Sinan Cem Şahin is the Head of Corporate Communication at Türk Telekom, where he has been working since July 2007. He is responsible for leading his team, driving business growth and contributing to strengthening the corporate reputation of Türk Telekom.  He completed many successful operations and participated in various projects all of which have been a major factor making Türk Telekom the most valuable brand of Turkey. The team has instigated both social responsibility projects and increased brand recognition. Şahin holds a Masters of Economic Policy and BA in Management.

Prof. Dr. Cees B.M. van Riel is the professor of corporate communication at the Rotterdam School of Management of Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Editor-in-Chief of the Corporate Reputation Review and  Managing Director of the Reputation Institute, a research and consultancy firm created by him and Charles Fombrun. He has written ten books which have been translated in eight different languages, the most well-know are; Essentials of Corporate Communication (2006), Fame & Fortune (2004), and Principles of Corporate Communication (1996).  Cees van Riel has been active as a consultant in the area of corporate branding, reputation management and employee alignment for more than two decades, and is involved in various annual reputation rankings. Recently he started measuring reputation among building and construction companies and building societies (woningcorporaties)

As the Director of External Communications at Actavis Group, Hjordis’ responsibilities include global media relations and more than 40 group websites. The Actavis Group intranet, “MyActavis” and the company staff newsletter “Orange world” have recently arrived on her desk as well. Actavis,a global generic pharmaceutical company with over 10,000 employees in more than 40 countries, currently has web presence in more than 20 different languages.

Hjordis has been in Corporate Communications for 10 years, starting at Iceland’s biggest consulting firm, Capacent in 2002. She joined Actavis in Feb 2006. Hjordis’ background is in the media. She worked at RUV, the Icelandic State TV & Radio for years, as reporter, anchor and producer.

Hjordis holds a BA in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, a Master’s level diploma in International Relations from University of Iceland, and has attended numerous shorter courses related to communications and the web. 

Jörg Asmussen is Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank since Janaury 2012. He has an MBA from Milan University and a degree in Economics from Bonn University and is the author of various publications. Prior to joining the ECB, Asmussen worked as State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Finance where he was responsible for the Directorates Fiscal Policy and Macroeconomic Affairs. He was also Director General for financial market policy at the same Ministry.

Simon Craddock is responsible for managing Motorola Solutions communications activity across EMEA. Prior to joining Motorola, Simon ran his own training and PR company for several years after a decade living & working in Europe, Africa, Asia and the USA.  Highlights of his career to date include writing the first crisis management plan for Westland Aerospace in 1992, establishing the first wholly foreign owned PR company in China and working on issues for organisations as diverse as British Airways Hungary, DeBeers Botswana and Xbox Japan.

Dr. Paul Ketelaar (PhD, MSc, MSc) lives and works in Nijmegen, in The Netherlands. After finishing his studies in Social Psychology and Communication Science, he started travelling and worked as a free-lance photographer. He co-owned a communication agency for several years and was a guest professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.  Currently, Ketelaar is working as an Associate Professor in Communication Science at the Radboud University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. He investigates the effects of recent (digital) advertising strategies on consumers and besides works free-lance as a market researcher and photographer. Ketelaar is married and has two daughters.

Lauren Sayeski is Vice President, External Communications and Stakeholder Engagement of Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE). Lauren is responsible for the company’s corporate responsibility and sustainability strategy (CRS), stakeholder engagement and media relations strategies. Lauren joined CCE in 2004 and has held positions of increasing responsibility across Internal and External Communications. In 2010, she led integration of Coca-Cola’s North American Business following the Transaction between CCE and The Coca-Cola Company. Lauren began her career in marketing communications, serving clients such as DuPont, InterContinental Hotels Group and the American Cancer Society.

Hu Shuli is currently Editor-in-Chief of Caixin Media, Editor-in-Chief for the weekly magazine Caixin Century, and the Dean of the School of Communication and Design at Sun Yat-sen University. Founder of Caijing magazine in 1998, Ms. Hu provided the leadership that brought Caijing to its eminent position as one of China’s most authoritative business publications. In 2001, Hu served as chief of financial news for Phoenix TV. She worked as an international editor and chief reporter for China Business Times from 1992 to 1998. She began her journalism career as an international editor and reporter for Workers’ Daily in 1982, serving there until 1992. Internationally recognized for her achievements in journalism, Hu was listed on Top 100 Influential People in 2011 by Time Magazine.

She earned a bachelor’s in journalism degree from the People’s University of China and an EMBA through a program hosted by Fordham University and the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University.

Since January of 2007, Dora Somlyai has worked at MOL Group. She spent
two years as the Head of Corporate Communications and, in January of
2010, became the Vice President for Corporate Communications. She is
responsible for the development and implementation of group level
communication strategy, working with PR, brand and corporate marketing.
Before joining MOL Group, Ms Somlyai was the Marketing Director-
Business Division and later the Corporate Communications Director at
Pannon GSM Telecommunication Plc.  She was the founder of the Pannon
Példakép foundation, part of the organisation’s CSR programme. Ms
Somlyai is a board member of the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation and a
member of the Hungary Country Brand Team.  Ms Somlyai attended the
College of Commerce, Trade and Tourist and has a BA in Marketing from
the University of Economics.

Louise Wadman has been the Head of Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland communications since October 2009. She has worked at IBM as Head of Internal Communications for EMEA and at ABN AMRO bank she was Head of Communications for Global Services.  Prior to working for Llyods, she was head of internal communication for RBS Glo­bal Banking and Markets. She qualified recently as an execu­tive coach and has extensive communication experience in several sectors.

Dr Witte studied Zoology, Botany and Organic Chemistry in Frankfurt/Main. He soon specialised on the communication of ants and the organisation of complex behaviour. He first consolidated his findings at Cornell University in the USA and later at LMU Munich. For some years now Dr Witte focuses his work on swarm intelligence and their use in economical bionics.

Is the Manager of the Product PR team for Microsoft where he manages all product related PR in the German market alongside a team of five.  He started his career while at University as a freelancer for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Munich based daily. After he completed his studies he worked for Bavarian Parliamentary member Helmuth Coqui as a Communications Consultant. He worked in San Fransisco as a technical translator for Haacke, and was a PR consultant for espresso Public Relations.  Before his current position at Microsoft he worked for the company as a PR Manager. He studied at the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Munich and received his Masters of political science at Freie Universität, Berlin.

Andrea Polo is the Communication Director for Immobiliare.it, where he is the head of all aspects of communication at both Immobiliare.it and Facile.it. Polo began his career in communications at Gruppo Editoriale Giunti in Florence, before moving in 1999 to direct the marketing of Gruppo Editoriale Giunti in Milan. In 2000 he joined eBay Italy where he was responsible for communications and marketing in different categories. By the end of 2003 Polo was directing the group’s external communications.

Stella Bland leads communications and marketing for AECOM Europe, the company which has masterplanned the Olympic Park in London and which is working on high speed rail in Spain and transforming the heart of the Qatari capital, Doha.

Bland has led communications teams for the UK’s Government’s Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and for the Environment Agency. She has run successful public campaigns to improve the quality of new housing, urban design and public space.

She has held senior roles with the UK Citizens Advice Bureaux service and with the environmental charity Forum for the Future. She started her career in private consultancy, where she managed international clients including Ogilvy & Mather.

Inge Wallage has been Communications Director for Greenpeace International since March 2009, and is responsible for campaigning and organisational communications. Her 20-year professional experience includes international organisational communications, strategic media relations, crisis/issues management, PR events, speakers’ management, internal communications and brand management. Inge worked for Motorola, Plilips Electronics, P&O Nedlloyd and Statoil and led the Dutch branch of Burson-Marsteller: Inge thrives on contributing to change through communications, loves connecting with people and always has a novel with her.

Dr. Leandro Herrero practiced as a clinical psychiatrist and academic for more than fifteen years before taking up senior management positions in several global pharmaceutical companies, working both in Europe and the US. He is co-founder and CEO of The Chalfont Project Ltd, an international consulting firm of organizational architects. Taking advantage of his behavioural sciences background, coupled with his hands-on business management experience, he works with organizations of many kinds on organizational strategy, structural and behavioural change, leadership, and innovation. Dr Leandro Herrero is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (UK), The Institute of Directors (UK) and The Royal Society of Arts. He is also member of the American Anthropological Association. Dr. Leandro Herrero lives with his family in England.

Creating a clever and funny public relation activity is not easy, especially if the topic you have to deal with is not what they call “sexy” and a few things in the world could be defined less sexy than the Real Estate Market. Moreover, if you can not count on million dollar budgets, you need to be creative and define an unassailable strategy! Andrea Polo presents the story of how a church, a terrible neighbor and a safe street changed the communication on Real Estate in Italy.

2011 was the year of global social activism, with the global village coming alive as movement and demands that snowballed from country to country, starting in Northern Africa, London and New York. How do these movements spread and what lessons can we learn from their highly effective communications? What are the secrets to successful mediation when the movement is already on its way? A three-part session moderated by Karin Helmstaedt with speakers Dr. Leandro Herrero, Dr. Fahima Cherafeddine and Rainer Nölvak who were all involved in, or have reflected extensively, on these events. 

Christian Pfister is the Swiss Life Head of Group Communications, where he has worked since 2009.  He started his career as an editor for ABB Schweiz and held several different communications oriented roles at Credit Suisse.  He worked as head of Communications at the Winterthur Group and was a Partner in Lemongrass Communications. In 2001 he completed his MSc. in Communication Management at the Universität Lugano.  Christian also studied Latin-American Literature in Zurich and Ecuador.

Sean is fascinated by the relationships between people, and applies that fascination to his daily work in communications empowered by Web. His professional experience at SAP encompasses virtually every aspect of internal communications from executive through to grassroots, from static HTML to state-of-the-art collaboration suites. Sean aims to foster meaningful dialogue with the collective, whether that collective be a corporate intranet, or the sum total of all connected humanity. He holds degrees in linguistics, and computing and mathematical sciences.

Dr Fahima Charafeddine has a PhD in Philosophy and is a Professor at the Institute for Social Science at Lebanese University. Dr Cherafeddine is also President of the Committee for the Follow-Up on Women’s Issues, which is a non-profit organization advocating the elimination of discrimination against women in Lebanon. She is an activist in social and cultural fields and has more than 25 books and many studies published that mainly cover Arab cultural and women’s issues.

Ralph Charlton has 15 years of experience in international corporate, technology, business to business and business to consumer public relations and more recently internal communications. He has worked for The Sage Group plc since October 2004. His current position is Group Director of Corporate Communications. Appointed in September 2011, he leads the Group Public Relations and Internal Communications team. Previously Mr Charlton was selfemployed and also worked for leading PR agencies including Jackie Cooper PR (now JCPR, part of Edelman) and Burson Marsteller where he cut his teeth on FMCG clients, online banks, hotels and restaurants.

Niall Ryan heads Harrods’ Internal Communication and Employer Brand. For the past five years he has been responsible for delivering the internal communication and employee engagement strategy while managing a business wide change programme to articulate and position Harrods’ employer brand proposition. Prior to joining Harrods he was the Deputy General Manager at Alpha Airport Shopping where was responsible for £30million of duty and tax free luxury retail offered at Terminal two in the Manchester Airport . He is currently pursuing his EMBA at the Cass Business School and graduated from the Institute of Technology, Sligo with a diploma in Business Studies.

Hans Koeleman has been the Director of Corporate Communications at KPN Royal Dutch Telecom since 2007. Prior to taking this position, he held various key positions in the communications field in different sectors, such as retail (Ahold, Albert Heijn) and financial services (Delta Lloyd NV). Koeleman has studied Dutch Language and Literature, holds an MA in Business Communication and Public Relations, an MBA and a Master’s in Corporate Communication. He has also been active as guest lecturer at various universities and education programs in communications. He is Regional Coordinator for the EACD in the Netherlands, member of the Board of Logeion, Dutch Association of Communication Professionals and member of the Board of Esprix, a leading award for Dutch Marketing Communication Campaigns.

Presentation skills are not just needed when you have to speak in front of a group of colleagues, and they involve more than just choosing the right tools. Everyday, we are called onto present something to someone – from an idea at a meeting to a tweet from the corporate blog. So how do you choose which platform is best suited for your presentation? How sure are you that your ideas and messages are communicated effectively? How can you get people to focus their attention on your words, and how can you ensure that your presentation will have the effect and reaction that you are hoping for? Join this workshop to learn how to present, what to present and who to present to.

Employer Branding is a critical component of any organisation— after all, if employees are not engaged with the brand it is likely that this will impact on how engaged your customers/clients are with your brand. World-famous retailer Harrods was recently named a “Best Company to Work For 2012”, and Niall Ryan will discuss the steps taken over the past five years to implement employer brand initiatives which have built awareness within the company, increased transparency in internal communications, and helped to reduce employee turnover from 52% to 23%.

Sigrid de Vries heads the communications department of the European automobile industry’s trade association ACEA. A Dutch national with over 20 years of experience in journalism and communications, Sigrid has worked from offices in Amsterdam, Berlin and Brussels covering topics as diverse as European integration, financial markets, corporate governance, climate change and foreign affairs. Sigrid is a member of the jury of the EACD Communications Awards.

Karin Helmstaedt is one of the hosts of  euromaxx – Lifestyle Europe, Deutsche Welle-TV’s daily life and style magazine show.  She began her career as a Journalist, freelancing as a Translator and Presenter at sporting events. Helmstaedt reported extensively on doping in the former East Germany, and in 1997 co-produced the prize-winning documentary “Staatsgeheimnis Kinderdoping” for German public television. Her subsequent work on the subject brought her to Berlin in 1998, where she continued freelance writing for newspapers and magazines, and contributed to a book. She also joined DW-TV as a News Translator and Speaker, and became a Presenter of ‘Germany Today’ in 1999. Helmstaedt is a Canadian native with German father and Canadian mother. She represented Canada’s national swim team, and studied Physical and Health Education and Literature in Toronto and Montreal before moving to Paris, where studied French Literature at the Sorbonne

Annika Berglund began her career in marketing analysis and market research with Atlas Copco in 1979. Since then, she has held a number of positions in the Atlas Copco Group related to marketing, sales/field sales, and business controlling in Europe. Prior to her current position assumed in 1997, she was Marketing Manager for the electronic company Atlas Copco Controls (Danaher Motion), Sweden. Since 1997, Annika is a member of Atlas Copco’s Group Management responsible for global internal and external communications, branding, crisis management and public affairs.

Katharina is an internationally recognised business communicator with proven delivery of effective global communication strategies and programmes, and has Lean Sigma qualifications for process and performance improvement.

Previous roles include Head of Global Internal and Management Communications at Shell, Head of Global Internal Communications at AstraZeneca, Corporate Communications Lead at GE Capital EEF and Corporate Communications Manager at Corange/Boehringer Mannheim.
International experience gained in the UK, The Netherlands, Hong Kong and Nigeria.
Her main areas of expertise are in employee communications strategy and execution; change communication; global employee surveys; metrics and business performance scorecards; global, multi-cultural communications; internalisation of brand campaigns or company rebranding; communications skills training for managers; communications skills training for communicators. Her experience also includes corporate communications, product and corporate public relations.

It is Swiss Life’s ambition to live and breathe their brand throughout everything they do. In this best case presentation, Christian Pfister, Swiss Life’s Head of Group Communication, will explain how the company is monitoring this integrative process with the help of a resources steering programme
especially created for this purpose.

Professor Dr Ansgar Zerfass is Professor of Communication Management at the University of Leipzig. He has published 25 books and numerous articles on corporate communications and interactive communication and has ten years of experience in management positions at various companies and institutions. Zerfass is the Editor of the ‘International Journals of Strategic Communication’, published in the USA, Executive Director of EUPRERA, the European Public Relations Education and Research Association, Brussels, and Lead Researcher for the annual European Communication Monitor survey.

Charles Yap is Director of Global Brand Communications for InterContinental Hotels Group, and heads up the company’s brand social media strategy. A former journalist, Charles has been with IHG for 5 years, and has worked in regional PR for the group in Asia Pacific as well as in global brand PR based out of London. Charles is also a top online travel influencer (in both the corporate and marketing/PR categories), ranked by InfluencersinTravel.com

With 18 years’ global corporate communications experience, Shaun Wootton oversees the agency’s UK teams, driving strategic new business and organic growth. Previously, he was General Manager of Waggener Edstrom’s Paris office, and prior to that, headed Waggener Edstrom’s offices in Singapore and Germany. He is a member of the agency’s European board. A specialist in multilingual and multi-country communications Wootton has developed and overseen many pan-European and pan-Asian campaigns in the healthcare, technology and energy sectors. He is currently Global Lead on the GE Healthcare account. Throughout 2005 he was seconded for a year to GE Healthcare HQ as Interim Global PR Manager for the life sciences portfolio. He joined Waggener Edstrom Worldwide’s London office in 2003 and supported the Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) account. He speaks German fluently, has a degree in that language from the University of Warwick, and also speaks French.

With over 15 years in the field of branding, marketing, research and concept development, Marianne has worked in some of the best agencies and consultancies in London, Stockholm and Berlin and run projects in Europe, USA, the Middle East and Africa. She found her real passion lies in inspiring and motivating people to unleash their creative energy through developing and nurturing a positive mindset.
Setting up The Joy Asset with Sandra in 2010 is taking this passion and talent to people and organisations for them to share and develop into a true Asset.
Marianne, a tri-lingual Dane, lives with her daughter and partner in Berlin. She holds a BA in Philosophy and History from the UK and Germany and an MSc from LSE.

Fiona Wilkinson is an experienced communications professional who has spent more than twenty years in the card payment industry. She is currently responsible for the external, member and internal communications, and reputation management teams. The objectives of her role are to enhance and protect Visa’s brand reputation among Visa Europe’s target audiences. Wilkinson joined Visa in 1982 and has held a variety of pan European marketing, communication and sales roles. Before moving to her present position, she headed Visa EU’s acceptance team, where she was responsible for building the network of locations at which Visa cards can be used in Europe. Prior to this, she was General Manager of Visa UK, where she was responsible for Visa’s business with its 70 member banks, and marketing of Visa’ s products and services. She has a degree in Economics and Law.

Anders Wallin serves as Vice President of Group Communication at Sandvik, a position he has held for the past six years. Prior to assuming his current role, he served as Vice President of Public Affairs for the same organisation. Wallin holds a Master’s in Political Science and Economics from Lunds University.

Eva Vieleborg Hald is the Senior Executive Vice President, Group Communications at Danske Bank. She has over 11 years of management experience in the field of communications, and has specialised in branding, reputation management, public affairs and CSR. Before assuming her current position, Hald held positions at Novozymes and Diageo. She has worked and studied internationally, and holds a Master of Law degree from the University of Copenhagen.

Tom Vesey has worked in advertising, PR and Branding in Singapore, Edinburgh, London and Paris. He set up CARMA International Europe, a leading global news analysis company, in 2000 and created RiiR in 2010.

Dr Piet Verhoeven is a Researcher at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) and Managing Director of SWOCC – Foundation for Fundamental Research on Brands and Brand Communication. Both ASCoR and SWOCC are part of the University of Amsterdam. His research involves topics such as corporate communications and branding, the framing of issues in the media and the consequences for knowledge levels of individuals and society. Verhoeven started his career as a Scientific Researcher following several positions in corporate communications, including a role in which he coordinated the strategic rebranding of Amsterdam Schiphol airport into an international brand.

Lars Torstensson is the current Group Director of Corporate Communications at Tele2. Prior taking up his current position, he was Director of Investor Relations. He began his career at Handelsbanken Asset Management as a Derivitaves Trader, before moving on to Swedbank Robur to work as a Telecom Services Analyst and Porfolio Manager. Torstensson earned his MScBA in Financial Economics and Business Management from Högskola i Jönköping.

Carsten Tilger has been Head of Corporate Communications at Henkel since 2010. He is globally responsible for External, Internal and Online Communications, Corporate Brand and Reputation Management, as well as Sustainability Management. Between 1997 and 2005, he held various positions up to SVP Global Communications at Hoechst AG, Germany, and subsequently Aventis SA, France (created by the merger of Hoechst AG and Rhone-Poulenc SA in 2000). From 2006 to 2009, he was Head of Corporate Communications at Syngenta AG, in Switzerland. He holds a Master´s degree in economics and was trained as a business journalist at the renowned Henri-Nannen-School of Journalism in Hamburg.

Thomas Sevcik is the Co-Founder and CEO of arthesia, and a well-regarded thinker and speaker. He also serves on several executive and advisory boards and committees in the communication and arts industry. arthesia is an applied communication thinktank with offices in Zürich and Los Angeles. It insures companies, organications and regions against ‘sameness’ using atypical solutions. Sevcik is the mastermind behind such diverse projects as Volkswagen’s ‘Autotstadt’ corporate themeworld in Wolfsburg, Germany, and other major narrative environments and one-of-a-kind-projects. He has a degree in Architecture from the Technical University in Berlin, teaches at CentralSaintMartins in London and is a regular contributor to several publications.

Kai Rosenberg has more than 30 years of experience in the media and in computer business. He has held positions as Editor-in-Chief and Head of Internal Communications at the Telenor Group since joining in 1997. The Telenor Group is one of the World’s largest mobile operators with 300 million subscribers in Scandinavia, Central- and Eastern Europe and Asia, and around 32,000 employees across the globe who all use the same virtual work platform as the main tool in their internal communications. Before joining Telenor, Rosenberg worked for one of Norway’s national newspapers, Dagbladet, as Feature Editor and – later on – as IT Director. In addition, he has worked for other Norwegian media organisations as a Reporter and Editor. His computer business experience comes from a period spent as Product Manager for Media Systems in a Norwegian computer company operating worldwide. He received his Bachelor’s degrees in History, French Language and Journalism from the University of Oslo, Norway.

Since May 2002, Miriam Roemers has been Public Relations Manager at the European Association of Public Banks (EAPB). The EAPB represents financial institutions, public banks, funding agencies, associations of public banks and banks with similar interests and their specific tasks at the European level. Miriam Roemers graduated from the Free University of Brussels’ faculty of Arts and Philosophy as Master of Arts in Germanic Philology, completed a post-graduate in Educational Sciences at the same university and successfully completed a business administration programme at the University of Antwerp Management School. She started her career in the commercial department of a Japanese multinational, moved on to an American E-commerce company and was language lecturer at the Chamber of Commerce, VIZO and the University of Antwerp (ICTL). She is a member of the Administrative Board of the Brussels Chamber of Commerce, member of the Belgian Public Relations Centre and senator of Junior Chamber International. Through the EAPB, she has been a member of EACD since January 2007.

Rudolf Ramsauer is Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications Director at Nestlé, and responsible for the company’s global communications strategy. Prior to joining Nestlé in 2007, he was the Chairman of the Executive Board at ‘economiesuisse’ (Swiss Business Federation), and prior to that, Executive Director of the Swiss Federation of Commerce and Industry. Ramsauer’s prior experience includes a range of positions in economic diplomacy, including as Ambassador, Delegate of the Swiss Government for Trade Agreements, Head of the Europe division; as Alternate Governor of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; as Vice Director of the Swiss Ministry for Foreign Economic Affairs; and as Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the GATT.

He has been working at E.ON AG since 1995, in the field Corporate Communications Management – External Communications/Media Relations until 2008. His tasks included the daily preparation of the “Group media clipping report” for the German Headquarters of the E.ON Units Corporate Centre, Central Europe and Pan-European Gas, as well as answering journalists’ inquiries and processing press releases. Since 2009 he has been responsible for the project management of “International Media Monitoring” and the “International Media Impact Analysis” within the field of Corporate Communications – Communications Processes & Controlling.

Valerie Perruchot Garcia is Head of Internal Corporate Communications for AXA Group worldwide. She began her career in communications at Roche as a Communication Manager in 1989. Since then, she has held positions at organisations such as GlaxoSmithKline and Saint-Gobain. Perruchot Garcia is former President and a Board Member of the French Association for Internal Communication Professionals. She is also Vice President of Financi’Elles, a network gathering women working in the Financial Sector in charge of communication.

Russell Patten is CEO of Grayling Belgium and has specialised expertise in EU policies. His career in Brussels spans 20 years, encompassing a wide range of corporations, trade associations and European Institutions. He was secretary-general of the European Express Association, is currently Secretary-General of Transfigoroute International and was President of the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium. He is currently Vice President of the EU Committee of the Chamber. He is a professor at the College of Europe, ISMAPP and the University of Kent and holds a degree from the University of Kent, a diploma from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and a Masters in EU Affairs from the College of Europe in Bruges.

Jose Moreno has worked for Spain’s largest newspaper for over 10 years and now serves as the paper’s Editor-in-Chief. Mr. Moreno was one of the most prominent figures in the decision to release the ‘Wikileaks Cables’ in November of 2010 and he continues to be in headlines far into this year. Javier Moreno began his career in sciences before entering the Newspaper industry.

Dr Ángeles Moreno is a Professor and Director of Postgraduate Programmes in Management and Evaluation of Communication and the Planning, Management and Communication of Events at the University Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid. She has taught Public Relations different universities in Spain, America and Europe since 1994. She has published books, chapters and articles on the subject in international editions and journals. Moreno belongs to the executive board of the Researchers in Public Relations Association, is an active member of the Group of Advanced Studies in Communication (GEAC), and a Member of the Scientific Boards and Reviewer Committees of several international congresses and journals.

As Senior Manager Internal Communications at Danone’s Baby Nutrition Division, Dani develops, implements and monitors the global communication strategy, its plans and tools, both for the divisional headquarters, located in the Netherlands, as well as for all baby nutrition business units worldwide. After joining Danone in 2008, she led the ‘Post Merger Integration-Communication’ following Danone’s acquisition of the Numico business that same year. Dani is also the division’s ‘Single Point of Contact’ (SPOC) towards Danone Corporate Communications when it comes to managing major worldwide initiatives. Before joining Danone, Dani worked in global communication functions at various multinational companies such as DSM, Roche and adidas.

Michelle McGlocklin is Managing Director of Weber Shandwick’s award-winning technology practice in London and is also Chair of the agency’s European Technology Practice, which encompasses Weber Shandwick’s entire network in the region. She has more than 20 years’ experience in strategic consultancy and communications for IT and consumer technology companies, working with brands such as Microsoft, Monster, Hitachi, Seagate, Toshiba, HP, AT&T, Capgemini and Gartner, as well as emerging organisations and start-ups. Her passion and focus is developing strategies, platforms and creative concepts that help brands and organisations move their businesses forward. In her role as Practice Chair, Ms McGlockli spearheads the work of the European team, helping to develop and harness intellectual capital across the region to develop corporate, B2B and B2C campaigns that are both relevant and impactful. She is part of the Prince’s Trust Technology Leadership Group and is a member of the CIPR; she is also a guest lecturer at Bournemouth and Cardiff Universities.

Marshall Manson is Managing Director of Digital for Edelman in the EMEA region, and a leader in the field of online strategy, communications and reputation management. He is based in London, and previously held the position of Vice President of Digital Public Affairs in Washington, DC. In his role he oversees Edelman’s network of more than 60 digital specialists in 17 offices across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and advises a host of clients that span industries on Digital Strategy, Brand Marketing, Online Reputation Management, Crisis Management, Advocacy, Engagement and Viral Marketing. Some of Manson’s current and former clients include Research in Motion, Shell, Krispy Kreme, Johnnie Walker whiskey, Diageo, English Heritage and the BBC. Prior to joining Edelman, he worked for several communications firms, including The Sterling Corporation, where his print and electronic media products were recognised with Communicator and Pollie Awards, and featured in Campaigns and Elections magazine.

Andre Manning is an experienced communications leader who has held various international communications leadership positions within
Philips, for whom he has been based in Prague, New York, Andover and Amsterdam. He is currently Vice President and Global Head of Corporate Communications at Royal Philips Electronics.

Jessica Mann is the current Head of Global Corporate Communications, where she is responsible for leading Shire’s global corporate communications and public affairs strategy and has played a key role in driving the strategy for CSR within the company.

Geert Lovink is a Dutch-Australian Media Theorist and Internet Critic, and holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne. He was appointed as Research Professor at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam and Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam in 2004. In recent years, he has organised conferences, publications and research networks on topics such as Google and search, critiques of the creative industries, urban screen, Wikipedia research and online video. Lovink’s recent books include Dark Fiber (2002), Uncanny Networks (2002), My First Recession (2003), Zero Comments (2007) and Unlike Us (2011).

Alberto Lopez-Valenzuela is the Founder and Chief Executive of Alva. He has spent the past 20 years working in the business information and analysis sector, building strong relationships at CXO level with large global companies. Prior to founding Alva, Lopez-Valenzuela worked for PA Consulting, Datamonitor and Cision (where he held executive roles in the areas of strategy development, marketing and sales). He has a first class BA in Media Management from the University of the Arts London, and an MBA from Cass Business School.

After 16 years’ management in multi-national corporate communications and consultancy, Sandra believes that, in business, no matter what the problem, the solution usually involves some degree of influencing people’s opinions with a mixture of creativity, common sense and a can-do attitude.

She established Sandra Loftus Associates in June 2008. Based out of Berlin, she works worldwide, wherever clients need skilled communications support, whenever they need it.

Ulrich Lissek is a journalist by profession. From 1993 to 2006 he worked for the communications department of ‘Deutsche Telekom’ which he headed since 2003. Afterwards, he worked for the retail- and tourism company ‘Rewe Group’. As Communications Director at Nord Stream AG, Ulrich Lissek oversees the external and internal communications activities of the company including Public Affairs, Events and Sponsoring.

In her role as Director of Communication and Information Management at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Charlotte Lindsey-Curtet heads a staff of 180 at the organisation’s headquarters in Geneva. She began her career at the ICRC in 1993, spending six years in various conflict-affected countries such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, and Tajikistan. Lindsey-Curtet has held a number of positions at the ICRC’s Headquarters, including as Head of the ‘Women and War’ project, as Deputy Head of Policy Division and, most recently, as Deputy Director of Communication.

Inge Kauer is a Partner at Boer & Croon, a leading consultancy company in the Netherlands. She specialises in Leadership and Communication, Reputation Management and Change Management. Inge provides services for organizations in both the corporate and non-profit sectors. Before joining Boer & Croon in 2010, Inge was Regional Director Europe, Middle East and Africa at Porter Novelli, a leading full-service communication agency. Following her business and management studies at Nyenrode, Inge graduated from the University of Amsterdam with a specialisation in Communication Science and Dutch Law.

Belén Izquierdo Sans has been working with Telefónica’s CSR team since 2001. In her current role as Senior Manager of Sustainability at Telefónica, Ms. Izquierdo Sans is responsible for the promotion of the group’s sustainability model and practices, and has helped position Telefonica as one of the leading companies in the world in CSR. Ms. Izquierdo Sans specializes in CSR related to Public Affairs in Europe, especially as it relates to Global Policy and the European Model.

Dr Thorsten Hofmann is responsible for the Department of Politics & Public Affairs at Quadriga University Berlin. He studied Economics, Psychology and Management, and graduated from the Federal College for Security Studies. He has gathered extensive experience in the business divisions of various ministries and as an Adviser and Risk Analysis Consultant for members of the German parliament. Hofmann is a Managing Partner at PRGS Consulting, Head of the ‘Crisis Task Force’ at the international agency network ECCO International Public Relations Ltd., and a well-known Author in the field of crisis communication.

Martin Hiller leads communications of WWF’s global climate and energy program, steering policy and business-related campaigns. He has extensive experience in environmental campaigning on national, EU and global level. He led WWF’s global campaign for a Global Climate Deal in Copenhagen 2009. Earlier, he developed WWF’s communications in the EU.

Dr Herbert Heitmann has been the President of the European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) since its foundation in November 2006. He is a Member of the Arthur W. Page Society and an Associate of the European Round Table of Industrialists, where he heads up the communications task force. He is the current Executive Vice President of External Communications for Royal Dutch Shell, and was previously SAP’s Chief Communications Officer, where he lead all communications activities for SAP stakeholders around the globe. Heitmann has more than 15 years’ experience in corporate and public communications. He has a wide range of past experience in the public and private sector, from research and development at leading corporations including Procter and Gamble (P&G) and Henkel, to a political advisory role in Germany’s parliament.

Koenraad van Hasselt has over 25 years of in house experience in corporate communications, corporate branding and reputation management. He worked for AkzoNobel, Canon Europe, Philips and KPN in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. Koenraad is a Principal at RiiR.

As Head of Corporate Communications at ABB, Clarissa Haller is responsible for the global communications activities of the group, which operates in around 100 countries. Haller had previously held leading positions in corporate communications with both DaimlerChrysler Aerospace in Munich and with Bahlsen in Hannover, and was Head of Communications and a Member of the Divisional Executive Committee of the Diagnostics Division of F.Hoffmann-La Roche before joining ABB in 2006.

Caroline Guillaumin is Head of Communication division at Société Générale Group. Prior to taking her current position, she served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility at Alcatel-Lucent. She has held many positions in communications, including as Director of Corporate Communication and CSR at SFR, as Director of Internal and External Communication at Alcatel, and as Senior Marketing and Communication Manager at Alcatel TITN Answare.

Prior to her career in communications, Guillaumin held a number of positions in France and the US at PC Publishing, where she began her career as a Product Manager. She is a graduate of the Institut d’études politiques, Bordeaux, and holds a Master’s degree in Political Sciences from Université de Bordeaux I, as well as a Master’s in International Relations from Boston University.

Janine Griffel has been Head of PR Global at Bigpoint since February 15, 2009, and is responsible for overseeing the company’s public relations on a global scale, supervising crisis communications and product PR as well as directing all corporate communications. From 2007 to the beginning of 2009, Janine was Public Relations Manager Europe for Lycos and headed up the areas of Portal Hosting, Homepage Design, Blogs, Communities and Communications. The political science graduate kicked off her career at the public relations agency Scholz & Friends, where she worked from 2005 to 2007. In her free time, Janine is an enthusiastic equestrian and enjoys practicing her swing on one of Hamburg’s numerous golf courses.

Harald Granzow has been active in media and PR business since 1996. As Director of Key Accounts at Meta Communication International, where he started in 2005, he is in charge for sales activities and key clients management. Before joining Meta Communication International, Harald Granzow worked as a consultant for international PR agencies and was running his own PR business. He was doing consulting work for large IT and industry clients, listed companies, research and analyst firms and governmental departments.

Nicole Gorfer assumed the role of Head of Communications at Roche Austria in 2007, where she began leading the communications of the pharmaceutical division of Roche, which is the leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics and the world’s No.1 biotech company. Prior to this, Ms. Gorfer directed Communications actions for pharmaceutical companies such as Hexal and Sandoz in Austria. Her background also includes four years at the Austrian Generics Association as well as experience with communication and PR agencies.

Jeremy Galbraith is the CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa, a Member of Burson-Marsteller’s Global Leadership Team and Chair of the Global Public Affairs practice. He was previously the CEO of Burson-Marsteller in Brussels from 2000 until 2007, having first joined Burson-Marsteller in 1995 to head up the UK Public Affairs Practice.

Frank Furedi has spent fifteen years studying the social experience. A humanist scholar committed to the promotion of intellectually-engaged public life, he has worked to reflect on the contemporary challenges facing culture and intellectual life. His current focus is on problems relating to institutions of authority. In this unique session on leadership, Furedi will explain the relationship between communications and leadership by highlighting the social value of effective leaders and explaining how communicators can become leaders themselves.

Christian Ekström is Director of Public Affairs and Senior Consultant at Grayling Sweden. Christian joined Sund Kommunikation in 2007, a consultancy firm that merged with Grayling in 2009. Christian Ekström has over 10 years of experience in the communications sector. Prior to his employment at Grayling Christian worked as Chief Press Officer at The Swedish Tax Payers Association and was responsible for their media relations, lobbying and advocacy. Christian has also worked as a consultant at Prime PR, as a Political Advisor to the Vice Mayor of Stockholm and as project manager at the Swedish Employer’s Organization. He was nominated ‘lobbyist of the year’ in both 1998 and in 2006.

Christof Ehrhart is Head of Corporate Communications and Executive Vice President at Deutsche Post DHL. Prior to joining Deutsche Post DHL, he headed corporate communications at EADS. He started his career within the communications industry as Director of Corporate Issues in the Corporate Communications Department of Bertelsmann, where he later held several positions, such as Vice President of Public Relations for AOL Bertelsmann Europe and Vice President Corporate Communications, Product Management and Event Marketing for Bertelsmann Online. Ehrhart moved on to be Director of Corporate Affairs & Public Relations at JT International Germany, before he became Head of Corporate Communications at Schering AG.

Nigel Edwards serves as Communication Director for Western Europe and Canada for Pfizer’s Primary Care Business Unit, with particular responsibility for leadership and colleague communication. He began his communications career at Racal Electronics where he held a position as Senior Manager of Corporate Communications for 10 years. He joined Pfizer in 1999 during a period of rapid growth through acquisition. Edwards moved on to F. Hoffmann-La Roche’s Research Division before re-joining Pfizer in 2006. He holds a BA in Social Science from The Open University, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Internal Communication Management and considers himself a life-long student of internal communication.

Joost Dubois has worked with DSM since joining the Chemicals Division of Royal DSM in 1988 where he was responsible for Applied Research and Technical Service in Fiber Intermediates. Since 1994 he has held various positions in Marketing, Branding and Communications within DSM. He was a/o one of the original members of DSM’s re-branding taskforce from 2008 until roll-out of the new identity in February 2011. In his current role he is responsible for a global communication & branding approach to ensure outstanding delivery of DSM’s messages on the bio-based economy to all internal & external stakeholders. Mr. Dubois holds a Masters of Science degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Technology Eindhoven (The Netherlands).

João Duarte is currently responsible for international institutional communication at Enel, where he had previously been leading international internal communication. Before joining Enel he served as Executive Officer for the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, the global network of professional associations in the field of public relations, and he has also held positions at the Santander Group, the French 3 Suisses International Group and for the Portuguese Ministry of the Economy (Institute for the Support of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises). Duarte has also served as a PR professor since 2001, having lectured for several undergraduate and postgraduate courses at different universities. He is currently Invited Professor at the Lisbon Superior School of Mass Communication and Media Arts (Escola Superior de Comunicação Social) where he teaches the Master’s course in Strategic Public Relations Management.

Ralph Driever is the current Vice President of Communications at Infineon Technologies in Munich. Prior to taking this position at Infineon, he was responsible for Corporate Communications at Theo Müller. Driever has over 18 years of communications experience, and has held top positions at Bertelsmann, Gruner & Jahr, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and Degussa.

Micael Dahlén is a Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour at the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden, and is also an Adviser to a number of listed companies and a popular speaker internationally. His book, ‘Creativity (Un)limited – Thinking Inside the Box for Business Innovation’ (Wiley 2008), has regularly topped the charts for management books. In this book, Dahlén describes how you can train yourself to achieve success, stressing the power of creativity in business innovation and marketing. In his book ‘Nextopia’, which began and continues with the blog nextopia.info, he finds common denominators among such divergent areas of research as evolutionary biology, social psychology, epidemiology, economics and business administration. The book has received extensive media attention since it’s release and has recently been published in Norway and Holland.

Stephen Carter has been Alcatel-Lucent’s Chief Marketing, Strategy and Communication Officer, a specially created position in which he has global responsibility for all three sectors, since early 2009. Prior to joining the French-American telecommunication services company, he served as Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Minister for the Communications, Technology and Broadcasting Sector, where he was the author of the Digital Britain Report, and the follow-on Digital Economy Bill. Because he was not an MP, it was necessary to appoint him to the House of Lords – therefore he was named Baron Carter of Barnes. Before taking his political position, Carter held a variety of senior executive roles in the media and telecommunications industry, among others as Group Chief Executive of the Brunswick Group. He has also previously held positions as the Founding Chief Executive of Ofcom (the UK communications regulator), as Managing Director of cable television company NTL UK & Ireland, and as Managing Director and Chief Executive of J. Walter Thompson UK.

Sophie Brendel serves as the Head of Digital Engagement at the BBC, where she is responsible for delivering the pan-BBC digital communications strategy, and leading the social media activity for all BBC communications. Brendel also heads the development of the BBC’s overall corporate presence online and across social media platforms, and works on developing ways to engage audiences in new ways around the BBC continenet. Prior to joining BBC, she held communications positions and Reuters and Thomson Reuters.

Verónica Botet is Digital and Social Media Manager for the Global PR team at GE Healthcare. Her job is to ensure digital and social media are embedded in GE Healthcare’s PR strategy and to provide guidance, training and tools for the use of digital and social media to the global PR team. She has over 10 years PR experience across different industries, both client side and in leading agencies.

Giselle Bodie is COO at Kantar Media Intelligence Europe. Giselle Bodie has substantial experience in the management of media intelligence and evaluation service organisations. She was previously Managing Director of Cision UK, one of the leading multinational companies in this field and prior to that Managing Director of Echo Research, a leading global media evaluation consultancy. Giselle is passionate about the role of research and media evaluation within the corporate environment and believes it should be seen as a strategic resource that delivers both business-critical insights and drives action plans for change. A Chartered Director with international experience of large and small companies, Giselle has extensive and proven general management skills to grow and manage change in service companies. She also has a successful track record in piloting new research methodologies and standards for media evaluation that deliver added-value media intelligence services for clients.

Udo Becker is deputy head of Hill & Knowlton’s EMEA energy sector. He is specialised in transnational stakeholder programmes, corporate reputation, crisis and internal communications as well as coaching and media training. He has been working especially for international clients. Prior to Hill & Knowlton he was Global head of Corporate Communications and for Heyde AG, a publicly-listed IT services company.

Gudjon Arngrimsson has been Vice President Corporate Communication of Icelandair since 2005. He joined the airline in 2000 as Manager of Public Relations, and his background is in print and TV journalism in Iceland, as well as in advertising and PR. Between 1999 and 2000 he was the Icelandic Government’s Millennium Commission Programme Director. Arngrimsson has also written several historical books.

Marianne Amssoms is Vice President of Global Communications at Anheuser-Busch InBev (Euronext: ABI and NYSE: BUD), the leading global brewer and one of the world’s top five consumer products companies. AB InBev manages a portfolio of well over 200 beer brands that includes global flagship brands Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck’s. It has 116,000 employees based in operations in 23 countries and strives to be the ‘Best Beer Company in a Better World’. In 2009, the company generated revenue of 36.8 billion USD. Amssoms holds a Master’s degree both in Political Sciences and in European Studies. After 7 years in politics (working a.o. as spokesperson for former Prime Minister Wilfried Martens), she headed the corporate affairs/communications function at McDonald’s in Belgium for over three years. She then took responsibility for the CA/communications area at InBev Belgium for six months, before joining the company’s global headquarters as Global Head of External Communications in January 2004. In this role, she led the communications strategy around the Anheuser-Busch acquisition in 2008. She relocated to AB InBev’s newly established global functional office in New York in 2009 to head up both global external as well as global internal communications.

Milorad Ajder heads Ipsos MORI’s Reputation Centre – a leading reputation research agency that works with some of the world’s largest companies. He is passionate about the role of research within the corporate environment, and believes it should be seen as a strategic resource that delivers both business critical insights and an action plan for change. Before joining Ipsos MORI, Ajder led ajder-associates, a strategic research boutique working with a range of blue-chip clients and prior to that he was Head of ORC International’s European Reputation Research Practice. He is an author of original research (Global 100) on corporate reputation and brand management.

Paul Abrahams spent more than 15 years as an award-winning writer and bureau chief at The Financial Times. He was presented a national newspaper award by HRH Princess Diana for his coverage of the drugs industry. In 2003, he joined the San Francisco office of Waggener Edstrom, a leading communications agency. He was quickly appointed to the main board, as well as being made Managing Director of UK operations. During his time there, he advised some of the world’s leading corporations, including Microsoft, Mastercard, AMD, General Electric and GlaxoSmith-Kline. He joined Nomura in 2007 as Head of Corporate Communications for Europe and the Middle East. Mr Abrahams received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Modern History from Downing College Cambridge. He obtained his PhD from Darwin College, which is also in Cambridge. His book, “La Haute- Savoie contre elle-même, 1939-1945: les Hauts-Savoyards vus par l’administration de Vichy”, was published in France in 1997.

Ingmar de Gooijer has over 10 years of experience in the field of strategic communications. He has held various leadership positions within a renowned international communications consultancy firm and was based in Japan, Singapore and the Netherlands before joining Eucomed in Brussels as Director Communications in August 2010. Eucomed is the European industry association for medical technology. Ingmar holds a Master in Public Administration from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.