If you would like to be a judge, or nominate someone else to be a judge, please email cfawards@prca.org.uk
Emma Barrow
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
Emma Barrow is Head of Communications at the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Her team are responsible for FSCS’s activity with consumers, including PR, social media and marketing campaigns.
Emma is particularly passionate about financial education and literacy. Her team work hard to promote FSCS, with the goal of increasing awareness of the valuable protection it offers.
Emmanuel Ofosu-Appiah
Edelman Smithfield
Emmanuel is an award-winning and experienced public relations leader with over 12 years’ experience across institutional investment, asset management, professional and financial services, pensions, investment management and commercial real estate. As an Associate Director in the financial services and capital markets team at Edelman Smithfield he advises some of the largest financial institutions globally on corporate reputation, strategic communications and media profile raising. Over the last decade Emmanuel has gained experience in external media relations, corporate PR campaign planning, press office management, reputation management, internal communications, C-suite profile raising, crisis and issues management, executive appointments, senior leadership counsel and PR agency management.
At Edelman Smithfield, Emmanuel is responsible for multiple, large clients within Financial Services to help them protect and promote their reputations by helping them communicate with all critical stakeholders to meet their business and social objectives and enhance their valuations. Emmanuel also manages media profile raising and external PR for C-suite and Senior Executives across a number of clients.
Outside of his day job, Emmanuel is a leading voice in the UK for diversity and inclusion in PR and campaigns for equality for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic professionals. He serves as Vice Chair of the PRCA Race & Ethnicity Equity Board. Emmanuel also currently sits on additional boards advocating for long term change and is Board Member of the London Chamber of Commerce’s Black Business Association and was on the Board of South Quay College. He is also a mentor and has supported several junior and entry level graduates enter the PR industry.
Elisabeth Cowell
SEC Newgate
Elisabeth is Head of Financial Communications at SEC Newgate. She specialises in financial communications and, over the past 16 years, has designed award-winning IPO campaigns and advised on complex transactions.
Since joining SEC Newgate, Elisabeth has focused on building a contemporary, multi-channel financial communications offering which enables clients to effectively engage their investors and potential shareholders in an ever-changing communications landscape.
Dedicated to providing clients with an exceptional service, she is focused on bringing clarity, energy and understanding to her clients’ investment case. Elisabeth is a core point of call for her clients and is well-versed in delivering programmes that solve Boardroom challenges.
Ewan White
Grayling
Ewan is an Associate Director in Grayling’s Corporate Affairs team in London. He has worked at the agency since 2017 and leads executive profiling and corporate communications programmes as part of integrated global campaigns.
Ewan has worked with a wide range of clients in The City and the broader financial services sector ranging from some of the world’s largest financial institutions through to innovative fintech players. Ewan was named Rising Star of the Year at the City and Financial Awards in 2021 and previously held the role of vice chair of the PRCA’s Financial Services Group.
Gilly Lock
Powerscourt
Gilly Lock is a Director in the Financials & Real Estate team at Powerscourt, a strategic communications consultancy. She is an experienced corporate and financial communications specialist, with over 15 years in roles advising clients on proactive programmes, reputation management, financial calendar and deal communications.
Gilly is a specialist in the investments sector, with client experience across asset and wealth management, private equity and investment banking. She holds a voluntary role as Chair of the Investment Sector for the PRCA and is Co-Chair of the organisation’s Talent Workstream group.
Kate Hoare
Houston
Kate is an experienced business communications strategist, with circa 20 years’ experience of working with companies to successfully implement and execute stakeholder engagement campaigns to promote, protect and enhance reputation. She has an excellent track record in advising the Boards and management teams of many UK and international public and private companies on their capital markets communications activity, including corporate transactions, financial calendar reporting and IPOs.
Kate has worked alongside leading brands to create and implement integrated business-to-business, corporate and consumer campaigns, targeted on achieving commercial success. Her experience has spanned all sectors and ranges from FTSE 100 to AIM listed companies, as well as private businesses.
As CEO of Houston, Kate has overseen the growth and expansion of the Group over the last five years, including the acquisitions of McOnie PR, Hillgate PR and SixTwo Digital.
She is also a Non-Executive Board Director of the not for profit, micro giving organisation Pennies From Heaven.
Oliver Hughes
MHP Communications
Oliver leads MHP’s Capital Markets business which is ranked as one of the UK’s leading financial communications firms.
He specialises in business-critical communications and has advised some of the world’s leading organisations on M&A, shareholder activism, corporate campaigns and crises.
He is a senior consultant to clients including SSE, The Restaurant Group and Hammerson. He has recently advised on high-profile corporate situations including Shaftesbury’s £5bn merger with Capital and Counties, SSE’s defence against activist Elliott Advisers and launch of a £12.5bn investment plan, the administration of Arcadia and the financial restructuring of Four Seasons Healthcare.
Oliver was named professional of the year at the 2023 PRCA City and Financial Awards. He sits on the Board of Greenwich and Docklands International Festival, the UK’s biggest outdoor festival of performing arts. Previously he spent twelve years at Brunswick Group.
Ollie Pratt
FTI Consulting
Ollie is a Managing Director at FTI Consulting. He is a member of the Strategic Communications practice and is based in London. Ollie has over a decade of experience in market leading corporate communications.
He regularly leads on the delivery of high-profile international corporate media campaigns including CEO and leadership profile raising, advising a variety of start-up, listed and non-listed companies.
Ollie specializes in amplifying exposure across tier-1 media outlets and has built a wide range of key journalist contacts and a breadth of knowledge in narrative development and managing strategic research driven corporate communications.
Richard Morgan Evans
Sapience Communications
Richard co-founded Sapience some 12 years ago and is the current CEO.
Originally, he qualified as a barrister and sees PR as advocacy in the media – so a perfect career choice. Before his move into communications, he worked in financial journalism and investment banking, in the UK, Asia and the Middle East, largely covering the tech, property and financial services sectors. He specialises in corporate communications, reputation management and crisis communications, where his legal skills are very relevant.
Sarah Tartaglia
Lloyds Banking Group
With 12 years’ experience across agency and in-house roles, Sarah leads reputation strategy and campaigns at Lloyds Banking Group.
She has a passion for nurturing talent of the future and staying on top of the latest tools and trends in PR. Her work in financial services across consumer and corporate spheres has been recognised with multiple awards, including PRCA’s City and Financial In-house Team of the Year and PRCA’s Platinum In-house Team of the Year in 2023.
Serra Balls
Eterna Partners
Serra Balls is a co-founder of Eterna Partners.
Serra has spent her 25-year career advising complex global institutions in consultancy and at Lehman Brothers, BNY Mellon, and as Group Head of Communications at ICAP /NEX Group plc. She co-founded Eterna in 2018 and supports financial services clients.
Tomos Edwards
Bank of America
Tomos Rhys Edwards is Senior Vice President, Head of Communications, EMEA, for BofA Global Research within the Global Banking and Markets business of Bank of America – consistently highly ranked by Institutional Investor Magazine, and has been in his current role for nearly two decades.
His career has spanned roles in consultancy and in-house, including Text100, FTI Consulting, The Welsh Assembly Government and BNY Mellon. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma from The Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. He was a member of the Court of Cardiff University 2011-2019.
Will Campbell
Brands2life
As deputy MD of the Business and Technology team at Brands2Life, Will also leads the Fintech practice.
With a passion for working with transformative brands across traditional financial services, technology, and fintech, Will has spent much of the (almost) two decades working on helping clients build compelling communications strategies and execution plans for some of the world’s most exciting brands. Whether that’s re-positioning major banking firms like MUFG for its smart-technology led future, creating global comms strategies for cutting edge fintech firms like Ripple and Soldo, or helping deep tech firms like VMware maintain relevancy in the FS market.
