The #FutureComms contributors

Our thanks to the following who have made this resource possible.


Future Comms digital banner

Chris Bradley joined East Hampshire District Council and Havant Borough Council in July of 2016 as Head of Commercial Development and is also Managing Director of East Hampshire’s Local Authority Trading Company, EH Commercial Services Ltd. He is a member of the LGA’s Advanced Commercialism Group and Cross Council Revenue Generation Group as well as a regular speaker and Chair at conferences and training events.


Fran Collingham is a communications consultant and LGA associate. After a start in local journalism and then at Wychavon, Redditch and Birmingham councils, she spent 13 years at Coventry City Council in charge of communications. She has co-edited books telling stories about public service published by Shared Press. In 2014 she won the Comms2point0 award for a lifetime’s achievement in communications.


Simon Enright is Director of Communications, NHS England and uses the skills learned in nearly 20 years at the BBC to help influence audiences and improve health care in England. Simon leads a team providing all round communication support for NHS England - press, public affairs and publishing to parliamentary briefing, marketing and brand management.


David Evans founded the politically ecumenical The Campaign Company (TCC) to focus on understanding behaviour to benefit clients with a pro social purpose, after a 15 career at the Labour Party, including as Assistant General Secretary up to the 2001 election. Research undertaken by TCC informs consultation, communications and behaviour change. TCC have recently produced the LGA guide to engagement ‘New Conversations’.


Anne Gregory is Professor of Corporate Communication at The University of Huddersfield and Director of the Global Capabilities Framework research project for professional communicators. She was the chair of the Global Alliance, the worldwide confederation of professional communication associations and a former President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. Anne is also an advisor to the UK Government.


Oliver Hills is CEO of Updates Media. Having studied Economics & Business Management, Oliver started his career in Operations and Project Management with experience at both UBS and Fidelity. Oliver then launched his own technology start up, using machine learning to analyse sport brand usage at mass participation events before taking the reins at Updates Media. He is multi-award winning entrepreneur and is now a regular on panels discussing the future of local media. You can follow him on Twitter @OliSHills.


David Holdstock is Director of Communications at the LGA. During his 30-year public sector career he has led award-winning teams across local government and the Metropolitan Police Service, working on high-profile events including the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. A former national chairman of LGcommunications and PRCA in-house professional of the year, David has wide experience of proactive campaigns, crisis communications, public affairs and sector-led improvement.


Francis Ingham is Director General of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), operating out of London and Dubai; and Chief Executive of the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO), operating in 55 countries across the globe. Representing over 24,000 practitioners, the PRCA is the largest professional body of its kind for the PR and communications industry. ICCO is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world.


Simon Jones has 11 years’ experience of working in local government communications at director level. He previously worked as an award-winning journalist and editor both in the UK and New Zealand. He is currently Chair of LGcomms and a Senior Account Director for Westco.


Melissa Lawrence is Chief Executive, The Taylor Bennett Foundation. She has 20 years’ experience in the non-profit and corporate sector and previously worked for a social mobility charity, helping businesses in the financial, professional and related services sector develop their corporate social responsibility, diversity and talent pipeline programmes. This included managing the award-winning City of London Business Traineeship programme for over 10 years. At the Foundation, Melissa's focus is to shape the charity through awareness raising, leadership and strategic planning.


Paul Masterman is a communications consultant, interim manager and associate of the LGA. Paul has advised councils, NHS trusts and police commissioners on everything from strategic communications planning to delivering service campaigns and has led communications teams at six councils.  He tweets as @InterimBoy.


Rachel Miller is the Director of All Things IC and helps internal communication practitioners excel through consultancy and training. Her popular monthly Masterclasses have benefitted more than 150 practitioners in just over 18 months.  A regular industry judge and prolific blogger at allthingsic.com, her thoughts have been featured in a number of best-selling PR books. You can find Rachel on Twitter @AllthingsIC.


Ben Page is Chief Executive of Ipsos MORI, one of Britain’s leading research companies.  Ben led the LGA’s first Reputation Campaign in 2005-7 devising key actions with practitioners from across the sector. He has worked with hundreds of local authorities and NHS trusts over the last 30 years, as well as Downing Street, government departments and global businesses like Google.


Dawn Reeves is an author and facilitator who specialises in making positive change in the public sector. A former local authority corporate director, Dawn has published two novels, and has written and curated books about the future of public service. She also facilitates workshops on 21st century public service and was the Writer-in-Residence at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance (CIPFA). 


Andy Sawford MPRCA is Managing Partner of Connect, an award winning communications consultancy specialising in public affairs. Andy features in the PR Week Power Book of the top PR professionals in the UK and serves on the Board of the PRCA.  Andy is a former Chief Executive of the LGIU and former Vice President of the LGA.  He has served as a Member of Parliament, a Councillor and local authority Cabinet Member.


Sam Tatam is Behavioural Strategy Director, Ogilvy UK. Sam’s experience stems from a background in Organisational Psychology and brand strategy, with a clear focus on understanding consumer behaviour. Today, he brings this thinking to Ogilvy’s clients across the globe, developing behavioural interventions and shaping the communications of some of the world’s most influential organisations.


John Till is the founding Director of thinkingplace and has directed the creation of over 60 place narratives and stakeholder-led marketing approaches for all three UK Cities of Culture including the recently announced Coventry, and for places as diverse as Nottingham, Cornwall, Doncaster, Rotherham, Knowsley, Medway, Harlow, Rochdale and Lancashire. John has a vast experience of marketing and branding gained at organisations including Kingfisher plc, Next and Hull Cityimage


Will Walden is a media, communications and crisis expert. He runs Public Affairs and Government Relations for Edelman, the UK's biggest communications marketing firm. Will spent nearly 20 years as a reporter, producer and editor at ITN and the BBC, before running communications for Boris Johnson, latterly as his chief political advisor. In 2018 he was named the number one public affairs advisor in the UK by both PR Week and Public Affairs News.


Neil Wholey is a member of the Government Communication Service (GCS). He has worked for Ipsos MORI, Westminster City Council and Westco. His areas of expertise include market research, evaluation, performance management, and the use of data. He is a former Chair of LARIA (Local Area Research and Intelligence Association) and Deputy Solace Spokesperson on Evidence Based Policy. @neilwholey


Paul Willis is Professor of Corporate Communication at The University of Huddersfield. He was previously Director of the Centre for Public Relations Studies at Leeds Business School. In 2016, he was appointed to the Government's Future Communication Council by the Cabinet Office and Prime Minister's Office. Paul was a board level communicator in the public and private sectors before joining academia.


Dave Worsell, Managing Director of Granicus Europe, @dworsell @GranicusUK

Dave has extensive experience in government-to-business and government-to-citizen digital communications. His consultancy skills are coupled with a deeply technical background. Dave’s team is currently supporting 200 public services in Europe to reach and engage 14 million citizens every day, to deliver programme success, drive channel-shift, change behaviour and improve lives.