Corporate Affairs Summit

Helen Dunne, editor of CorpComms Magazine, welcomes delegates to the day's proceedings.

Stephen Doherty has been chief brand and communications officer at Aviva for more than three years. In a fireside chat with Helen Dunne, Doherty will share insights into his role at the insurance giant, his views on the corporate affairs function, and his thoughts on what good looks like.

Risk is an inherent feature of any organisation. Corporate affairs professionals understand this and are well-versed in risk mitigation, but, on occasion, there is a risk to reputation that boards may not wholly appreciate. Without wishing to be the corporate naysayer, how do communicators tread this fine line?

Boards, for example, are predominantly focused on the bottom line. The perceived reputational risk may not adversely impact that, but the intangible impact may be far reaching and long lasting. How can the importance of this be conveyed?

Similarly, saying nothing may be viewed internally as the no-risk strategy, but does silence ever enhance a reputation?

This panel discussion will focus on the trade-offs that are the life of a corporate affairs professional and discuss the challenges these bring.

Panel discussion, moderated by Dan Smith, managing director, Headland

Panelists include:

Laura Gainsford, head of media relations and campaigns, DS Smith
Nicola Green, chief communications and corporate affairs officer, Virgin Media O2
Patrick Humphris, managing director, head of corporate affairs, CVC Capital Partners
Rob Simpson, head of decarbonisation communications, Tata Steel

Additional panelists to follow

Alice Hunt, group communications director at Rolls-Royce, joined the engineering company shortly after new CEO Tufan Erginbilgiç had likened it to a 'burning platform'. In less than two years, Rolls-Royce has achieved a remarkable turnaround with profits more than doubling and an order book at its highest in 15 years.

As Rolls-Royce's 42,000 employees each receive 150 shares, in recognition of their part in reversing the company's fortunes, Hunt will share insights into the role communications has played in a fireside chat with Helen Dunne.

The introduction of GenAI is gathering pace across most big businesses, so fast in fact that the rollout is happening before companies have their message straight.  In the gap between actions and words lie many reputational challenges, not least with uncertain employees and well-informed external stakeholders.

In this session, Matt Carter, founder of comms and research consultancy Message House, will share new insights based on fresh data about what UK employees think and feel about GenAI, and what this means they want to hear from their leaders.

Shareholder activism is on the rise. And, all too often a Board will have no idea that an activist is planning an attack, before it is revealed to the media. This panel session is filled with practical advice on dealing with such attacks from those who have been in the eye of a storm, as well as an investor who has occasionally been on the other side. Their counsel should also prove useful to those tackling other forms of activism.

The session will cover:

• What are the early signs you might be a target?
• The comms challenge - how to prepare and how to react
• How and when to decide to engage or not
• Managing your stakeholders, investors and beyond

Panel discussion moderated by Victoria Palmer-Moore,

Panelists include:

David Calvo Platero, portfolio manager and partner, Bluebell Capital Partners
Carolyn Esser, chief corporate affairs officer, Darktrace
Justin Griffiths, managing director, Sodali & Co

Paul Abrahams is chief communications officer at RELX, Europe's largest media group, which includes publications such as The Lancet in its portfolio. But despite being one of Britain's biggest listed companies, and the best performing Footsie stock over the past 40 years, it is often ignored by traditional media for being boring.

Undeterred, Abrahams has used owned media channels to share stories from Relx, using microtargeting and paid social to ensure these reach their target audience. Such has been the success that reader figures for its articles are often more than double that achieved by the Financial Times. 

Abrahams will explain how Relx uses storytelling technology to produce its online publication Perspectives and the strategies undertaken to make its owned media channels successful.

Fewer than 5% of the NHS most senior communications professionals are from an ethnic background, while 61% say their comms teams do not reflect their local communities. Edna Boampong, programme director: diverse and inclusive communications, NHS Confederation is leading a taskforce to change this.

In a fireside chat with Helen Dunne, Boampong will outline the challenge she faces, and the initial steps being taken. Her insights should prove invaluable to comms directors keen to address the lack of diversity within their own teams.

In an environment where the notion of purpose is being questioned and attacked, we will explore how to deliver purpose with impact. The session contains a presentation of original research into The Purpose Gap from Ben Hayman, executive director at Given, part of Anthesis, followed by a panel discussion to explore the role that purpose plays for employees, the importance of effective communication and the role sustainability and social impact have to play in enabling organisations to deliver corporate purpose with quality and confidence.

Panelists include:

Jessie Macneil Brown, head of social mission Europe, Ben & Jerry's
Bobbie Mellor, global head of sustainability and transparency, Vodafone Group
Natalie Whitty, group corporate affairs director, Legal & General

It's time to unwind after an intense day of insights and networking at a drinks reception, sponsored by our friends at Unicepta.