The Company of Communicators continues to grow, welcoming six new communications leaders as well as a returning member, making it a magnificent seven.

Master communicator, Deborah Oliver, says, “Despite the pandemic, the Company continues to attract a high calibre of new members as we head towards being a Worshipful Company. We are all looking forward to meeting all our new members face-to-face when our events resume in the City of London this summer.”

Ann-Marie Blake, chartered PR practitioner, has over 20 years’ experience as a business communicator. She has spent the majority of her career working in large global firms across a number of disciplines including PR, marketing, corporate affairs, media relations, change and internal communications. She is a founder board member of PRCA REEB and sits on the IABC International Executive Board.

Simon Bucknall, public speaking expert helps leaders achieve greater impact through the spoken word as an award-winning speaker, coach and facilitator. Clients include FTSE 100 C-suite executives, entrepreneurs, leading business schools, politicians, academics and leaders in the not-for-profit sector. In 2018, Simon was the opening speaker for TEDxLondon on the need for public speaking to be taught in the school curriculum. He is an Ambassador for the children’s charity I CAN.

Mark Laity, director at The StratCom Academy, is a widely respected expert on strategic communications and security and one of the leaders in its development within NATO where his nickname was ‘Mr StratCom’. He has been involved with the media, information & Strategic Communication for more than four decades, both as a journalist, mostly with the BBC, where he was the Defence Correspondent, & then in a variety of senior posts in NATO. He has had a long association with the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, notably their Afghanistan tour of 2006, for which he received NATO’s Meritorious Service Medal.

Tracey Paul, chief strategy and communications officer, is currently based in the city of London working in a senior strategy and communications role with the government-backed terrorism reinsurer Pool Re. Prior to this Tracey was Chief of Staff to Dame Louise Casey and worked closely with Louise on her Independent review into Opportunity and Integration in the UK which examined the challenges faced by our most marginalized communities.

John Rowland, managing director at Cicero/AMO, is head of the financial service practice and also leads Cicero's political risk analysis, writing and speaking regularly on the intersection of politics and markets. He was posted to Washington D.C. from 2010-2013. After returning, John joined the Cicero board and was part of the management team that took Cicero from boutique agency to the U.K's top ranked team by revenue (PR Week) and then to successful sale to global giant Havas in 2020.

Alexandra Schillemore, head of digital and content at British Army, is a digital communications specialist with more than a decade of experience in international and domestic communications across a number of UK government departments and 10 Downing Street. She has advised on some of the government’s most high-profile news, events and marketing campaigns. Alex has worked in UK Defence Communications for seven years, in both the Royal Navy as Head of Digital, and the British Army where she is currently the Head of Digital and Creative Content.

Una Riley, CEO at International Professional Security Association, is a returning member and a Past Master of the Company of Communicators (CoPRP) and Past Master Emeritus and ‘First Lady of the Company’ of the WCoSP (Worshipful Company of Security Professionals). For the first two years of the business, she was also Marketing Director on the Daily Mail Guide to Home Security and have written for Professional Security Magazine for over twenty years. She is Patron and creator of the WiS Awards (Women in Security Awards) and currently the CE of IPSA (International Professional Security Association).