Burson-Marsteller

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 to 2007 having first joined Burson-Marsteller in 1995 to head up the UK Public Affairs Practice. Prior to this he had been Deputy Managing Director of Market Access, a leading Westminster political consultancy and a Director of its sister company in Brussels. He began his career working in the House of Commons for a senior Conservative member of the Trade and Industry Select Committee.

Jeremy has spent over 20 years helping leading companies and organisations manage critical issues and influence European political processes – at European Union and Member State level - to preserve or advance business goals. He has also advised governments, Prime Ministers and other senior politicians on positioning themselves at home and around the world. In addition he has acted a consultant to regulators as well as to local government bodies. His client assignments have led to significant experience supporting applicant and candidate cities in their bids to host Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as companies in winning government procurement contracts.

He was worked with clients in a very wide variety of sectors including agriculture, airlines, alcoholic beverages, animal health, chemicals, cosmetics, employment, energy, environment, financial services, food and beverages, health, media, packaging, pharmaceuticals, sport, telecommunications, transport and water.

He was educated at Leeds University, from which he graduated in Law. He fought a London seat for the Conservative Party at the 1992 General Election.He was a non-executive director of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London from 1997-2007.

Roman Geiser was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Burson-Marsteller EMEA on 22 October 2009. Before taking on this role he was responsible for Burson-Marsteller’s Swiss operations and Managing Director for Affiliates & Acquisitions in EMEA. Roman remains in charge of the Swiss operations until a new CEO Switzerland is appointed.

Roman is an expert in corporate and public affairs and consults various industrial and services clients and industry associations on public affairs issues and corporate communications. He has special expertise in the management of political ballot campaigns, the field of biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry as well as in the energy sector. Roman is Vice-President of the Board of Directors of Young & Rubicam Holding Switzerland and is president-elect of the Association of PR Agencies in Switzerland (BPRA).

Before joining Burson-Marsteller, Roman worked for an association promoting Swiss business and industry that serves as a public relations agency for the general Swiss economy. In this position, Roman represented the interests of Swiss industry in several public affairs and political campaigns. His function as campaign manager and political strategist included the provision of political advice to members of the Swiss business community as well as of members of the Swiss parliament. He was also responsible for an extensive biotech-campaign – one of the biggest political campaigns in the history of direct democracy in Switzerland – which resulted in a 66.7 % vote against a general ban of biotechnology in Switzerland.

Roman has a degree in business economics from the School for Business and Administration in St. Gallen. In the Swiss Military he served as lieutenant commander of the 31st infantry batallion.

Howard Clayden was appointed CFO EMEA on 1 September 2009. He previously held the position of European Financial Controller since joining Burson-Marsteller in June 1999. In his new role, he has responsibility for the financial management of the region, including planning, forecasting and analysis and for maintaining a strong internal control environment across the 12 markets reporting to him. Howard also acts as European Contracts Officer and advises on the financial content of pan-European pitches and RFPs, as well as acting as the financial contact for the Burson-Marsteller EMEA affiliates. He conducts financial training seminars for client service staff and has developed a course on financial management of PR firms which he leads on behalf of the PRCA.

Prior to joining Burson-Marsteller, Howard was Financial Director for Remy and Associates (UK) (part of the Remy Cointreau Group) where he set up new pan-European business and accounting systems covering 14 countries and was responsible for financial control of Remy UK, including budgeting, forecasting, treasury management, and financial and management accounting. As his final achievement at Remy, Howard project managed the transfer of Remy’s UK business to Highland Distillers.

A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, Howard spent the first several years of his professional career at KPMG where, as Senior Audit Manager, he managed a portfolio of 30 clients over a diverse group of industries. Howard received a BA Honours in German and French from Exeter University.

Howard is married with 2 children and lives in London. He enjoys all forms of sport and has represented Devon at Hockey and Cricket and played National League Hockey for Isca HC. He speaks German and French to a high standard.

Paul Herrick is Managing Director, Human Resources for EMEA, with responsibility for the HR function across the European markets.

Prior to joining Burson-Marsteller, Paul was Senior Manager of Corporate HR of Amadeus GTD - a leading provider of IT solutions to the travel industry - with global HR responsibility for talent management and e-HR worldwide, together with generalist HR responsibility for Amadeus’ e-commerce business unit, e-Travel. Previously he was the European Human Resources Manager for GE Energy Services for Penpower, based in Ireland, with operations in Europe. Paul has extensive international experience having lived and worked in Ireland, USA, UK, Spain, Germany, Middle East, Pakistan and Malaysia. Paul is Fluent in Spanish.

Paul holds a double Honours BA in Psychology from University College Galway, Ireland and a Masters Degree in Human Resources and Occupational Psychology from University College Cork, Ireland.

Katarina Wallin Bureau is Managing Director and responsible for strategy for the EMEA region. She also focuses on international and European government and media relations. She has significant experience in leading pan-European campaigns.

Katarina previously spent four years with Marakon Associates, a strategic management consultancy in London, advising clients on business strategy across a variety of sectors. She has also worked for the European Commission, in Brussels and at the EU Delegation in Kiev, working as a project manager on the EU’s assistance programme to the CIS states. Prior to joining Burson-Marsteller she worked with a big media syndicate as part of the Soros Foundation’s Open Society Institute.

Katarina is fluent in Swedish, English, and French, and speaks some Russian. She has a Master’s degree in Political Economy and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations, both from the London School of Economics (LSE). She studied French language and literature at the Sorbonne.

Robyn de Villiers is the founder and Chairman of Arcay Burson-Marsteller and has more than 20 years of experience in communications strategy development, issues and reputation management, crisis communications, media relations, employee communications, public affairs and investor relations.

Robyn launched Arcay Communications in South Africa in 1989. In the 1990s, she saw that Africa represented a vast, largely untapped market, so she started to develop a network of communications affiliates that could serve client needs right across the continent. Today, her original vision has turned Arcay Communications Africa into a unique network of indigenous, in-country communications consultancies staffed by local people equipped to provide communications services that are market relevant in 50 of the 55 African markets.

Robyn provides strategic counsel and practical implementation advice to major clients. Past and present clients include Murray and Roberts, WesBank, the International Marketing Council of South Africa, Vodacom, Shell, ExxonMobil, BHP Billiton, SABMiller, Danone Southern Africa, Westinghouse, Lilly, HP, Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS), Kenya Airways, Vestas, Alliance One International, the Bond Exchange of South Africa, Medtronic Africa, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Barclays Africa and Middle East, Dell, Vodacom, Discovery and McDonald’s South Africa.

In the late 1990s, Robyn also launched an internship programme to provide practical experience for final year communications students in Africa. Today, the Arcay Communications Training Academy offers its training and skills development to communications professionals and clients across the continent.

Robyn holds a BA (Languages) degree from the University of Port Elizabeth. She is a Chartered Public Relations Practitioner and holds full membership of both PRISA (the Public Relations Institute of South Africa) and IPRA (the International Public Relations Association) and is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). Robyn is a member of the board of the National Business Initiative (NBI), a voluntary group of leading national and multi-national companies, working together towards sustainable growth and development in South Africa through public private partnerships, practical programmes and policy engagement with government. She is also a member of the National Business Initiative’s three-man audit committee.

Sunil John is the Managing Director of 11 ASDA’A/Burson-Marsteller offices and 10 affiliates in the Middle East. Through his experience as a former journalist and strategic PR consultant, Sunil has shaped ASDA’A/Burson-Marsteller into the benchmark of public relations consultancy in the region.

Sunil has been instrumental in creating the specialised practice team structure in ASDA’A/Burson-Marsteller. Today, six of these practices – corporate affairs, financial communications, consumer marketing, healthcare, technology and public affairs – are all growing businesses adding value to a blue-chip client portfolio.

In 2006, the agency was named “PR Agency of the Year” by Campaign Middle East. In 2007, ASDA’A/Burson-Marsteller dominated the Gulf Marketing Review Effectiveness in Marketing (GEMAS) Awards for Public Relations, winning two of three awards for its work on the BBC World Service and Emaar Properties. In 2007, the firm was named the “Best PR Company” by CNBC Arabiya’s. Sunil continues to innovate with his 160-strong team to further strengthen that position.

As executive committee member of the Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA), Sunil spearheads education programmes in the region to improve understanding of the role of public relations in a competitive environment. He also serves on the National Advisory Council for the College of Communication and Media Sciences at Zayed University and is also the UAE National Chair of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA).

Kim Larsen joined BM in January 2004 and was appointed CEO of Burson-Marsteller Copenhagen in March 2011. He has broad experience in strategic communications and specializes in Issues Management, Crisis Communications, Public Affairs and Media relations. During his more than 7 years as a consultant Kim has designed and implemented a wide range of communication programs for a large number of both local and international clients within a wide range of industries, including Food, Health Care, Tech, FMCG, Professional Services, the Public Sector and many more. Prior to joining the firm Kim Larsen was a senior consultant at a Scandinavian agency.

Kim holds a degree in journalism from the Danish School of Journalism where he now acts an external examiner, and a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (Organization and Management) from Copenhagen Business School.

Jouni Heinonen is Pohjoisranta Burson-Marsteller’s Chairman of the Board and Senior Advisor. He is also a co-founder of Pohjoisranta, established in 1995, and acted as the company’s CEO for 13 years. Pohjoisranta was Burson-Marsteller’s exclusive affiliate in Finland from 2006, before becoming a majority-owned office in 2012. It is the leading communications agency of the country.

Jouni (born 1965) is one of the leading reputation management consultants in Europe. He has worked with international and local clients as a reputation and communication strategist for the last 15 years, having particularly strong experience in change communications. Jouni has advised various industrial and services clients in organizational change; e.g. in M&A’s, leadership transitions, strategy launches and organizational restructurings.

Jouni is a popular lecturer and trainer. He has trained hundreds of people from the top management to blue collar in Finland and abroad. He has also lectured communications and reputation management at the University of Helsinki and University of Jyväskylä. He is the author of three books about reputation management.

Jouni is currently a Board member in a leading Finnish printing house, Erweko Painotuote Oy. Further, he has been a Board member of the Finnish Association of Communications Agencies and Finnish Association of Communicators. In the years 2002-2004, he was a member of Porter Novelli EMEA management team.

Prior to Pohjoisranta, Jouni has worked as a Consultant and Information Officer.

Jouni has a Masters’ degree from the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences, majoring in communications.
He speaks English and Swedish.

Sigurd Grytten is CEO of Burson-Marsteller Oslo. He joined the company in 2003 with focus on Public Affairs, PR, crisis and reputation management and has been responsible for some of the largest PR campaigns in Norway.

Sigurd is known as one of the leading Public Affairs advisers in Norway with 15 years of political experience and insight. He is a former Member of Parliament in Norway for the Labour Party, President of the Norwegian European Movement and leader of the Labour Party in Bergen. He often appears as a political commentator in the Norwegian media and has lectured on a variety of communications topics. In 2008 Sigurd was nominated one of the 1000 most influential people by Norway’s Who’s Who.

He holds a Bachelor from the University of Bergen in Sociology, Comparative Politics and Administration and Organisation Theory.

Helena Olsson first joined Burson-Marsteller in 2000. She has more than 10 years experience as an adviser in Media Relations, Corporate Communications and Crisis Management to private and public companies, public sector organisations and trade associations. In 2009 she became CEO of COIN Investment Group before returning to Burson-Marsteller at the end of 2010. She was appointed CEO for Burson-Marsteller Sweden in August 2011.
Helena began her career in the financial sector as an analyst and portfolio manager at the Swedish National Debt Office and then as an equity trader at UBS.
Helena holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Uppsala University. She has also studied Leadership and Management at Mid Sweden University and journalism at Poppius School of Journalism.

Dr. Urs Rellstab joined Burson-Marsteller in 2010. Previously, he was Deputy Director at economiesuisse - the largest umbrella organisation representing Swiss business - with overall responsibility for communications, public relations and economic policy consulting. Urs has many years of experience in leading complex communications campaigns – including national referendums – on issues such as energy, health, tax and foreign trade policy. Urs has an extensive network in business, politics and media. Under his guidance, economiesuisse has become the most successful campaign organisation in Switzerland.

Urs Rellstab studied economics at the University of St. Gallen (HSG). He has been a visiting scholar at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and obtained his PHD in Economics in 1992 on the History of Games Theory, focusing on strategic decision-making.

Dr Matt Carter was appointed CEO of Burson-Marsteller UK in January 2010. He is also EMEA Chairman of Penn, Schoen, and Berland Associates, an office he co-founded in the UK at the beginning of 2006.

Matt provides senior counsel and advice to clients of both Burson-Marsteller and PSB in the UK and internationally. He has worked with a wide range of major consumer and corporate accounts including Coca-Cola, Sky, Shell, Sony Ericsson and Dell.

Formerly, Matt worked for Prime Minister Tony Blair as General Secretary of the British Labour Party. In this role, he was responsible for organizing Labour’s 2005 General Election campaign.

Previously, Matt taught politics at the University of York, where he earned a Ph.D. in Politics. He has published a number of books and articles on politics and campaigning, and has spoken at several conferences on politics around the world, in Spain, Germany, Austria, Romania, and Egypt. Matt is also a Trustee of Tamasha Theatre Company, one of Britain’s leading Asian theatre companies.

Philippe Pendaries leads the Design, Digital and Burson-Marsteller UK's brand marketing practice. He founded the brand communications offering in the UK because he believes PR agencies can do a better job of helping brands remain relevant to consumers in today's increasingly connected world. Philippe also runs Burson-Marsteller's brand marketing practice across EMEA.

He is responsible for the agency's global relationship with Sony Ericsson and is the UK lead for the blended WPP PR team that supports Ford. Philippe specialises in developing multi-market, multi-channel communications campaigns that build brands and support product sales.

He has counseled brands from a broad range of industries, spanning telecommunications, consumer electronnics, entertainment, motoring, financial services, charity, and FMCG.

Before joining Burson-Marsteller in 2008, Toula was Vice President & Scientific Director at Sudler & Hennessey in New York. In this position, Toula functioned as theSenior Medical Strategist for the areas of Oncology, Neurology and Metabolics in product launch, marketing, medical and clinical trial communications. She was the Senior Medical Strategist in Oncology for the U.S and European markets and led all Oncology publications. In addition, she functioned as an expert in the pharma regulatory environment.

Toula has a medical background and is a former Assistant Professor, Laboratory for Cancer Biology at the Rockefeller University, New York. Her work has resulted in a number of high impact original publications and expert reviews in Oncology. She has served as an Expert Panelist for the U.S National Cancer Institute and is a committee member of the Grand Review Study Section of the Medical Research Council and Imperial College, London.

She is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Hematology, the American and European Societies of Clinical Oncology and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Richard is co-leading Burson-Marsteller’s EMEA Healthcare Practice. He is an experienced business leader with a strong track record in healthcare communications and PR. He has founded a number of healthcare and advertising agencies dedicated to healthcare communications and in 2004 he sold his company, De facto Communications to Bell Pottinger. From 2008 – 2010 he was Managing Director of Bell Pottinger Health and founded Bell Pottinger Switzerland in Geneva. Since 2010 he has been an independent consultant providing senior level PR and broader communications advice to companies ranking from blue chip multinationals to younger entrepreneurial businesses through Richard Anderson PR.

Robert Mack is Chairman of the Burson-Marsteller EMEA Public Affairs Practice. He was previously the CEO of Burson-Marsteller Brussels from 2007 – 2010. Mack has been active in European public affairs and government relations consultancy for more than 15 years, advising clients on a variety of issues linked to European Union policy and regulation, helping them to understand the impact of EU developments on their business and developing and implementing lobbying strategies to advance their specific business objectives.
Mack has worked with clients in a wide range of sectors including energy, basic industries, security, food and beverage, personal care, alcoholic beverages, healthcare, retailing, and business-to-business sectors.
Robert Mack holds a B.A. in Political Science and Comparative Area Studies for Western Europe from Duke University and a Masters of Science in Management from Boston University, Brussels. In addition to his native English, he speaks fluent French.