Abbey Cortazzi
Abbey is a strategic communications leader with over 15 years experience across both the public and private sector, including local government, construction, pharma and defence. Over the last five years she has worked for Surrey County Council, now leading the strategic communications function across all service areas and Local Government Reorganisation as Surrey moves through the process. She previously held the role of Senior Comms Manager for Children’s Services leading the communications around SEND provision, Ofsted inspections and high-profile national media issues. She has delivered best practice advice to comms teams around the country, taken part in LGA Peer Reviews, and is committed to developing skills and experience across the sector.
Alice Pickering
Alice Pickering is a Marketing and Design Officer at Southend City Council, helping shape and promote Southend as a visitor destination. Since joining in 2012, including an early role at Southend Pier, she has developed expertise in event management, customer service, website management and social media. As part of the Culture and Tourism team, she supports place‑making initiatives to enhance the city’s cultural offer and appeal. She manages Visit Southend and Southend Pier digital platforms, creating content and marketing materials. Alice collaborates with partners and stakeholders and provides administrative support to the Southend Tourism Partnership Board.
Adam Kearney
Adam Kearney is Head of Communications and Marketing at Luton Borough Council and an award-winning communications leader with a passion for community engagement and place-based storytelling. Over the past 15 years, he has led high-profile campaigns that have helped transform perceptions of Luton and strengthen connections across the town’s diverse communities.
Adam is currently leading We Are Luton, a grassroots movement challenging racism, Islamophobia and online hate by celebrating the people, cultures and communities that make Luton such a resilient, generous and united town.
Becky Hutson
As a communications and engagement lead in Northamptonshire’s LGR journey, Becky has seen the challenges and opportunities from both a district and unitary perspective.
She developed and established the Council’s new comms service, playing an integral role in shaping Day One channels and a strong organisational culture, highlighted as positive and upbeat in the recent Corporate Peer Challenge. Becky navigated complex political environments on LGR and is now forging strong and guiding relationships with the one of first Reform UK council political administrations in the country.
Danielle Taylor
Danielle, Campaigns Officer at Staffordshire County Council is a passionate campaigns specialist with over 13 years’ experience across media, public relations and digital communications. Having spent a decade shaping stories and engaging audiences through PR and social channels, she now leads impactful, insight-driven campaigns within the public sector, where she has truly found her calling.
At Staffordshire County Council, Danielle delivers creative campaigns that support children and families, with a clear mission to help every child get the best possible start in life. Her work blends behavioural insight, emotional storytelling and engaging creative to reach families, schools and communities in meaningful ways.
Danielle is the creative mind behind Little Heroes – a multi award-winning primary school attendance campaign that encourages children to be “here every day, ready on time”. The campaign has been widely recognised for its innovative approach, combining bold, child-friendly creative with a strong focus on emotional wellbeing. Through initiatives such as mindfulness activities, Danielle champions the link between attendance, confidence and mental health from an early age.
Danielle is particularly keen to create genuine behaviour change campaigns by connecting with audiences on a human level and known for coming up with ‘wild card’ ideas that children love.
Edna Boampong
Edna Boampong is Director of Communications and Engagement at Liverpool City Council and a multi-award-winning communications and marketing leader. With over 20 years of experience across the NHS, private sector and local government, she specialises in strategic communications, behaviour change and large-scale transformation.
Edna has designed and led nationally recognised programmes that improve outcomes and reduce inequalities, with a strong focus on reaching underrepresented communities.
Edna is a passionate advocate for greater diversity in the communications profession and chairs a national taskforce to improve representation. Edna is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the organisation’s highest level of recognition, awarded in acknowledgement of her outstanding career achievements.
Emily Rees-Woddhall
Emily Rees-Woodhall has over five years’ experience in public health, focusing on designing and delivering impactful campaigns across Sandwell. She began her career as a Marketing and Communications Apprentice for a youth voice initiative and now works as a Public Health Marketing and Engagement Officer within the Public Health Marketing and Behavioural Science Team. In this role, she develops and delivers campaigns that combine community engagement with creative communication approaches, engaging diverse audiences to promote healthier lifestyles including smoking cessation and mental health.
Emma McClaughlin
Dr. Emma McClaughlin is a Senior Research Fellow in Corpus Linguistics at the University of Nottingham. Her applied research focuses on health communication and health equity across areas including public health campaigns, patient information, and health literacies. She has examined vaccine communication, menstrual health discourse, coronavirus public messaging, and avian influenza biosecurity. Her work informs evidence-based interventions to improve patient informed consent and the effectiveness and accessibility of public health communication.
Georgia Turner
Georgia led council communications for 25 years. She was the Communications and Engagement lead for the Dorset LGR programme. A member of the programme board, she was instrumental in shaping the case for structural change.
Following the government decision, Georgia became Comms, Engagement and Branding lead for the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole LGR programme. Over 13 months, she oversaw programme comms to create the new council, including internal engagement, branding and launch, support for service workstreams, and day one readiness of her own function.
After vesting day, she created a new directorate and communications strategy.
She’s been a freelance consultant since 2022, providing critical friend advice to comms leaders across the public sector, including specialist LGR readiness, advice and capacity support.
Heather Jameson
Heather Jameson is editor of The MJ, the leading weekly local government title for senior local government officers and of www.TheMJ.co.uk.
She is a regular speaker at local government events including The MJ’s own events, The MJ Future Forums and The MJ Achievement Awards.
Heather was a member of the Councillors’ Commission, chaired by Professor Colin Copus of De Montfort University, and is a passionate advocate of local government.
She hosts a regular podcast – Our World is Local – with Cratus Group chairman Nick Kilby.
Helena Hornby
Head of Community Collaboration
With many years of experience in public sector communications, engagement, and marketing, Helena brings a strong understanding of how trust, credibility, and relationships shape effective public sector work. In her role at Orlo, she focuses on senior-level engagement, sector insight, and thought leadership, helping ensure Orlo stays closely connected to the realities of public sector communication and community engagement. She is focused on building strong community connections to help people deliver comms that make a difference.
Holly Skelton
A versatile and results-driven Strategic Communications Lead with over six years’ experience in public sector communications, spanning internal and external communications, media relations, public affairs, digital marketing and stakeholder engagement. I bring a creative and strategic mindset with a highly adaptable writing style, delivering collaborative campaigns that build brand awareness, influence behaviour and engage diverse audiences.
James Odling-Smee
James Odling-Smee is Director of Communications and Public Affairs at London Councils which is the collective of local government in London representing 32 boroughs and the City of London Corporation. His team works to promote collaboration and partnership across London – between boroughs as well as between all local, regional and national public services such as the NHS and Greater London Authority. They also work with partners across the country to lobby Government and Parliament to promote greater devolution to localities, including providing the Secretariat for the London APPG.
James has worked in council communications roles Hackney, Hertfordshire, Luton and Camden.
Johnathan Schroder
Johnathan has more than 20 years experience of working in local government communications, currently holding the position of Head of Campaigns and Deputy Head of Communications at Barnet Council. His career has seen him work in internal comms and press office environments, as well as working for five years as a journalist on a series of local newspapers in north London. He currently leads a campaigns team that has received national recognition, particularly for work on their Home Energy Fix campaign aimed at tackling fuel poverty, and Connecting Communities campaign, recently shortlisted for the inaugural Communications category at the 2026 MJ Awards.
Karen Swan
Karen Swan is an Owner /Director of Influential, an award-winning behaviour change agency that uses research-led insight to create campaigns that connect with residents and deliver measurable results. With extensive experience designing and leading successful behaviour change initiatives, Karen has built a reputation for developing impactful campaigns that inspire engagement and drive meaningful change. Her work has been recognised through multiple industry awards, reflecting her expertise in combining strategic research, creative communication and audience understanding to deliver campaigns that not only resonate but also achieve lasting outcomes.
Katie Young
Katie Young is a Marketing and Design Officer at Southend-on-Sea City Council. She began her career in local government in 2015, working in libraries before moving into event promotion and social media, building a strong foundation in communications and community engagement. In 2019, she joined the Culture and Tourism team, helping promote Southend as a vibrant destination. She manages the Visit Southend digital presence, creates marketing materials, and collaborates with partners to deliver campaigns and events that showcase the city’s identity and appeal to residents and visitors alike.
Lorna Perry
Lorna Perry is a Senior Account Executive at Microsoft, where she works closely with government and public sector organisations to help them embrace technology with confidence. Much of that work brings her alongside the communications teams at the heart of public service — and over the years she’s developed a real passion for the profession and the people in it. At this year’s Academy, Lorna explores what AI genuinely means for communications in government: the opportunities, the practicalities, and how teams can make it work for them rather than the other way round.
Mandy Pearse
Mandy Pearse, FCIPR, FCIM is a PR consultant, trainer, researcher and author with over 20 years in-house local government experience before leading her consultancy for the last 14 years. Mandy works as an LGA associate and runs the long standing Public Sector Communications Survey. She is co-author with Prof Anne Gregory of the 6th edition of Planning and Managing PR Campaigns: A strategic approach as well as an accredited trainer with CIPR and RTPI.
Matt Nicholls
Matt Nicholls is the Head of Communications Improvement at the Local Government Association. Since establishing the LGA’s communications improvement offer in 2015, he has overseen support for around 50 councils each year, spanning peer reviews, crisis communications, and tailored support on complex or sensitive issues, including changes in political control. Matt previously served as the LGA’s Head of News and was Interim Head of Communications at Rochdale Council. Earlier in his career, he held communications roles at one of the UK’s largest trade unions and began his working life as a local journalist.
Phil, Highways Social Media Lead at Staffordshire County Council is a media and communications specialist who is transforming how highways are seen, heard and experienced; turning what was once purely operational content into engaging, conversation-driving communication that truly connects with people.
With a strong focus on creativity and audience insight, Phil has revitalised highways social media by tapping into emerging trends and bringing a fresh, innovative approach to the council’s content. By introducing personality, humour and authenticity into communications, he has significantly enhanced engagement and helped build stronger relationships between the council and the communities it serves.
At the heart of Phil’s approach is a commitment to real, human connection. Whether responding to residents or shaping content, he ensures people feel heard, understood and valued, turning everyday interactions into opportunities for positive engagement.
Alongside his communications expertise, Phil brings a unique and inspiring creative background. A graduate in marine and natural history photography and videography, a qualified marine mammal medic, and holder of a Master’s degree in Marketing and Digital Communications, he combines technical skill with storytelling flair. His ability to capture powerful moments, translates into compelling visual content that brings messaging to life in a way that truly resonates with audiences.
Rebecca Hodgetts-Still
Rebecca Hodgetts-Still has proudly worked at Sandwell Council for more than 20 years, building experience across housing, neighbourhoods, communications and now public health. Working in marketing and behavioural science, she is passionate about creating campaigns that break away from the norm — using bold, creative ideas that connect with people in meaningful ways and help improve health outcomes for residents in Sandwell.
Rebecca Proctor
With over 20 years’ experience in the public sector, I’ve spent time at York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (five years and two years respectively), helping shape how we engage with communities. I lead on consultations to make sure people across our large, rural county have their voices heard, adapting communications to reach even the most remote areas. I also played a key role in launching North Yorkshire Council following local government reorganisation, and ensuring that communications at the Combined Authority is relevant locally, whilst also reaching on a regional level.
Rosie Knight
Head of Value Delivery at Orlo
Rosie has 12 years of experience working in digital communications. Passionate about helping communicators demonstrate and deliver their value, she champions the use of data and insight to build trust, drive change, and evidence impact. At Orlo, Rosie’s goal is to support public sector teams in making the most of community engagement, not just to hit KPIs, but to show the real difference their work makes to communities.
Sarah Waddington
Sarah is the CEO of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), the world’s largest professional PR body. Sarah is the UK’s first Chartered director and Chartered PR practitioner, offering a unique mix of governance and communications expertise. Her CBE was awarded in June 2021 for services to public relations and voluntary sectors. Sarah is a co-founder of Socially Mobile, a not-for-profit PR training school helping those from lower socio-economic backgrounds and under-represented groups to increase their earning potential. A Past President of the CIPR, she is a regular speaker at industry events.
Shokat Lal
Shokat is Chief Executive of Sandwell Council, having joined during a period of government intervention and leading its rapid and successful exit, making Sandwell the fastest council to recover. He brings 36 years of senior experience across local government and health, including roles as Assistant Chief Executive at Rotherham and Executive Director at Barnsley. He has overseen large, complex portfolios covering finance, governance, HR and transformation. Shokat also serves as a Ministerial Envoy to Tower Hamlets and has held NHS non-executive roles. A Chartered CIPD Companion, he is dedicated to regeneration, transformation and delivering improved outcomes for communities and growth.