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London Borough of Camden. Ashley has worked in local public services for over 12 years and currently heads up corporate communications at the London Borough of Camden. Before Ashley joined Camden he developed a communications team for Gravesham council and before that worked in education and leisure communications at Medway council. During his career Ashley has developed campaigns around elections which have gone on to become Electoral Commission case studies and is pioneering Camden’s approach to using social media for communications and engagement. Passionate about local public services communications, Ashley has been Chair of the group for two years. He is keen to ensure the group continues to allow local public services communicators to share best practice and learn and to give them a voice at a national level.
London Borough of Hackney
Brighton and Hove City Council
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. Diane Talbot is Communications Manager at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council where she has been part of a management team that has helped to turn a weak CPA rated council to Excellent. Her team has been responsible for introducing a new logo and corporate identity for the council and she also manages an award winning scrutiny team. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council was named ‘Council of the Year’ by the Improvement and Efficiency Partnership this year. Diane is Secretary of the CIPR Local Public Services Committee and is on the conference sub group that is organising this year’s event in Brighton.
Cardiff Council Hon Treasurer for the past four years having previously been a Committee member who has worked in public relations and marketing both in the private and public sectors for over 30 years.
Public PR. Public PR specialises in strategic communications support in the public sector. Director Liza Greaves runs the national benchmarking group for communications. With more than 200 members, this is the largest benchmarking group in any discipline. She is in demand as a trainer and has worked with management teams and senior members from the north of Scotland to the south coast. She also delivers special projects including auditing communications practice. Originally from a private sector marketing background, Liza joined the public sector to work in public relations for a London Borough. She set up Public PR in 1998 when she left her post as Head of Communications at Brighton & Hove. www.publicpr.co.uk
Medway Councill. Simon is Head of Communications and Marketing at Medway Council and writes a popular public sector communications blog. He has more than ten years experience in communications and marketing in the private and public sectors with companies including Egg, Boots the Chemists and BSkyB."
Northamptonshire County Council. I have worked in the public sector for 12 years and 8 of those have been in local government. I’m currently Head of Communications and Marketing at Northamptonshire County Council I have been on the committee for nearly three years and during that time have taken responsibility for the sponsorship of the annual conference and awards.
The City of Edinburgh Council. Joyce Nisbet is a Communications Client Manager at the City of Edinburgh Council and is responsible for managing communications for Edinburgh's schools and children's social work services. She has been on the CIPR LPS committee for four years.
Norfolk County Council
Monmouthshire County Council Born in North London and brought up, largely, in Kingston-Upon-Thames, Rob is now 40ish (44) and living in south Wales. Leaving school at 18, he worked in a customer support role in a city of London based computer services company before waking up and jacking it all in at the age of 26 to study History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Following graduation, he served two years as a Sabbatical Officer in the student Union. As well as serving a diverse student body, he cut his PR teeth in the role and was introduced to the concept of public sector budget cuts. He is now Communications Manager for Monmouthshire County Council. He has a Master’s degree (by distance learning) in Public Relations from Stirling University. He was also one of the first two CIPR Accredited Practitioners in Wales and has had work short listed for many national awards – as well as winning the Media Relations section of the CIPR Local Government Group Excellence in Communications awards in 2004. He took the lead in organising the Local Government Group’s annual conference in Cardiff in 2005 and has addressed other conferences – including the “Rebuilding Hope” conference in Leeds in November 2005, held in response to the July 2005 bomb attacks on London commuters. He was elected to the IPR Local Government Group committee in February 2004. He lives in Cardiff with his wife, Bethan, daughter Alys and their two primadonna cats. In his spare time he enjoys photography hill walking, reading, gardening, and swimming.
Buckinghamshire County Council. I have worked in Communications for 20 years - ten of which were as a journalist and the other half in local government. It's been interesting to see how both halves "live" and the symbiotic relationship we have! My work has centred on driving through communications in difficult times; job losses, funding cuts, reorganisations, change management – and ensuring two way communications is at the heart of what the organisations do in the toughest times. Am currently Group Manager, Communications for Buckinghamshire County Council.
Manchester Metropolitan University. Senior Lecturer in Communication, Wendy has served on the CIPR Local Public Services Group Committee for the previous five years. She began her involvement first as Deputy Editor and then Editor of PRNews, the Group's ezine. Her background in public sector and most recently local government communication enabled her to establish the partnership between the University and the CIPR Local Public Services Group to launch 'Second Steps' - the first accredited post graduate programme for Local Government PR Practitioners in the UK.
Upward Curve. With twenty years public sector and not for profit sector experience (in-house and agency side), Helen acts as media spokesperson for the Group helping raise our profile in the media and promote good practice when it comes to local public services communications. She also gets involved in promoting the Group using social media, helping out at the Conference and acting as a judge for the Awards. When not representing the Group, Helen runs Issues PR; an agency promoting social, economic and environmental issues. She is also a passionate recipe collector, sunset watcher and sailor (in warmer climes). www.twitter.com/ethical_pr
Powys County Council. Senior Communications Manager, Anya has over 10 years’ experience working in research and public relations in private and not-for-profit organisations in the USA and local government in the UK. She has extensive experience leading internal and external communications at a senior level at Torfaen County Borough Council and Powys County Council. Anya has a first class honours degree in Journalism from Cardiff University, a Master’s Degree in Communication from Georgetown University, USA, and a CIPR Diploma in Public Relations. She is an active and committed member of the CIPR and has worked closely with the Local Public Services Group in recent years.
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