Thursday, December 9th 2010, at the Žofín Palace, Prague
Expert jury members ensure balanced evaluation
A list of esteemed communications specialists have been carefully selected as jury members for the European Excellence Awards to ensure a fair and balanced evaluation of all nominees. The Judges' range of expertise covers the whole of Europe, from the perspective of both in-house and agency communication departments. During an online voting session and a two-day jury meeting, the jury will decide which nominations to shortlist, and who will be the recipients of the European Excellence Awards. The jury will evaluate the creativity, innovation, cost-efficiency and strategy of the projects submitted, to award the best in European communications and PR in 2010.
Chairwoman & Chairman
Chairwoman Florence Ranson
Senior Adviser PR & Communications, European Banking Federation
Previously, Florence Ranson was Secretary General of the European Advertising Tripartite. She was also Project Manager of 'Team Europe', the Commission's network of conference speakers throughout Member states and candidate countries.
Chairman Marc-Oliver Voigt
Editor-in Chief, Communication Director magazine
Prior to his current position, Marc-Oliver Voigt worked as a writer for the Financial Times Deutschland. He took up his position at Communication Director in 2006.
Jury
Markus Beeko
Director Campaigns & Communications, Amnesty International
Markus Beeko is the Director of Campaigns & Communications for Amnesty International (German section). Previously, he worked as the Director of Communications for the Swiss Think Tank Prognos AG, which is part of the German Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. Before that he was a freelance Communications advisor and worked in advertising for about ten years.
Pascal Beucler
Senior Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, MSL Group
Pascal Beucler joined a subsidiary of Publicis Consultants in 1987, and was promoted to a partner in 1994. He became Senior Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer of the MSL Group in 2010, under whose umbrella Publicis now falls. He is an Associate Professor at CELSA (Paris IV Sorbonne) and a Visiting Professor at HEC (French Business College). He has conducted research and published articles on various topics, and in particular on the relationship between text and images.
Nathalie Biderman
Chief Operations Officer, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR
Nathalie Biderman has a strong experience in international PR and public affairs, advising various institutions, companies and NGO's in their communication strategies. Prior to joining Euro RSCG, she worked with the international marketing and communication team of the Organizing Committee of the 1992 Winter Olympic Games.
Robin Boon
Group Director of Corporate Relations, TNT N.V.
Robin Boon has been responsible for TNT’s Corporate Relations since April 2008. TNT N.V. is a global player in Express and Mail with 161,500 employees, covering 200 countries worldwide.
David Brain
President and CEO, Europe, Edelman
David Brain runs Edelman’s 15 offices in 12 markets in Europe. His first book, Crowd Surfing, how to survive and thrive in the era of consumer empowerment, was published in September by Bloomsbury. He originally trained as a journalist, and has worked at PR agencies Paragon Communications, Burson-Marsteller and Weber Shandwick, and was once a brand planner for WPP
Colin Byrne
CEO Weber Shandwick UK & Europe, Weber Shandwick
Colin Byrne is one of the UK’s leading PR practitioners with over twenty years’ experience spanning domestic and international media relations, politics, global campaigns and issues management. He joined Weber Shandwick in 1995, rising to lead the public affairs practice in London in 1997 and is now CEO of the global agency’s European network and a member of the global management team.
Sally Costerton
Chairman & CEO Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), Hill & Knowlton
Sally Costerton is currently Chairman & CEO EMEA, having moved into the role from her position as CEO, Hill & Knowlton UK. Prior to that she was as Practice Head, Technology for EMEA, where she lead a practice with over 100 staff across 20 countries. She has worked across a wide variety of clients and extensively in the technology and financial services sectors, and specialises in corporate communications – working internationally with organisations such as HSBC, Intel, The Learning Skills Council and Visa.
Salvador da Cunha
President, Lift Consulting
Before changing to Public Relations, Salvador da Cunha worked as an economic journalist and editor. He was the founder of many Portuguese economic newspapers, and founder shareholder of Jornal de Negocios. For the past 14 years he has been CEO and Owner of Lift Consulting, one of the leading PR Agencies in Portugal. He has been a member of the Executive Committee of ICCO – the International Communications Consultancy Organisation - since May 2009.
Kristina Ebenius
Managing Director Europe, Schwartz Communications
Kristina Ebenius joined Schwartz Communications 1999 and opened Schwartz's European headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden in 2006. She has previously worked at PR agencies such as Edelman and Andréasson Public Relations.
Jeremy Galbraith
CEO EMEA, Burson-Marsteller
Jeremy Galbraith has spent over 20 years helping leading companies and organisations manage critical issues and influence European political processes at European Union and Member State level - to preserve or advance business goals. He was previously the CEO of Burson-Marsteller in Brussels from 2000 to 2007 having first joined Burson-Marsteller in 1995 to head up the UK Public Affairs Practice.
Neil Hedges
Chairman, Fishburn Hedges
Following an early career in advertising, Neil Hedges joined Valin Pollen, becoming its chief executive in 1987. He co-founded Fishburn Hedges in 1991 and is now chairman of the Fishburn Hedges Group.
Herbert Heitmann
President, European Association of Communication Directors
Herbert Heitmann is Executive Vice President of External Communications for Royal Dutch Shell, having recently moved there from SAP AG. Alongside his current role at Shell, he is a Trustee of the Board of the Arthur W. Page Society and the founding President of the European Association of Communication Directors.
Hana Hejsková
Director of Communications, Czech Airlines
Hana Hejsková has 13 years of experience in Public Relations and Communications. Before joining Czech Airlines, she worked at Telefónica O2 Czech Republic and Český Telecom for a number of years. She also implemented the communication and PR activities of Telefónica O2 Slovakia when it first entered the Slovak market and was the company’s first spokesperson.
Caroline Hempstead
Vice President Global Corporate Affairs, AstraZeneca
Before she joined AstraZeneca, Caroline Hempstead was the VP of Downstream External Affairs at Royal Dutch Shell Plc. She also held communication roles at Inchcape Plc, The London Stock Exchange and within other industries.
Chris Lewis
CEO, Lewis PR
Chris Lewis is a former journalist who has written for a variety of international business publications. He is best known for founding LEWIS PR – a global agency that has gone from start-up to forty offices worldwide in 15 years. He is also the author of "The Unemployables", a profile of forty inspirational leaders.
Stefano Lucchini
Senior Executive Vice President, Public Affairs and Communication Department, Eni
As well as his current role, Stefano Lucchini is a visiting fellow of Oxford University, a member of the board of directors of AGI and teaches at the Advanced School of Journalism at Milan’s Catholic University.
Dr Lutz Meyer
Managing Director, Scholz & Friends Agenda
Dr Lutz Meyer has been Managing Director of Scholz & Friends Agenda since 2005, having previously directed fischerAppeltKommunikation's Berlin office. He has also been Spokesman of the Federal Ministry, a guest Professor for political science in Asia, and Office Manager for the SPD during the 2002 elections.
Michael Murphy
CEO, Grayling
Michael Murphy is CEO of Grayling, which was formed by the merger of Trimedia, Grayling and Mmd. He recently chaired a UK Government Department of Trade and Industry and was a Director of Think London. He is a Fellow of The Institute of Public Relations and a Trustee of the charity Action on Addiction.
Elisabeth Schick
Senior Vice President of Communications & Government Relations, BASF SE
Elisabeth Schick has been Senior Vice President of Communications & Government Relations BASF Group since January 2001, having held a variety of roles with the company since 1993. These have included being director of Corporate Communications Ludwigshafen and Europe, working within the Human Resources Division, and completely reorganising the company's PR department in Japan.
Philipp Schindera
Senior Executive Vice President Corporate Communications, Deutsche Telekom AG
Philipp Schindera began his career as press spokesman for paging services at T-Mobile Deutschland, and has worked his way up through the company to his present role.
Timo Sieg
CEO Europe, PLEON
Timo Sieg had worked at Kothes Klewes since 1996 and climbed the latter from Senior Consultant to CEO of Pleon Germany, and then to CEO of Pleon Europe. He is Deputy President of the German Consultancy Association of Marketing and Management.
Dr Peggy Simcic Brønn
Associate Professor in Communications, Norwegian School of Management, Oslo
Having begun her career in communications in the United States, Dr. Simcic Bronn has been an Associate Professor in the Communication Department of the Norwegian School of Management since 2000. She also holds the post of Associate Dean of the Undergraduate Public Relations Program.
Dóra Somlyai
Vice President for Corporate Communications, MOL Group
Dóra Somlyai has been with the MOL Group since 2007, and was recently promoted to her current role. She has previously worked in marketing and communications for Pannon GSM Telecommunication and Compaq Computers Hungary – Hewlett Packard Hungary. She is also a member of the Hungary Country Brand team.
Catalina Stan
President and CEO, BDR Associates Romania
Catalina Stan is a Senior Member of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) and Director of Superbrands Romania since 2005. She previously worked as a Senior Consultant at Deloitte & Touche.
Chris Talago
Executive Vice President & General Manager EMEA, Waggener Edstrom
Chris Talago has led a number of award winning in-house and agency teams ranging from global agency lead for IBM Software Group, to HP, BMC and Advanced Micro Devices. He has worked in Africa, US and EMEA for over 15 years on integrated communications strategies and held senior posts for Text 100, H&K and now Waggener Edstrom. Formerly, Chris served in the British Army and is active in raising funds for veterans' charities.
Kerry Underhill
Senior Vice President, Group Communications, Royal Ahold
Prior to joining Ahold in 2005, Kerry Underhill held various senior communications roles in financial services, including global head of Corporate Communications and Marketing for the investment banking division of Deutsche Bank and UBS and European Head of Communications for Swiss Bank Corporation.
Nuria Vilanova
President, Grupo Inforpress
Nuria Vilanova founded Inforpress at the age of 23. Before, she worked as a journalist for El Pais, Catalunya Radio and Europa Press and as a correspondent for Garraf-Penedes.
Sigrid de Vries
Head of Communications, European Automobile Manufacturers Association
A professional journalist, Sigrid de Vries has worked for the Dutch financial daily in Amsterdam, Brussels (EU affairs) and Berlin. She became Director of Communications and Public Relations of ACEA in 2006.