Joe Churcher

Joe Churcher

Associate

Joe is a writer and editor with more than three decades’ experience of producing highly-engaging written material on a wide array of subjects.

His career in journalism included 16 years covering Westminster politics for the Press Association (news agency) and six at the UK’s biggest selling regional daily paper, helping lead its transformation into a digital-first news operation.

Now working for himself as a copywriter and consultant (from his home on Scotland’s north-east coast), he puts a keen understanding of how to reach target audiences, an eye for detail and an ease with meeting deadlines to work for clients from businesses and industry groups to charities and community projects.

Steven Stewart

Steven Stewart

Associate

Steven has more than 30 years’ communications experience, from working with entrepreneurs and FTSE-listed corporates to public services and media.

A former Director of Communications with Stagecoach Group, Steven has specific experience of the public transport and logistics sectors, as well as local government and sustainability. He has fostered positive connections in local and national government, with business organisations, and community and campaigning groups.

His expertise includes communications strategy, storytelling, and stakeholder engagement, working with businesses and organisations to develop lasting partnerships. He also has extensive experience of managing high-profile crisis incidents in the UK and overseas.

Steven has been a Chamber of Commerce Director for 15 years and has undertaken leading roles in regional leadership, sustainability, skills development, and ambassador programmes in Scotland.

Gail Downing

Gail Downing

Associate

Gail is our media trainer and crisis communications specialist for clients wanting real experience and insight into how journalists and newsrooms operate. Having worked in national news, current affairs and the regional media for BBC and ITV, she uses those skills to help clients tell their story. She’ll challenge woolly thinking but is excellent at building rapport and confidence in clients facing everything from Panorama to local radio, print and specialist media. As a TV and radio reporter, Gail works in the UK and overseas with government bodies such as the FCDO, multinational companies, logistics, pharmaceuticals, academia and charities, and has made films with us for the British Council, ODI, universities and government organisations.

Iain Aitch

Iain Aitch

Associate

Iain is a highly-experienced journalist, media consultant and copywriter with 25 years of professional experience. He has written features for the Guardian, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Times and Independent, as well as a vast array of magazines and periodicals.

His commercial clients have included Nesta, Arts and Humanities Research Council, Transport for London, Channel 4, University of Kent, Debt Hacker, Borkowski, JLL, Economic and Social Research Council, Microsoft, Rated People, Red Bull and the Child Poverty Action Group.

His work varies from consulting on thought leadership to ghost-writing for CEOs and from placing stories to staging newsjacking or guerilla events. He is an experienced interviewer and known for his original ideas as well as being able to create engaging copy from complex or hard-to-grasp information. 

Iain is the author of two books and contributor to a dozen more. He is also co-director of a Community Interest Company working with creative social histories and popular culture.

Vicky Bristow

Vicky Bristow

Associate

Vicky has over 15 years’ experience in PR and communications, having worked at leading UK PR agencies and in-house at large organisations, including Direct Line Group and the University of Hertfordshire.

She develops PR and communications strategies that connect businesses and organisations with their target audiences and stakeholders, using audience insights, her nose for news and creative storytelling to grow clients’ positive reputation. She specialises in consumer financial services, consumer health and research communications.

Rachel Fernandez-Vidal

Rachel Fernandez-Vidal

Marketing Manager | Senior Account Manager

Rachel has over 15 years’ experience in multimedia consumer marketing, delivering award-winning campaigns for brands such as Starbucks, John Lewis, Change4Life and Sony Music.

She specialises in strategic communications and content, creative solutions, brand narrative and storytelling.

Prior to joining Allegory, Rachel spent three years working as Marketing Director for an independent beauty brand, leading a strategic branding, marketing and design function in-house.

Kristin Hadland

Kristin Hadland

Associate

Kristin is a former television journalist who recently moved into communications after a long career as an award-winning producer-director.

She spent 10 years on the staff of the BBC, starting as a reporter in regional news, progressing rapidly into news editor roles, and later working on the flagship current affairs programme Panorama.

As a freelance producer-director and series producer Kristin has worked for all the major broadcasters, where her credits include Channel 4 Dispatches: Britain’s Cheap Clothes, BBC1’s Helicopter Heroes, and ITV1’s The Murder of Rhys Jones: Police Tapes.


Throughout her career Kristin’s goal has been to produce television programmes that make a difference to peoples’ lives and she is continuing with that ambition by sharing her journalistic insights and storytelling skills with people whose values align with her own.

Her first clients include Donna Ockenden, who is leading the Independent Review of Maternity Services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, and Allegory, where she works on the Open Data Institute & The Alan Turing Institute accounts.

Laura Townshend

Laura Townshend

Laura has 12 years of strategic communications experience with a focus on digital. She specialises in translating technical complexity into human language and using technology to scale up the impact of campaigns.

As Campaigns, Growth, and Income Director at digital campaigning platform 38 Degrees, she supported the 40-strong team to experiment with different ways to campaign and raise money online and increased the organisation’s income by 20%.

As a consultant, she’s worked on a range of climate action projects that aim to engage both business and consumers – including work on a green recovery, a small business climate pledge, financing for renewables technology, and the climate consequences of Brexit.

Cathy White

Cathy White

Associate Director

Cathy specialises in communications for tech startups and the wider ecosystem that supports them. Cathy has worked with a roster of clients including early-stage startups – Bright Little Labs, Jobbio, KiteEdge, Klevio, ParkBee, Tailwise, TaxScouts and Yodel – and investors – BGTA, Five Seasons Ventures, and SILK Ventures.

Cathy held key roles as Head of Communications for Tech City UK (now Tech Nation) and early-stage VC Seedcamp. She was recognised as a PR Week ‘Rising Star’ in 2014 whilst working at Albion Drive. Over her career, she has worked with everyone from Silicon Milkroundabout to Seedrs, Monese to Transferwise, and has worked closely with investors including Index Ventures, Draper Esprit and Wayra. 

Outside of her work she is a Director of GeekGirl Meetup UK, an organisation to champion female role models within STEM and give talented women a platform to share their expertise with others. As part of that, she is the podcaster behind GeekGirlMeets and regularly speaks out on diversity issues. She has also mentored startups across Europe, meeting with teams from Incubator Starter in Poland, Eleven from Bulgaria, CyLon, Google Launchpad and Escape the City.

Sue Primmer

Sue Primmer

Sue has spent the past fifteen years in financial services, supporting private-equity backed firms through accelerated growth, mergers and acquisitions and leading complex integration and transformation programmes. She is one of 100 women awarded the Freedom of the City of London in recognition of a century of women’s suffrage, and is currently serving her second term as an official UK Export Champion.

Sue’s career spans private and public services and both large and small organisations. She was previously Assistant Chief Executive, Communications & Consultation for Hackney Council, dealing with complex local issues as well as with the impact of national policy and working as part of the Olympic Host Boroughs to secure a meaningful local legacy from the Games in the run up to London 2012. This followed six years as Director of Communications for the University of Birmingham, one of the UK’s leading research-led universities with an international student base.

During this period, Sue also acted as media and public affairs lead for the Russell Group over the introduction of tuition fees; founded the Midlands’ Media Centre training academics, diplomats and business leaders in media skills and; struck a strategic alliance between the University and the BBC, securing a BBC Drama Village on campus.

Before this, Sue was founding Editor of birminghampages.com, an early dotcom start-up owned by Chrysalis media. This followed five years as Director of Communications for one of the UK’s most senior Church of England Bishops, who was also a member of the House of Lords and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Envoy to the Vatican State.

Sue began her marketing career helping Luton College of Higher Education to become a ‘challenger brand’ in higher education and achieve University status following earlier posts in scientific publishing. Sue is an English graduate from Cambridge University and has a second degree in the construction of gender in Shakespeare from the University of Durham. Sue is married and lives in East London with her family.