JUDGES

Who are the judges?

The Corporate & Financial Awards is judged by a broad range of in-house industry experts.

Each year we invite the previous year's winners of the 'In-house corporate and financial communications team', 'Agency or consultancy of the year' and 'Annual report of the year' awards to join the panel and these judges fill the agency slots.


How does the judging system work?

Scoring is based on a points system and the judges submit these scores anonymously. The judges mark the entries against the criteria mentioned within the entry and information guide: objective, research and planning, creativity and innovation, strategy and implementation and results.

Our judging system is rigorous and fair. If a judge has entered a specific category they will be exempt from reviewing that category, to avoid a conflict of interest.

Winners are determined by the scores they receive and the entries that score high enough will be shortlisted, invited to attend the awards ceremony and awarded with a trophy. If requested, we also provide detailed feedback on agencies’ work after the awards evening, which proves useful for future entries.


Interested in joining the panel?

If you are interested in the opportunity to judge and believe you have the necessary background, please email Sophia at sophia.richards@communicatemagazine.co.uk with a short biography for consideration.


Below you can see our wonderful judging panel for 2023. Learn more about the judges by clicking on the headshots to read their biographies.

Kristina Blissett
Head of communications
Nucleus Financial Platforms

Kristina has over 20 years corporate communications experience in a wide range of industries. She has held roles in-house and agency for both private and public sector organisations.

She is currently at Nucleus, one of the UK’s leading independent adviser platform groups, where she leads the transformation and organisational change communications for the recently announced acquisition of Curtis Banks.

Prior to that Kristina spent nearly 10 years at FTSE 250 Coats Group plc where she led the Group Communications team.

Rohan Chitale
Investor relations director
Deliveroo

Rohan joined Deliveroo plc in 2023 as Investor Relations Director and has several years of experience in investor relations and financial reporting at publicly listed companies. Rohan was successful at the Corporate and Financial Awards in 2021, winning in the categories of ‘Best Printed Report FTSE 250’ and ‘Best Online Report FTSE 250’. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant at PwC, where he worked on FTSE 100 audits and various strategy consulting projects. He also holds an LLB in Law & German Law.

Tom Coombes
CEO
Cognito

Tom Coombes is the founder and CEO of Cognito. Tom’s experience is drawn from more than two decades advising financial institutions and related businesses on improving their marketing, communications and brand strategies to make a direct impact on sales and profitability.
Tom’s client experience comes from working with leading financial sector brands around the globe, including the London Stock Exchange, J.P. Morgan and ABN AMRO as well as numerous technology companies and consultancies that sell to the financial services market.

Simon Gleadhill
Corporate reporting and IFRS technical controller
Howden Joinery Group

Simon leads the interpretation and implementation of new IFRSs across the group and makes sure that the Group stays ahead of new developments in corporate and ESG reporting.  

He has a specialism in ESG reporting, strategy, business model and culture reporting.  He leads the process and development of the Howden Joinery Group Annual Report & Accounts and the Group’s Sustainability Report, which have won several awards in recent years.  He was a member of the Advisory Group for the UK Financial Reporting Council’s recent project on The Future of Corporate Reporting and is a current member of the FRC Advisory Panel.

He is also a member of the Investor Relations Society and holds their Certificate in Investor Relations.

Matt Gower
Head of ESG
Royal Mail

Matt Gower is Head of ESG at Royal Mail, where he is responsible for overseeing its strategy to advance its ESG efforts across the UK business, including its ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. Prior to joining Royal Mail in early 2022, Matt was Head of Sustainability Communications & Reporting at LeasePlan N.V. in Amsterdam, the world’s largest Car-as-a-Service company with 1.9 million vehicles under management in 32 countries.

Lucie Holloway
Head of external communications
London Stock Exchange Group

Lucie has worked for London Stock Exchange Group for the past 10 years. She is currently director of communications, providing the full spectrum of communications activity for the FTSE 100 company and leading on corporate issues such as financial calendar reporting and M&A. With almost 20 years of in-house and agency PR experience, she was previously a director at the international PR agency, Citigate Dewe Rogerson, providing strategic PR advice and consultancy to firms around the world

 

Charles King
Head of investor relations
Halma plc

Charles is Head of Investor Relations at Halma plc, a global group of life-saving technology companies, focused on growing a safer, cleaner, healthier future for everyone, every day, and a FTSE 100 constituent. In his role at Halma he is accountable for all aspects of investor relations and is also responsible for the Group’s sustainability function which reports to him. He joined Halma in September 2018, having previously led investor relations teams at Tate & Lyle, Serco, Lloyds Banking Group, SSP Group and Worldpay.

Janice Lingwood
Consulting Director
Design Bridge and Partners

Janice is a leading advocate for corporate reporting that communicates as well as complies with relevant regulations, in an effective and accessible way. She works with companies to develop and present often complex information, to a predominantly investor audience, within Annual Reports and supplemental reports. Prior to joining Design Bridge over 15 years ago, Janice worked with PwC for over 25 years. She has worked as a consultant to standard setters and regulators and continues to serve as an independent panel member on various bodies in relation to narrative and non-financial reporting.

Sally Marshak
Head of investor relations and communications
Savannah Energy plc

Bio to follow.

Jock Mendoza-Wilson
Director of international and investor relations
System Capital Management

Jock has extensive experience of developing communications strategies and implementing public affairs programmes for leading global corporations to develop governmental, institutional and investor relations. He joined the leading Ukrainian holding company, System Capital Management, as Director of Corporate Communications in 2005. Since then he has been involved in developing and implementing the company’s communications, government relations and investor relations strategies. Prior to SCM he was Regional Director for eastern European public affairs and communications consultancy, MMD.  Previously, he was Regional Director of Weber Shandwick PR based in Dubai covering the Middle East and North Africa where he worked across the region on a number of government related projects, including public diplomacy for the US State Department. Jock has an honours degree in economics and is a member of the Advisory Board of the EU - Ukraine Business Council, Deputy Chair of the British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and serves on the President’s Advisory Council of the US Ukraine Business Council. He also served as a member of the UN-led Humanitarian Country Team in Ukraine from 2014 to 2020 which coordinated the response to the humanitarian crisis resulting from the Russian war on Ukraine he is a participant in peace-building dialogues aimed at finding a solution to ending the conflict. He is also an Honorary Professor in International Relations at the University of Mariupol. He is regular conference speaker and TV analyst on business and economic issues

Suzannah Oliver
Annual report project manager
AstraZeneca

Bio to follow

Gulshen Patel
Director of investor relations and corporate communications
Senior plc

Since 2018, Gulshen has been the Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Senior plc - an international manufacturing Group with 26 operations in 12 countries. Prior to her role at Senior, she was at Babcock International Group plc. She has over 12 years of experience as an IR professional, with a strong background in financial analysis, communication and stakeholder management. She believes the key to the role is having integrity and credibility. Gulshen holds a MSc in Public Services Policy & Management from Kings College London and a BEc in Economics from the Australian National University.

Alice Revels
VP corporate reporting and ESG disclosure
bp

Alice joined BP in 2018 to lead its corporate reporting team, ensuring BP responds transparently to reporting requirements and best practice developments. She has over 12 years’ experience in responsible business, reporting and ESG and sustainability issues in FTSE 100 companies, having worked at Lloyds Banking Group prior to her current role.

 

 

Lindsey Stewart
Director of investment stewardship research
Morningstar

Lindsey is the Director of Investment Stewardship Research at Morningstar. He has over 20 years' experience consulting and advising listed companies and other organisations on investor and stakeholder engagement at Makinson Cowell, KPMG and the Financial Reporting Council. Lindsey now works in a global team at Morningstar conducting research into asset managers’ sustainable investing policies and practices, and publishing thought leadership and ratings that asset owners and investment beneficiaries can use in their investment allocation decisions. Lindsey is a Chartered Management Accountant and CFA Charterholder, and won a Senior Leader Finalist prize at the 2021 Black British Business Awards.

Nora Thoden
Director of investor relations
Lloyds Banking Group

Nora is Director of Investor Relations at Lloyds Banking Group. She joined Lloyds’ IR team in 2017 and is currently responsible for investor engagement on ESG matters. Nora has extensive experience in the financial services industry and worked over 12 years in international investment banking at JPMorgan earlier in her career. Prior to joining Lloyds, Nora was an entrepreneur developing a women’s health start-up company with two partners. Nora holds a doctorate in business from University of St.

SPONSORS

Align your brand with this annual celebration for the IR and corporate communications community.

We have a number of sponsorship options available to you. Call us to find out more. 

 

Andrew Thomas

Publisher of Communicate magazine and founder of the Corporate & Financial Awards

email: andrew.thomas@communicatemagazine.co.uk

call: +44 (0)20 3950 5356

SUPPORTERS

If you are interested in being a supporting partner of the Corporate & Financial Awards please email Lauren Ditcher at lauren.ditcher@communicatemagazine.co.uk