Internal Communications Retreat Facilitators

Katharina is an internationally recognised business communicator with proven delivery of effective global communication strategies and programmes, and has Lean Sigma qualifications for process and performance improvement.

Previous roles include Head of Internal Communications & Engagement at ABB, Head of Employee & Executive Communications at Zurich Insurance, Head of Internal Communications at Rio Tinto, Head of Global Internal and Management Communications at Shell, Head of Global Internal Communications at AstraZeneca, Corporate Communications Lead at GE Capital EEF and Corporate Communications Manager at Corange/Boehringer Mannheim. Katharina has worked in Nigeria, Hong Kong, the UK, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

A graduate of the University of Glasgow, Drew started his career in brand communications before moving increasingly into employee communications and then engagement. He has worked for medium, large and very large organisations in sectors as diverse as defence, energy, retail and government. Assignments based in the Middle and Far East, USA and Europe have given Drew insights to modes and norms of communication in different cultures. He is currently Head of Internal Communications & Engagement for Virgin Trains, where he is responsible for leadership communication and communications-enabled organisational change.

Liam FitzPatrick has 25 years of experience with change, PR and internal communications comes from working in-house and in consultancy.
Liam has worked in civil engineering, energy, manufacturing and transportation as well as telecoms. He was Global Head of Internal Communications at Marconi during its financial restructuring and has worked on change and transformation projects in a wide variety of situations. He is particularly interested in developing teams, research and planning.
He is a council member and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Gihan is an award winner Corporate Communication Consultant with 19 years spanning through numerous multinational organisations within different sectors. Gihan specialises in designing and delivering effective employee and stakeholder communication strategies and plans during a time of change across several sectors. She has a flair for building strong, credible relationships at all levels ensuring the right messages and strategies are implemented correctly.

Gihan currently leads the Talent and Learning department in BP. Prior to BP Gihan worked in several organisations as the Interim Head of Communications including Department for Int. Trade Saudi Arabia, HSBC Asset Management UK, Barclays Internal Audit UK, M&S HR UK, the Riyadh Metro Project Saudi Arabia and The World Health Organization ethics and health dept., Genève.

Highlights of Gihan’s Career included
<ul>
<li>First female to work in the Saudi construction sector</li>
<li>Winning the UK’s Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) <em><u>Best Employee Engagement Award</u></em>in 2016.</li>
<li>Creating and developing the Consumer and Retail Sector for the Department for International Trade (DIT) in Saudi Arabia.</li>
<li>Designing and delivering bespoke media messages and public speaking training sessions for more than 100 Executives and senior executives representing FTSE 100 organisations.</li>
<li>Leading the Employee & Stakeholder Engagement Department for Barclays UK Internal Audit to ensure the bank’s new strategy, corporate culture and values were communicated effectively to staff and external stakeholders.</li>
<li>Transforming HSBC’s complex anti-money laundering key messages into simple language communicated to 3,000 employees across 26 countries</li>
</ul>