Speakers

Nathalia Amadeu

Global Brand Director, Vaseline

Kate Brazier

Managing Director, The Romans

Jo Burford

EMEA Head of Creators, Edelman

Paul Holmes

Founder & CEO, PRovoke Media

Paul Holmes, founder and CEO of PRovoke Media, has been writing about public relations for more than 25 years. Paul began his career in local newspapers in the north of England and also worked for a newspaper group in South London before joining PR Week as news editor in 1985.

In 1987 he moved to New York to launch the short-lived US edition of that publication, and after that project came to an inglorious end worked with Adweek and Adweek’s Marketing Week for a year.

In 1989, he launched his own company, initially publishing Inside PR, and later Reputation Management magazine, both focused on providing analysis of critical trends and issues in the public relations industry. He created the annual Public Relations Agency Report Card, which included profiles of the leading PR firms in the US, and the Creativity in Public Relations Awards, which grew to become the largest in North America.

Early in 2000, Holmes launched The Holmes Group, which provides knowledge and insight to public relations professionals across a variety of platforms, including a website, an e-newsletter, events, printed reports, research and consulting assignments, and the SABRE Awards competition. The group’s flagship title, PRovoke Media (p/k/a The Holmes Report), covers the public relations business in the Americas, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and the Asia-Pacific region. In 2011, Paul was inducted into the ICCO Hall of Fame.

Jacob Howard, FCIM

Founder, Financial Marketing Insights

ormer Global Investment Bank Marketing lead at Deutsche Bank and Chair of the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Financial Services Group, Jacob founded FMI in 2024 to connect the global financial services marketing community through award-winning events, webinars and a podcast. Find out more at https://www.financialmarketinginsights.com

Thomas Morris

Senior Partner, FINN Partners

Thomas Morris co-leads the Global Intelligence Lab at FINN Partners, where he works at the intersection of intelligence, research and strategic communications. He has led projects spanning financial services, travel and hospitality, healthcare and technology, combining media intelligence, competitive analysis and primary research to help organisations understand their audiences and build communications strategy on evidence rather than assumption.

Thomas has more than 15 years of experience in strategic communications, including heading FINN's EMEA Financial Services division and serving as Managing Director of a London-based financial services PR agency. Now based in Abu Dhabi, he has worked extensively with the UAE government on initiatives to strengthen international reputation and has been recognised in PR Week's 2024 and 2025 Middle East Power Books as one of the region's most influential communications leaders. He sits on the PRCA MENA AI in PR Committee.

Kerry Parkin

Founder and CEO, The Remarkables

Kerry Parkin is Founder of The Remarkables. After 25 years building an in-house and agency career, Kerry set out to create the agency she always wished existed: agile, senior-led and free from the layers of traditional networks. Since 2024, she has been building an international collective of senior specialists working across campaigning, corporate communications, reputation and GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation).

Kerry has advised leadership teams and global brands on reputation, stakeholder engagement, organisational change and high-profile campaigning programmes designed to drive visibility, influence and impact. Increasingly, her work focuses on how brands build trust and authority in the age of AI-powered search.

Kerry is also leading conversations around GEO – Generative Engine Optimisation – helping organisations understand how they appear and are recommended within AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. GEO combines PR, reputation, search visibility and authoritative content strategy to improve how brands surface in AI-generated answers.

Through The Remarkables, Kerry and her team work with brands including SPAR, Cover Genius, Amazon, ODEON, Stock Spirits Group and AF Blakemore.

Maja Pawinska Sims

Editorial Director, PRovoke Media

Maja Pawinska Sims is the Editorial Director at PRovoke Media. She has been writing about public relations and communications for 26 years, first as features editor of PRWeek and then as a freelance writer and editor for PR agencies and their clients around the world, including three years as Weber Shandwick’s EMEA editor. Maja joined PRovoke Media in 2018 and covers UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa news, features, analysis and podcasts, as well as leading major global projects including the Best Agencies of the Year, the Influence 100 list of the world’s most influential in-house chief communications and corporate affairs officers, and the Innovator 25 lists of disruptors, innovators and gamechangers in the PR industry. She was named Journalist of the Year at the Global Women in Marketing Awards in 2019, where the judges noted: “Maja proves how empathy can drive brilliant editorial thinking. She is clearly an absolute expert in her field and proves that you can challenge an industry while also championing it.”

Matti Pentikäinen

Executive Creative Director, SEK

Inma Quirante

Corporate Communication & PR Manager, Palladium Hotel Group

Wigan Salazar

CEO, MSL Germany

Allison Spray

EMEA Chief Data & Intelligence Officer, Burson

Gabriela Weiss Clarke

Head of Communications, PRCA

Gabriela leads the strategic communications initiatives that strengthen the association’s visibility, engagement, and industry voice. With a background spanning public relations, media relations, and content strategy, she is passionate about ethical storytelling and impactful communications across global and local platforms. Originally from Bolivia, Gabriela was also involved in one of the country’s pioneering fact-checking initiatives, helping combat disinformation and promote media literacy at a critical moment for democratic discourse.

Paolo Zanetto

CEO, Excellera Advisory Group

Paolo is the CEO of Excellera, a leading Corporate Affairs consultancy across EMEA. He co-founded the firm and has driven its rapid expansion across EMEA. He brings extensive experience in corporate affairs, strategic communications, public affairs, and regulatory risk management.

Before founding Excellera, Paolo co-founded CZP, Italy’s leading public affairs firm. In that role, he advised Fortune 500 clients on regulatory challenges, advocacy strategies, and reputational risk at both the national and European level.

Paolo is also an Executive Fellow at SDA Bocconi School of Management, where he teaches non-market strategy. He chairs the steering committee of Bocconi’s Public Affairs and Institutional Relations initiative. He is the author of three books and a regular contributor to leading scientific and mainstream publications.