Rud Pedersen Adds Four Advisers To Senior Bench

(MENAFN- PRovoke) LONDON - Independent European public affairs and strategic communications firm Rud Pedersen has added to its senior bench with four hires.

Former Labour MP John Woodcock, now Lord Walney (pictured), joins the firm as a senior advisor. He currently serves as the UK Government's independent adviser on Political violence and disruption, as well as trade envoy to Tanzania, and has ESG expertise as chair of the Purpose Business Coalition.

He
was elected in 2010 as the Labour MP for Barrow and Furness and served as shadow Minister for transport and chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party's defence and foreign affairs committees.

In the final term of the last Labour government, he was the political spokesman to then prime minister Gordon Brown in Downing Street and was a special adviser in the Cabinet Office, Department for Work and Pensions and Business Department. He has worked on counter extremism with Tony Blair and entered the House of Lords in 2020 as a crossbench peer.

Walney said:“I am delighted to begin supporting Rud Pedersen's UK team at the outset of such an important year in British politics. All eyes are on the change that a future Labour Government may bring in an election year with a fragile economy and deeply troubled international environment. I am looking forward to using my two decades of experience and expertise in politics and government to advise organisations seeking to understand and navigate this complex landscape.”

Also joining Rud Pedersen's London office is associate director
Hugh Bennett, a former senior special adviser at 10 Downing Street, handling multiple policy briefs with particular focus on cross-Whitehall regulatory reform and the Brexit negotiations as a senior member of the UK's negotiating team. Previously Bennett served as a special adviser to the foreign secretary and in the Cabinet Office as special adviser to the Leader of the House of Commons. He is a former News Editor at Guido Fawkes and regular political commentator on BBC, Sky News and other national media.

In addition, Jamie Holyer joins the consultancy as a healthcare senior adviser. He was a client of Rud Pedersen as director of government affairs and public policy for Northern Europe at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and has led his own public affairs consultancy. Holyer, a former Labour Party press officer and policy adviser, will work with Rud Pedersen's European healthcare team to develop the firm's UK practice.

Finally, Joe Holden joins from Lexington Communications as a senior consultant, having advised clients including British Airways, Kimberly-Clark, Landsec and Mars on public affairs and regulatory issues. He previously worked in the London office of Sard Verbinnen & Co (now FGS Global).

Rud Pedersen UK managing partner Jon Aarons said:“This is a strong quartet of highly experienced policy specialists. We're excited that our growing success in London is enabling us to attract such talented advisers. Across Europe, we celebrated our 20th year of profitable growth, opened our 15th office in Kyiv and our 16th
in Madrid. Having doubled our UK revenue last year, advising many interesting clients on a broad spectrum of situations, we have kicked off 2024 in robust health.”

Rud Pedersen Group, which was named as PRovoke Media's
EMEA public affairs agency of the year
for 2023, now has a footprint across 14 European countries.

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