Category: Senior Team

Richard Baker is co-founder of BakerBaird. He is a former daily newsroom business editor and deputy editor who has gone on to become an award-winning communications professional. With an extensive regional network, Richard has devised and delivered comms and engagement campaigns for a series of major economic development initiatives, including development corporations, mayoral combined authorities and the East Midlands Freeport.

Experienced in working alongside senior public sector leaders, MPs and councillors, he has managed communications for local authority regeneration portfolios, supported the development of business cases on major infrastructure projects, devised campaigns for HS2 and delivered events at Westminster to support transport investment proposals.

His knowledge of development and placemaking has also seen him work with universities on research destinations and support for spin-outs and one of the UK’s best business schools. Richard has also supported a number of technology-driven businesses, major built environment consultancies and professionals services firms.

Richard’s work is informed by regular frontline engagement: he continues to be involved in planning and engagement journeys at community level to help inform effective communications strategies.

In February 2025, Allegory and BakerBaird took the first steps in their ambition to develop a regional network of agencies working in partnership. They will work together to deliver strategic communications campaigns across the UK, nationally and regionally.

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.

Richard Davies is Associate Director of People and Culture, and has a background which combines both public and private sector enterprises. He has worked to shape and deliver the people agenda in such well known organisations as Transport for London, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland Group. With a career in People spanning more than 25 years Richard has created talent and performance management programmes which have had global reach.

As a strategic Senior HR specialist Richard is passionate about the development of people, he has designed and developed programmes across industries as diverse as Pharmaceuticals, Media, Banking and Financial Services, which focus on enabling people to be successful by being their best most authentic selves in the workplace.

Charlotte is an accomplished senior communications and training professional with extensive UK and international experience spanning the Consumer, Business, Public and Third sectors. Her work includes leading behaviour change campaigns, nationwide commemorative celebrations and strategic communications for government departments and full-service PR agencies.

She has has spent nearly 20 years’ working in strategic communications consultancy for a range of clients such as VISA, GE and The Alan Turing Institute and holding progressive leadership roles within the UK Government.

She previously worked at the Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office, where she led cross-Whitehall behaviour change campaigns. These included influencing young people to develop their skills, small businesses to bid for government contracts and the ‘big five’ banks to change their policy to fit military life. Charlotte is committed to the power of communications to enable.

For the past decade Charlotte has also provided crisis media and communications training to UK ambassadors and their communications in post on behalf of FCDO around the world.

She loves to share travel stories and will happily tell you about her trips around the world, including a trek to Everest Basecamp.

Helen is a senior communicator, who delivers strategy development and stakeholder engagement, including media relations, campaign direction and content. Clients can also benefit from Helen’s experience of change management and capability building within central and local government, as well as the private sector.

Helen’s work with the Open Data Institute (and more widely, the ‘open data’ agenda) and The Open University while at Allegory has built on an earlier part of her career in technology PR. Her specialist areas include strategic counsel, hyper-local media, partner relations and capability building.

Emma is Allegory’s Founder and Executive Chair.

She is a strategic communications and public policy practitioner with more than 30 years of experience and has worked at the highest level of government and corporate organisations. She is a hands-on agency leader who has led the delivery of projects for high-profile organisations, including the Open Data Institute, several Catapults and a number of top-tier UK universities.

Emma spent ten years at the heart of UK Government where she headed up the Cabinet Office’s strategic communications team.

Emma’s approach is characterised by intellectual rigour and exceptional standards of quality and value that she demands equally of her team. Her networks include tech pioneers, industry innovators, media, and policy makers. Emma sits on the advisory board of the Diversity Economics Institute. She was recently acknowledged for her leadership in technology, named in the 2025 Open UK New Year’s Honours list.