The Team

Nigel is a chartered accountant whose career was in professional services. He was a partner with Arthur Andersen for 18 years and then with Deloitte's for 2 years, before retiring from practice in 2005. Since then he has been actively involved with the venture capital sector and made a number of investments in developing companies as a business angel.

He is a non-executive director of a number of public and private companies.

Louise has over 15 years public relations experience, both agency-side and in-house and has been Director and Head of PR at Acceleris since 2008. She has established and delivered the public relations and internal communications strategies for a wide range of public and private sector businesses and blue chip organisations including BBC Worldwide, The Royal Bank of Scotland, motors.co.uk (part of the Daily Mail Group), The Environment Agency, Theakstons, Lombard, Northcliffe Media Group and The Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games. Her recent projects have included work for Bauer Media Group, John West, Kier and Trusted Dealers.

Having worked out of both London and the North, Louise has a strong media network and a track record of award winning campaigns which have delivered tangible commercial results for her clients.

NED Patrick Rose had an 18 year career with ICI from graduate trainee through to business manager, working and living in the UK, North America and Europe before joining Spencer Stuart, the world’s top executive recruitment organisation. Over the last 18 years Patrick has concentrated on helping companies with CEO succession predominantly in the broad industrial market as well as working on non-executive director assignments.

He recently retired as a global partner with Spencer Stuart, having until recently ran its major Industrial Practice.

Alison is Company Secretary at Acceleris, taking responsibility for the company accounts and financial management. She also covers HR, legal, office management and the administration of our job management and costing system, Synergist.

Alison has worked for Acceleris since its beginnings in 2006 and was a central figure in its inception, as well as being vital to the success the business has so far achieved.

Simon has worked for Acceleris for over seven years on a range of private and public sector accounts. He currently develops and implements PR campaigns for a number of clients including the National Federation of ALMOs, Kier and Rixonway Kitchens. 

He holds a 2:1 BA (Hons) in Journalism from Cardiff University and has written for a number of publications including the Western Mail and the Gair Rhydd.

Ellie manages accounts for clients including the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, Kier's maintenance arm and the National Federation of ALMOs annual awards programme. Having joined the agency in 2010, Ellie has delivered award winning campaigns across a range of disciplines including media relations, crisis communications, events and social media.

Before joining the agency, Ellie worked at the Environment Agency specialising in PR and community relations for flood and coastal risk management schemes across Yorkshire and the North East. Ellie holds a BA (Hons) degree in German and a CIPR Advanced Certificate in Public Relations.

Supporting on a number of clients at Acceleris, Jack provides both media relations and copywriting. He has also become resident script writer, helping to produce videos for clients Adapted Vehicle Hire and Tong High School, as well as Acceleris’ own video.

In 2011, he graduated from Northumbria University with a BA (Hons) degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. Jack then went to Manchester to complete a work placement with a creative agency, beginning his apprenticeship in professional writing.

Elizabeth assists on a number of client accounts including Kier Maintenance, Rixonway Kitchens and High Street TV. Her day-to-day duties range from research, monitoring and saving coverage, to daily media relations. 

Elizabeth holds an MA in Public Relations from Sheffield Hallam and a 2.1 in Sociology BA (Hons) from The University of Sheffield, and has completed a number of short-term placements within the private sector. 

Brought in whenever we need an extra hand, David is a ‘friend of the family’ who flits between roles. From Account Executive to Account Director, he gives us whatever support we need with particular emphasis on copywriting, webwork and media liaison.

Since being appointed assistant press officer at the Yorkshire Regional Health Authority in 1985, David’s exciting career has seen him as both journalist and broadcaster, progressing via the Ministry of Defence and in-house roles in New Zealand and Dubai, to some of the UK’s largest regional and national communications/PR agencies and has since run his own companies.

Peter Davenport is one of the most experienced media and public relations (PR) specialists in the country.

For 25 years he was a senior national journalist, first on the Daily Mail and then on The Times, including a period as its defence correspondent. Peter travelled with Pope John Paul on his historic pilgrimage to Ireland and worked extensively on overseas assignments in the USA, India, the Middle East, the Falklands and most major European countries.

Since moving into PR, Peter has built and sold several agencies. He has devised and delivered campaigns for major clients in the public and private sectors, as well as advising on crisis management issues surrounding some sensitive and high profile cases.

NED Sean Lippell has more than 35 years' experience as a corporate lawyer and recently retired as a partner from Addleshaw Goddard, a post which he held for 13 years, five of which were as corporate division managing partner.

Sean’s reputation is well known and his high standing in the local and corporate marketplace was evidenced most recently with his Lifetime Achievement accolade in the Yorkshire Dealmaker awards. Sean has led and advised on a number of high profile multi million pound transactions in recent years for Addleshaw Goddard.

Before joining Acceleris in 2011, Simon spent five years as Head of Communications at Wakefield and District Housing, a registered provider managing more than 30,000 houses in the area, where he built up and led a 15-strong team. Prior to this, Simon spent four years in a senior PR role within the Planning and New Stores team at ASDA.

He now leads campaigns for a wide range of Acceleris clients which include Bluefin, the AXA owned insurance company, The Fuelcard Company, Tong High School and Rixonway Kitchens. Simon is passionate about creating campaigns that deliver commercial benefits for his clients.

Emma has over eight years PR experience and currently works across accounts including Kier, The Fuelcard Company and Mills & Reeve. An advocate of social media, Emma manages the social networks of clients across both the public and private sectors, and delivers bespoke social media training courses outlining how Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can be maximised for business benefit.

Prior to her career in PR, Emma spent four years working in BBC local radio across BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio Merseyside and BBC 2002 Commonwealth Radio Station. She has also written for the Daily Star Sunday.

Tom Underwood has joined Acceleris from London PR agency Blue Rubicon, where he spent 2.5 years. During this time, Tom worked for FTSE 250 corporate clients and major consumer brands, with a broad focus on high impact European, national, regional and trade campaigns.

He brings with him over four years’ PR experience and has an MA in Communication Studies from the University of Leeds where he studied in 2006/07.

Charley manages Acceleris’ editorial projects, from newsletters, magazines and annual reports to websites, social media and online news feeds. Charley has been with Acceleris since she joined as Copywriter in 2008.

Before coming to Acceleris, Charley worked at DirectNews, writing copy for a wide range of company websites and also provided copywriting services as a freelancer. She holds a 2:1 Creative Writing BA (Hons) and is an aspiring novelist.

Carys assists in the delivery of Acceleris’ PR strategy for a number of clients, including Tong High School and Nexus Vehicle Management. Her day-to-day duties range from copywriting, performing media sell-ins, researching and managing social media.

Carys studied PR at Leeds Metropolitan University, completing a number of short-term placements throughout the four years. She also completed a placement year as part of the in-house PR team at the Central Office of Information (COI) in London and six weeks at 10 Downing Street.

Laura assists on a number of client accounts including Kier Property, High Street TV and the Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society.  Her day-to-day duties range from copywriting and research, to daily media relations and client pitch support.

Laura studied English and History at Northumbria University. She also holds the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Professional Certificate and is working towards her CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing.  Laura completed work experience with the agency in 2011, and has worked in various marketing and PR roles elsewhere.

Frances joined Acceleris in early 2013 after beginning her PR career in the South West. She has delivered region-wide communications campaigns for the South West Design Forum followed by working in the education sector at City College Plymouth in the marketing team.

Frances has also worked for River Cottage, delivering PR and marketing strategies for its restaurant and deli in Plymouth, as well as for a boutique PR agency.

Frances holds a BA (Hons) degree in Journalism from Edinburgh Napier University and is very pleased to be back living and working in Yorkshire.