior executives and managers.
Mark Phillimore MCIPR is an experienced PR consultant with 20 years' experience, specialising in the media and technology sectors. He now lectures at several business schools and universities, as well as running his own training consultancy. His main areas of academic interest and professional training are strategy, organisational change and culture, and new media communications.
Jacqueline Purcell MCIPR is a PR fellow & faculty member with 20 years of experience consulting to blue chip companies such as the combined oil companies.
From a journalistic news editor background, she holds a masters in public relations and is a competent toastmaster. Extensively travelled and trilingual she has worked with world leaders, VIP's and celebrities on global campaigns such as the World Solar Congress. Training topics include interpersonal communication & concept creation.
Kerry Savage MCIPR has worked at some of the UK's most successful PR consultancies, as well as in-house. Her expertise spans a broad range of sectors, with clients ranging from Kellogg's and P&G to American Express and Selfridges. As managing director of a training company, Savage Communications, Kerry specialises in teaching core PR competencies, including proposal writing, presentation skills and strategic counsel. She delivered the PR module for the Diploma in Journalism at Birkbeck College and regularly provides small business training programmes for Business Link. Kerry is a coach and NLP practitioner.
Anne Sherer Broom trained as a newspaper journalist in the north east before moving into BBC local radio in Blackburn and then Manchester. She worked as a news reader/producer at Radio Manchester and Radio Lancashire, contributing to the World Service and to network programmes such as Woman's Hour, PM and You and Yours before moving south to Essex. Anne has worked at BBC Look East and as a long-standing newspaper feature writer for the Essex County Standard. In recent years she worked in business marketing for Colchester Borough Council before joining Mosaic in 2003 as Account Manager. She is now a Senior Account Director and has been involved in media training a number of Mosaic's key clients.
Lee Smith FCIPR is an award-winning communicator who has held senior positions with some of the UK's leading financial and professional services businesses.
In 2006 he co-founded Gatehouse, a London-based consultancy which works with leading public and private sector organisations, in the UK and globally, to improve their communications, engage employees and drive through change.
Lee is Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and past chair of CIPR Inside, the Institute's special interest group for internal communicators.
A visiting lecturer at a number of universities, he is a passionate advocate for social media and runs the popular Talking Internal Communication blog and events listing.
Robert Taylor MCIPR is a media trainer and speechwriter, and the managing director of Taylor-made Communications, a training and editorial consultancy. He has media-trained executives from a range of companies across all sectors, combining a challenging and searching interview technique with an inclusive style of facilitation. Empathising with the different needs of trainees, he gives simple, memorable lessons that they can act upon immediately. Robert started his career in 1990 in Sri Lanka, where he produced and presented English-language television programmes, before joining the international communications industry in London. He has also been a columnist for The International Herald Tribune.
John Venables MCIPR specialises in media interview skills and message management training. He started his journalism career in BBC local radio before moving to regional television and then online news. As well as working as a general news reporter he was a specialist science and environment correspondent, and also a journalism instructor. He is a former Press Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and is the author or editor of four books on the media: Handling Publicity the Right Way,Making Headline: News Values and Risk Signals in Journalism, Communication Skills for Engineers and Scientistsand What is News? John has been a media trainer for 20 years and is managing director of NewsCrews Ltd, a training and new media production company.
Dr Jon White FCIPR is a consultant specialising in management and organisation development, public affairs and PR management. He holds a doctorate from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences and has written extensively in public affairs, public relations and corporate communications.
Lionel Zetter MCIPR was Chair of the CIPR's Government Affairs Groups and a member of the NUJ. He is a former associate director of the Media Information Group, and company secretary of PR+CI Ltd. He is now managing director of a political research, publishing, polling and campaigning company.
