CorpComms Magazine

Where's the strangest place you've written a press release? How about a taxi on the way to the Taj Mahal while on a romantic trip with your boyfriend?

And, while she was at it, Alicia Wyllie, head of communications at fund managers Jupiter, knocked off a quick Q&A about the appointment of a new chief investment officer before wandering around the world's most romantic mausoleum with the understanding Jeremy.

Although Wyllie appears a model of North London cool - she's into yoga, Reiki and possibly makes her own tofu - she doesn't really seem to switch off. A company woman through and through, she lives and breathes Jupiter and, as a result, the fund management company probably gets more than its fair share of publicity in the nationals. Certainly, some of the far-larger investment houses must wonder what her secret is. Dedication and hard work seem to be the rather predictable answers.

However, even Wyllie admits that sometimes, timing seems to conspire against her. In May, Jupiter announced its intention to float on the stock market - one of the few companies to do so in the current difficult market - and guess what, it chose the day before Wyllie's 40th birthday to do so. Celebrations were delayed until the end of the week.

A young achiever

Her age will surprise many. On the one hand, Wyllie seems to have been around since the Big Bang. On the other, she looks very young for her age and still has all the enthusiasm I remember her having when she was a rookie trade press reporter and I was a junior journalist at the Daily Telegraph.

What is really surprising is that Jupiter is the only PR job she's ever had - and she's only been there for five and a half years. That was when Wyllie switched from being a journalist to take the PR shilling. But then again, she's been a journalist since she was just 19 years old when she chose real-life work experience rather than the traditional route of university.

And she does not regret it. 'I wasn't great at exams. I'm a more practical person and I didn't want to study at that time,' she explains.

Instead, she became a reporter at the long-forgotten Building Societies' Gazette and learned on the job. It was at a time when building societies were hot news: Abbey National had floated the previous year and the industry was alive with rumours over who would be next.

For the teenage reporter, fresh from school in the Home Counties, it was a brilliant way to hone her skills. Unusually, her editor was keen for her to freelance for the nationals where she increased her profile and became known as a great story-getter. After stints at Investment Week, she went to the Sunday Times, only to leave when the lure of working for a dot.com became too attractive. That bubble burst, and by the turn of the century she was working as a freelance reporter, writing on investment for several nationals and specialist publications.

In 2004 came the change from hunter to gamekeeper. She was having lunch one Friday with one of her favourite contacts, Jupiter boss Edward Bonham Carter, brother of the more famous Helena. Says Wyllie: 'We were talking about Richard Miles, who'd just moved from being the investment editor of The Times to head up the press office at Fidelity.' (Miles is now at fund managers M&G, part of Prudential.)

'Edward asked me if I could ever see myself doing a similar job for Jupiter. I thought he was joking.'

Over the weekend, Wyllie played back the conversation in her mind. 'I thought What if he was serious? So on Monday, I rang him. He said he meant it, and would I like to do the job?'

Changing career path

There followed a series of interviews with other Jupiter executives and then Wyllie - who had absolutely no PR experience - took her place in its Hyde Park offices.

But, as with her journalistic career, Wyllie is a prime example of how on-the-job experience is often more important than qualifications. Although she admits to being scared on her first day in the job, she straightaway started to get under the skin of the organisation she already knew well as a journalist, so she could feel confident that the lines she was giving journalists were the right ones.

'When I was a journalist, I spent all my time asking questions and I imagined it was easy being a PR and answering them. When the tables turned and I had to supply the answers, I found it much harder realising that I what I said would affect the outside world's image of us.' She smiles: 'I find it much easier now.'

And knowledge is power. 'I keep myself well informed. I talk to our fund managers and sales teams every day and the board are very good at alerting me to potential corporate developments so I know what is going on. I've come from the journalism side so I think I know what makes a good story and I like to think I know what reporters want.'

Her pet hate however is 'rent-a-quotes'. 'We won't put out a statement on absolutely anything. That to me is pointless and lazy. I hope that any comment we make is pertinent.'

And while she finds the intellectual side of fund management fascinating, she's not tempted into another career change. 'I'm happy enough running my own money. I admire managers for what they do - I'm not sure if I could cope with the responsibility of looking after other people's money.

Her biggest challenge so far has been June's initial public offering when Jupiter listed on the stock market: each day that an announcement was made meant starting work at 6.30am. The legal requirements of such a deal meant she and her team not only had to watch what they said to the press but also had to help other Jupiter staff understand what could be said to clients.

Dealing with the City

And while a possible flotation had been mooted ever since Jupiter was bought by its management from Commerzbank in 2007, it meant that Wyllie, who usually deals mainly with the personal finance press, was talking more to City editors, all of whom had an opinion about the float.

She says she received 'invaluable' help from Financial Dynamics' Andrew Walton and John Waples. Her team is a small one: she has a deputy and an assistant, as well as a team of investment writers who come under her remit.

I ask her how she feels when Jupiter gets knocked in the press. 'I don't mind if it's fair and we had a right of reply,' she says. 'If we didn't, then I get angry because that's just bad journalism. Fair criticism is fine. We have to be realistic and accept fair criticism even though we would obviously prefer to have none at all.'

Would she go elsewhere? 'I work at Jupiter because I'm passionate about it as a company. I couldn't work for something I didn't believe in. The fund managers I work with are fascinating, intelligent people and every day I'm learning something new. The day I don't feel that thirst for knowledge is the one I give up.' That, I imagine, is a long way off.

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