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The Progress 1000: London's most influential people 2019 – Media: PRs

Roland Rudd
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jim Armitage @ArmitageJim|Lucy Hunter Johnston
3 October 2019

Roland Rudd

Founder and chairman, Finsbury PR
Rudd’s firm competes with Brunswick to represenft FTSE 100 companies and multinational businesses. Spinner to the FTSE 100 giants is said to be plotting a £100 million buyout of his firm from WPP. Rudd is regarded as one of London’s most-connected executives, has close ties with former Prime Minister Tony Blair and is the brother of ex-Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd.

Sir Alan Parker

Founder and chairman, Brunswick PR
Parker established Brunswick in 1987 and advises more than a quarter of the FTSE 100 companies. He retains 50% of the partnership, said to be worth in excess of £180 million. He lent his seven-bedroom home to David Cameron when he departed No 10 and was chair of the Save the Children Fund until his resignation last year. Brother to the actor Nathaniel Parker.

John Waples​

Dave Benett

Senior managing director, vice-chairman, FTI Consulting EMEA
Waples is a former Sunday Times business editor turned PR to big corporates at FTI, where he runs corporate strategy. He had a humble start on the Harlow Gazette followed by 16 years at the Sunday Times that won him many awards. Knows exactly how the press thinks and what is wanted from a story.

Andrew Feldman

Managing partner, Tulchan | NEW
This financial and corporate comms agency appointed the former Conservative Party chairman Feldman as its managing partner earlier this year. Founded by Andrew Grant in 2000, Tulchan has advised on significant corporate transactions such as the sale of Costa to Coca Cola. The agency offers serious competition to the two giants Brunswick and Finsbury, breaking the Ocado-M&S tie-up and advising on soap opera issues at Dove giant Unilever.

Rory Godson

Founder and CEO, Powerscourt
Godson, chief executive known for his pugilistic repping of second-tier corporates, is a powerhouse in the world of PR. Having started as a journalist in Dublin, he now uses his Irish drawl to spin many a company out of PR trouble. He says he just wants to “help clients navigate uncharted territory, protect them from their enemies, and get them home safe.”

Declan Kelly

Chairman, CEO and co-founder, Teneo
Kelly is responsible for running the company’s global operations, advising several of the world’s leading CEOs and corporations. Particularly recognised for his crisis management experience. Prior to Teneo, he served as the US economic envoy to Northern Ireland at the State Department, appointed by Hillary Clinton in 2009.

Neil Bennett

CEO, Maitland
As well as being an exceptional adviser to his clients, Bennett has dabbled in many fields, from financial editor to columnist to presenter. He has to be admired for putting up with his former client Topshop billionaire Sir Philip Green before finally quitting earlier this year for an easier life in corporate mergers and acquisitions.

Susan Gilchrist

Chair, global clients, Brunswick | NEW
Since 2018, former CEO Gilchrist has been chairing its powerful global clients division. She focuses on their expansion and development and is a leader in the field of communications. Along with her many awards and board positions, she is devoted to increase gender balance across organisations and boardrooms.

Kelly Luchford

CEO and founder, Luchford APM | NEW
Luchford is making waves in luxury and upmarket travel, to add to her campaigns for Arsenal and Chelsea football clubs. She was named the seventh most influential luxury communicator by PR Week. She likes to push the boundaries of conventionality with her distinctive style of creativity.

Alan Edwards

Founder, The Outside Organisation
Edwards started out as a freelance music reviewer and is now veteran PR to the stars. Ever calm and unflappable, he’s represented some of the most legendary names including David Bowie, David Beckham, the Spice Girls, Amy Winehouse, Shakira, Prince, Naomi Campbell and has recently taken on Nick Cave, Ariana Grande and Janet Jackson. London’s most affable PR by a long way.

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Mark Borkowski

Rebecca Reid

Founder of Borkowski PR
Starting as an in-house publicist at the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon, he founded Borkowski PR and went on to work with big names in consumer brands, celebrities and arts and entertainment — Graham Norton, Harrods, Led Zeppelin and many more. Borkowski sold his celeb PR business years back, but now works behind the scenes on stories from Noel Edmonds vs Lloyds bank to Extinction Rebellion.

Stuart Bell

Managing director, DawBell
The duo of Stuart Bell and Rich Dawes founded DawBell in a tiny office opposite Charing Cross station. They now sit at the centre of the entertainment industry. They provide services for the biggest, most top-tier, cutting-edge talent in the world, including Elton John, Rihanna, Paul McCartney, James Corden, Big Shaq and many more.

Mark Gallagher

Founder of Pagefield | NEW
Political mover and shaker Gallagher is undoubtedly a leader in his field. A specialist in campaigning, PR, public and regulatory affairs, and issues and crisis management, Gallagher has served big name companies like Airbnb and Discovery Networks as well as the likes of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Tim Beaumont

MD and founder, Beaumont Communications | NEW
Based in Shoreditch and representing cool new talent, Beaumont has a team that is dedicated to more than 80 clients in acting, entertainment and lifestyle. He originally trained as an actor and worked in theatre before thriving in the PR world.

Gemma Bell

Founder, Gemma Bell and Co
Big on the London food scene and knowing “hospitality inside and out”, Bell aims to bring good taste to all her business decisions. Her clients are at the forefront of the UK’s food scene including Homeslice, Murano, Ottolenghi and Koya, as well as representing a multitude of hotels, bars, chefs, festivals, and cookbooks.

Anna Meacham

Founder of Huxley | NEW
She only founded Huxley last year, yet Meacham is already a pioneer in the PR industry. Works “across the cross-sections of culture” and represents the big, young, influential names of today including Adwoa Aboah, Charli XCX, Frank Ocean and Zayn.

Jo Jones

Founder and owner, Beauty Beat | NEW
The Beauty Beat mission is to provide an affordable way for start-ups and independent businesses to access experts in the PR business. Jones is a leader in the beauty industry and has devised strategic plans for big names like Space NK, Glossier, John Frieda and many more. Her husband is a medieval historian.

Pippa Beng

Director, Premier Comms
Premier has more than two decades’ experience in communicating with clients in film, TV, publishing, gaming, classical music, performing arts, consumer brands and not-for-profit. With an overwhelming amount of awards, Beng is leading Premier to be a pioneering firm in the PR industry.

Carl Fysh

Owner and director, Satellite 414
Satellite 414, with Fysh as its fearless leader, works with groundbreaking talent across the entertainment and culture industries and prides itself on its contribution to the music world.

Anouschka Menzies

Co-founder, Bacchus PR
Menzies founded her company 22 years ago, quickly establishing an enviable name in the food and beverage market. Today her brand development and communications business encompasses the whole of the luxury sector, including travel, wellness, design and philanthropy, not to mention reputation management and profile building. Bacchus is now on the move — having launched its New York office this year, it plans to open several more in 2020.

Tim Allan

Group managing director, Portland
Cambridge graduate Allan founded Portland in 2001 in a small office in London with four desks. Now its staff of more than 200 work across global offices in Washington DC, Doha, Nairobi and Singapore. Before becoming a PR, Allan spent six years working for Tony Blair in opposition and was a key media adviser during the 1997 election campaign.

Daniel Marks

The Communications Store, chief creative officer | NEW
Marks is the highly-respected director of London-based The Communications Store, with a direct line into fashion’s power elite. His role goes beyond PR, with many in the industry considering him a trusted advisor.

Daisy Hoppen

DH-PR, founder | NEW
A lesson in credibility first, Hoppen’s business methodology is one to be admired – she simply works with those she adores rather than chasing the bottom line, and it has paid off. From amplifying the work of Dover Street Market, Aesop and The Vampire’s Wife, to being a valued ES magazine contributor, Hoppen is happening.

The Progress 1000, in partnership with the global bank Citi, is the Evening Standard’s celebration of the people changing London’s future for the better. #Progress1000