The committee is supported by a board of Women in PR Ambassadors – senior male and female leaders who draw on their influence and resources to help Women in PR achieve its mission.
The Ambassador programme was launched in 2018 and is the first time men were welcomed into the organisation in an official capacity, recognising that we need male as well as female change agents to achieve our mission. The Ambassadors were selected and voted on by the committee and are drawn from diverse backgrounds, sectors and roles across the industry.
You can find out more about the Women in PR Committee and Ambassadors below.
Amanda Coleman
Amanda has more than 25 years’ experience both as a journalist and in communication roles. For almost 20 years she has worked in senior communication roles within the police service and is currently responsible for Corporate Communications at Greater Manchester Police.
Initially, Amanda worked on local newspapers throughout the North West of England before moving into public relations working for a number of public sector organisations.
She has led the communication team at Greater Manchester Police during some challenging times including the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in May 2017, the murder of two police officers in 2012, August 2011 riots, death of the former Chief Constable and numerous counter terrorism investigations.
Amanda was chair of the national Association of Police Communicators (APComm) from January 2013 to December 2017.
In 2017 Amanda became a Fellow of both the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) and Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). Amanda will be chair of the PRCA Council in 2019.
Evadney Campbell
Evadney Campbell is a successful, dedicated and creative university lecturer, broadcast journalist, trainer and public relations consultant with over thirty years of experience in education, consultancy and media. Evadney who’s listed as one of the Top 100 Most Influential British Entrepreneurs – Richtopia.com, worked with the BBC as a video journalist, radio presenter and producer across TV, Radio and online. She is now a published author. PTLLS certified and with a strong ability to develop and engage learners at undergraduate, postgraduate and professional level. An active volunteer in her community, Evadney was awarded with an MBE for her services by the Queen in 1995.
Jackie Cooper
Jackie has over 30 years entrepreneurial experience in brand creative, business and personality strategy.
In 1987 she co-founded JCPR, running campaigns including the launch of O2, Allied Domecq, Mary Kate & Ashley, Wembley Stadium and the final flight for Concorde. JCPR was acquired by Edelman in 2004 – Jackie served as Creative Director and Vice Chair of Edelman UK, running campaigns including Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, Dirt is Good for Omo/Unilever and the Halo launch for Xbox.
In 2011 Jackie was appointed Global Vice Chair of Brand Properties, establishing global entertainment counsel for clients. Jackie was appointed Global Chair, Creative Strategy, joining the Executive Committee in 2013. She established the firm’s formal creative offering, building a global community of 650 creatives, planners and production talent. She led Edelman at Cannes, hosting events with Jamie Oliver, Will Smith and Ellen Pompeo.
In August 2017 she decided to move to a Senior Advisor role, working on a portfolio of work including building Edelman’s offer with UEG in Europe while still advising senior global clients. She is a Board Advisor for Jamie Oliver Holdings and on the global think tank for Kidzania.
Joan O’Connor
Joan has over 25 years experience in consumer and corporate PR both in Consultancy and In-House roles.
Her management and leadership experience has focused on building and promoting brands, protecting reputation and driving consumer understanding around products and brand values.
An expert in marketing communications and reputation management, Joan has led brand and corporate communication strategies for Coca-Cola brands across multi-markets, traditional, digital and social channels and across a variety of stakeholders.
While at Coca-Cola Joan has been responsible for launching new brands and categories over the years including Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Glaceau Vitamin Water, Glaceau Smart Water, Fuze Tea, Adez and Honest. Joan has also led some of the company’s best known campaigns including Share A Coke, Coke Christmas Truck, Diet Coke Hunk, Diet Coke fashion collaborations with Jean Paul Gautier, Karl Lagerfeld and Marc Jacobs, and the music collaboration with Mark Ronson for the London 2012 Olympics.
Joan is currently vice Chair of the PRCA Consumer Group.
Nicola Green
Nicola Green is a board-level UK communications director with complex experience in European coordination and corporate reputation. She is a communications industry figurehead, an active campaigner for Women in PR and a regular feature in PR Week’s UK Power Book.
Nicola was appointed as Director of Corporate Affairs at Telefónica UK Limited (O2) in 2016, having served four years as Director of Communications and Reputation. She has responsibility for Corporate Communications, Public Relations, Internal Communications, Public Affairs and Social Media Response. Nicola works directly with Telefonica UK’s CEO and offers daily strategic counsel and guidance to the Executive Leadership team.
Nicola joined O2 UK (acquired by Telefonica SA in 2007) in 2003 as Head of Media & Communications and, since then, has led her team to win PR Week’s In House Team of the Year on two separate occasions. She directed the re-positioning project of The Millennium Dome to ‘The O2’ and introduced the iPhone to the UK. Under Nicola’s leadership, O2 has achieved the highest corporate reputation in the sector and remained the industry’s most loved brand.
Prior to joining O2, Nicola worked for a number of major blue chip brands including Dr Pepper and Orange (2000 – 2003), where she helped build the brand and manage its flagship partnerships with BAFTA and the Glastonbury Festival. During her tenure, Nicola also launched the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction.
Nicola began her career at global public relations and communications firm, Burson-Marsteller, where she worked for a number of FMCG clients. She has a degree from the University of Leeds and in May 2018 graduated with a Non-Executive Director Diploma from The Financial Times.
Nicola lives in South West London with her husband and two young children.
Andrew Soar
With over nine years of experience in the communications industry, Andrew has become synonymous with building culturally relevant brands and devising creative campaigns that win a ton of awards for the likes of M&S, Ben & Jerry’s, Cancer Research UK, Baileys and Direct Line.
Coming into PR with an interesting back story, he is a passionate advocate of driving a more diverse environment in comms, believing that a lack of diversity is one of the principal issues threatening the industry today.
David Gallagher
David oversees cross-agency client service internationally , manages partnership agencies across Europe and Singapore and leads group development activities including mergers and acquisitions. Prior to OPRG held senior positions for Ketchum in Washington, the UK and Europe, and developed the agency’s global corporate citizenship initiatives. He has led national and global communications trade organisations and chaired a number of communications awards juries, including Cannes Lions. His daughter, 17, is interested in design and communications – “for now.”
David Holdstock
Leading a number of award-winning teams, David has significant experience of campaigns, reputation management, crisis communications and public affairs. Working with the Foreign Office, helped to develop police and Government communications in Bulgaria.
The LGA’s communications support and improvement work has supported more than 100 councils and David introduced and helped to develop the LGcommunications future leaders programme, aimed at supporting talent in the public sector communications industry.
David was national Chairman of LGcommunications between 2008 and 2012 and the PRCA in-house professional of the year in 2010.
James Coyle
James and his teams look after the corporate reputation and external communications for one of the largest consumer electronics brands in the world. He has worked agency-side, with Brands2Life and Pitch, and also internationally when he took on an 18 month assignment in Azerbaijan as Head of Communications for the European Games.
Tony Langham
Tony Langham is an adviser, entrepreneur and chairman with over 30 years front line experience building and protecting the reputations of companies, organisations and Governments. His recent clients include the Isle of Man Government, Fidelity, The FCA, The Co-operative Bank, Hargreaves Lansdown and the IFC Forum.
He is Chief Executive of Lansons, the leading reputation management consultancy he co-founded in 1989, and is a non-executive Chairman in the financial technology, market research and horse racing industries.
The 2017 PR Week PowerBook lists him as one of the 300 most influential PR people in the world and in 2016 he received the Mark Mellor award for outstanding contribution to the UK public relations industry from the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA). In 2014 and 2015 Debrett’s named Tony as one of the 500 most influential people in the UK.
His first book Reputation Management : The future of corporate communications and public relations is published by Emerald Publishing in December this year.
