Russ Lidstone

Group CEO

Having started his career at Coca-Cola, Russ has over twenty-five years’ experience in marketing communications. He held strategy and leadership roles in blue chip agencies including McCann, Butterfield Day, HHCL, Lowe, and JWT.

Russ was CEO of Havas Worldwide for six years. Russ was recently awarded ‘Advocate of the Year’ at the Women in Marketing awards. He is a member of The Marketing Group of Great Britain; Fellow of the RSA; EMBA advisor for Oxford Said Business School; Tech London Advocate and former NED of Basketball England. Russ is Chair of Trustees for Creative Mentor Network.

Mark Gass

Group Creative Innovation Officer

As Group Creative Innovation Officer, Mark is responsible delivering innovative solutions and even greater impact for our clients as well as for the overall direction of all creative departments.

Having spent over twenty years in advertising, creating international campaigns for the likes of Nivea as an Executive Creative Director at TBWA, he now sits comfortably at the evolving intersection where brand and experiential meet.

An advocate for our ‘Create Unforgettable’ ethos, Mark helps the team deliver impactful and engaging experiences for clients across the globe. Experiences that help shape opinions, move people and make things happen.

David Sharrock

COO

David trained as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young. He spent four years as a management consultant, helping clients in the creative sector improve their financial performance. David spent ten years at the Guardian Media Group and later led its sale to Trinity Mirror.

David left his role as Managing Director of MEN Media in 2012 to be our CFO. The following year he became COO. He’s also non-executive Director of Sharp Futures, a social enterprise for creative and digital talent in Manchester.

Nadine Green

COO in North America

Nadine spearheads operations for The Creative Engagement Group in North America. Before joining The Creative Engagement Group, she was the chief operating officer of Vitiello Communications Group.

Her career has included many leadership positions working with entrepreneurs, start-ups, and large, complex healthcare organizations in various industries, including hospitals, rehabilitation, staffing, medical transcription, medical coding, and billing.

Nadine’s passion is creating sustainable growth through problem-solving, planning, and measurement.

Nadine believes in supporting the communities in which she lives and works. One area that is most rewarding is her work with college-bound students, preparing them not just for college but also guiding them to ensure they are then poised and ready for the workforce.

Lauren Ince

Head of Client Engagement

Lauren works across all our brands, overseeing our growing client service offering and helping to deliver outstanding brand thinking and creative solutions for clients.

Lauren has held several senior roles in advertising, including Global Business Director on Unilever at Mullen Lowe, Group Account Director at WCRS, European MD of Arnold Worldwide and Head of Account Management at VCCP. Most recently, she was the Managing Director at film content agency, Evidently.

Sallie Coventry

Head of Client Engagement in North America

She leads a team of 12 talented and passionate Client Engagement professionals, supporting clients in solving problems and working with our service lines to deliver projects, which create moments that inspire lasting change, whatever the channel. Prior to this, Sallie led our largest pharmaceutical account, managing a team of circa 50 people, both in the US and UK.

Before joining TCEG, Sallie managed the global portfolio of meetings & events travel trade shows at Reed Travel Exhibitions and was Managing Director for events agency, W&O Events.

Additionally, Sallie is a qualified coach and counsellor; allowing her to follow her passion for people and their potential.

Tim Collett

Global Head of Events

Tim has twenty years’ experience in live events and has been leading the ever-growing live events team since 2017.

As a producer he’s led the creation and delivery of brand experiences, from product launches, to roadshows, conferences and meetings. Tim has also been instrumental in coordinating some of the UK’s largest public events and spectacles – including the Mayor of London’s New Year’s Eve celebrations and the recent London Car Free Day with TfL.

David Ratcliffe

Head of Event Solutions in North America

David has 25+ years’ experience creating memorable events and awareness for brands such as Estée Lauder, British Airways, American Express, Pfizer, Shionogi, Eli Lilly and Roche.

David’s creative eye and technical experience has always challenged what can be done to present a brand, product or message in a unique and memorable way.

As Head of Event Solutions, David drives our experiential capabilities through engagement in live, virtual and hybrid events.

Greg Kiner

Head of Live in North America

Based in Philadelphia, Greg joined WRG in 2019, bringing over 16 years of experience with him. In this role, he is focused on managing the US team while working toward WRG’s goal of growing its live event offering to both new and existing clients. With an impressive list of national and international productions to his credit, Greg says he is honored to partner with people who share his passion for live events and production. When he isn’t on a plane traveling for work, Greg is often on one traveling for fun.

Mark Jackson

Global Head of Environments

Mark trained as an industrial designer and spent three years designing commercial interiors before arriving in the live events industry.

Mark has overseen many of our largest international projects for clients such as AstraZeneca, Google, Roche and Ricoh. He now heads up a talented and expanding team of environment project managers and designers. Under his stewardship, it’s seen a period of rapid growth globally, particularly in North America.

Helen Davis

Head of Environments in North America

Helen heads up our US Environments team as they create memorable exhibition experiences and bespoke installations for our international clients.

Helen works alongside Mark Jackson, Head of Environments in the UK, to lead the US team and support The Creative Engagement Group in growing their exhibitions offering to clients, both new and existing.

Helen has a wealth of experience, having managed a wide portfolio of brands, including Merck, Novo Nordisk and Yahoo over the past 15 years.

Simon Davenport

Head of Environments Europe

With over 20 years’ global experience in the exhibitions industry and in the healthcare sector, Simon has been responsible for the delivery of some of the agency’s largest projects for key clients.

As Head of Environments UK he leads a growing pool of project management talent in both Manchester and London delivering projects of all types over a wide range of industry sectors. His passion for encouraging the personal development of individuals builds a level of excellence within the team across both client management and technical delivery.

Spencer Conway

Head of Digital & Immersive

With twenty years' experience as a digital designer and creative, Spencer has worked for large advertising agencies, broadcast indies and boutique digital specialists on campaigns and projects for the likes of HBO, Audi, Chanel, GSK, and the BBC.

Spencer now leads our digital team across the group, guiding the creative direction of his blended team, which includes strategists, designers, developers, project managers, and 3D artists. The team works on a diverse set of projects covering mobile, web, voice, VR, AR and live interactive experiences.

Karl Hindson

Head of Technology

Karl’s remit is to drive our agency forwards using innovative, advanced methods of technology, working alongside stakeholders to ensure our international client work stays ahead of the curve.

Karl works across The Creative Engagement Group, getting deeply involved in project discovery and technology scoping – advising on everything from the best approach to captivating audiences at hybrid and virtual events, to the latest immersive experiences and exciting ways to deliver engaging content.

Karl is key to building our partnerships with key tech suppliers and always has his ear to the ground for the latest developments.

Over the years, he has supported many of our global clients across industries including with Carnival Corporation, Corteva, AstraZeneca, BBC, Roche, Daiichi Sankyo, HBO and Number 10.

Gemma Lowry

Global Head of Hybrid & Virtual Events

Gemma has over a decade of live event and communication expertise over various industries and channels.

As Global Head of Hybrid & Virtual Events she specialises in engaging virtual audiences to ensure the delivery of an interactive and memorable message. Day to day, Gemma aligns closely with our Live, Film, Communications, and Digital teams to ensure seamless integration of these fundamental disciplines and to deliver a holistic and thought through programme.

As well as her role in Hybrid & Virtual Events Gemma is also co-Head of UK Event Production.

Chi Siroko

Head of Live Logistics

Chi has 14 years’ logistics experience working with and managing large project teams; achieving seamless results – whether instructing coachloads of priests during the papal visits, or handling VIP meetings amid the buzz of the London 2012 Olympics.

Including events of 3000+ attendees, Chi’s led some of our biggest projects across a wide breadth of sectors and venues. She enjoys using her experience of complex international events to support and develop the talent of the live logistics team.

Saira Dickinson

Co-Head of UK Event Production

Saira has worked within the events industry since 2003, beginning as a work experience intern and moving up through the company to become Co-Head of UK Event Production. She has worked with multiple clients from a vast number of sectors, spanning, healthcare, fashion, retail, professional services, banking, oil companies and government work. She has worked on fashion shows, product launches, AGMs, sales meetings, public events, outdoor and indoor events across Europe, the Middle East, Northern and Southern America and Asia.

Saira’s strengths are leading and supporting a team, building client relationships and trust. Creativity and innovation are at the heart of all the events she produces.

She is financially savvy, whether managing multiple million-pound projects or the very smallest of budgets and keeping those projects on track. She is clear and decisive when it comes to difficult decisions and inclusive both within her own team and across departments.

Lucy Hillard

Head of Live Logistics

A positive, solution-focused leader of the logistics team, Lucy has over 12 years’ experience in the industry.

Her approach to project management is led by innovation and she is passionate in encouraging the team in finding opportunities to create fresh ways of delivering comms, catering, badging, apps and our own internal processes. Lucy has developed a bit of a speciality working in Asia, executing a large-scale Incentive in Tokyo and high end C-Suite programmes in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong to name a few.

Anna Thomson

Head of Healthcare Logistics

Jointly manages a large logistics team split across 3 offices, dedicated to Healthcare Events.

Anna started her career at a corporate entertainment company before joining WRG in 2006. Since joining, Anna has successfully delivered a wide variety of quality projects all over the world and of varying size and complexity, including delivering the Senior Leaders Meeting for a key account every year for 12 years. Anna now concentrates on managing the team and client relationships to ensure we continue to deliver to the high standards we are known for.

Emma Saunders

Head of Healthcare Logistics

Emma jointly manages 30+ people over three offices to produce more than 300 Pharma events a year.

With over thirteen years at WRG in the logistics team, Emma previously worked in sales and marketing management in luxury hotels and hospitality.

A focused and dedicated team player, she’s always been a detail-orientated, critical thinker who understands the need to get things right. Emma now focuses on managing our client relationships and Healthcare Logistics Team ensuring everything is delivered to her exacting standards.

Kath Goodson

Client Engagement Director

Based in our London office, Kath joined WRG over 5 years ago, bringing with her a wealth of experience from a number of sectors to lead some of our global accounts.

Always putting clients’ best interests at the forefront of her mind, she is steadfastly committed to helping them achieve their objectives. She ensures consistency across all aspects of events and is devout in her pursuit of value for the client’s money, qualities that have made her a valued contact for clients including Nissan and HPE.

A lover of photography, Kath harbours an ambition to one day enter the World Photography awards.

Lynsey Holbrook

Client Engagement Director

Lynsey joined The Creative Engagement Group in 2020, bringing 20 years’ of experience delivering integrated communications and experiential solutions for global brands and businesses spanning enterprise and consumer technology, FMCG, travel and healthcare.

Gemma Radford

Client Engagement Director

Gemma joined WRG (a division of The Creative Engagement Group) in 2018 and has over 20 years’ experience creating experiences and engaging audiences, with a solution focused approach.

Richard McAleavy

Client Engagement Director

Based at our Manchester office, Richard works with our global healthcare clients to develop communications that grow their businesses and overcome challenges. Richard has nearly 20 years working with Pharma, Consumer Healthcare and Medical Device clients, and is particularly passionate about using digital solutions to make a real world difference to patients. Outside of the office, he enjoys falling off his mountain bike and kick-boxing.

Justin Wright

Client Engagement Director

Justin is the bridge between clients & the TCEG team. Justin has always been client facing, with over 12 years’ experience in various roles ranging from managing large sponsorship packages for military contractors to heading up the Sales & Marketing Division for one of the big four accountancy firms in the North West.

His positive mentality, analytical approach and ability to understand client needs has resulted in strong working relationships that deliver exceptional results. Justin has a relentless enthusiasm for all aspects in life, enjoying socialising with both clients and friends - bringing excitement to any project.

Alex Wood

Head of Safety & Risk

Alex graduated with Honours in Events Management. In his first job out of university he became event Health & Safety Advisor at Jack Morton where he worked on a range of corporate events as well as public spectacles including the London New Year’s Eve Celebrations and the Commonwealth Games.

During his eleven years in events Health & Safety, Alex has ensured the safe delivery of projects for some of Europe’s biggest companies, such as Shell, JLR, and Canon and is experienced in overseeing and implementing a Health & Safety Management systems for projects across the globe.

Andrew Gilkerson

Procurement Director

Andrew has been in the events industry for over twenty years, in both agency and corporate roles. As well as operational and account management positions, Andrew spent ten years with global Pharmaceutical, Pfizer. He led the Meetings and Congress Procurement category for Europe, designing and delivering a regional strategic meetings management programme.

As Procurement Director for The Creative Engagement Group, he uses his corporate procurement background to create value for clients in all areas of the client-supplier relationship.

Charlotte Smithson

Creative Director

Charlotte thrives on the breadth of creative work we cover at WRG, and directs projects across the creative departments at our Manchester office.

She enjoys the challenge of changing behaviours in a memorable way, and the scope of creative possibilities in experiential marketing.

Charlotte plays a key role in our healthcare offering – yet in her 7 years at WRG, she has worked for a huge range of clients in various industries, and has spent time working in all of our global offices.

A little known fact about Charlotte is that she has the greenest balcony in Manchester.

Alex McDonnell

Creative Director

Alex specialises in creative content, bringing a wealth of experience in developing compelling stories, films and campaigns.

He was previously creative director and head of film for the London content agency Evidently, where clients included Dove, Lifebuoy, Unilever, Sanofi Genzyme and Battersea Power Station.

Paul Fidler

Creative Director

Paul's passion lies in telling captivating stories through authentic brand experiences.

Previously, Paul was Associate Creative Director at brand experience agency Wasserman, where he worked on clients including Nike, Bacardi, Grey Goose, Bombay Sapphire, Martini, Vodafone, Sky, HP and Formula One. He has also worked at agencies FKC and Crossing O’Sullivan, where he headed up creative on many well known brands including Virgin Media, Papa John’s, Old Spice, M&S, Panasonic, Technics and TATA Steel, making broadcast, commercial and corporate content for clients.

Alice Kilpatrick

Co-Head of Film

Her attention to detail, along with her friendly and approachable nature, have enabled her to build successful long-term relationships with clients as well as develop and get the best out of her teams.

Alice is equally at home supporting our producers, directors and production managers, pitching ideas to clients, and managing projects from concept to delivery, ensuring we deliver content at the highest quality along with a great customer experience.

Julia Runagall

Co-Head of Film

In addition to her Co-Head of Film role, Jules is an experienced Director with over 25 years’ experience, having directed a wide variety of programmes across the digital and broadcast platforms for clients including BBC World News and Channel 4.

She especially loves to work in real environments with real people and relishes the challenge of capturing their stories in the most effective way possible.

Ryan Wells

Head of Film in North America

Ryan has over 20 years experience in video and film production having delivered a wide variety of programs across digital and broadcast platforms. He oversees our US production team delivering engaging live, digital and on-demand content.

He began his career working on feature films in New York City before switching over to broadcast and commercial content for clients such as HBO, MTV, Nickelodeon, AMC and Children’s Television Workshop. Ryan then worked as a Producer/Director for Healthology (a division of NBC Universal) creating online health and medical content for such companies as Novartis, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

Tim Williams

Operations Director

Since joining the group nearly 15 years ago, Tim has worked his way through the business to his current position.

As Director of Operations, he has direct responsibility for all activity happening across the business and feeds into our strategic decision-making.

Emma Townend

Marketing Manager

Emma has been with WRG since 2017. She started off as a Senior Account Manager on our largest healthcare account before moving into marketing at the start of 2019. Emma brings with her extensive knowledge from her previous role in managing a wide variety of projects across all of our service lines.

Emma works across WRG and all of our brands with the rest of the marketing team coordinating the internal and external communication strategy.

Prior to working at The Creative Engagement Group Emma held roles in the Tech industry in Business Development and Account Management working with blue chip clients.

Claire Peacock

HR Business Partner

Claire joined The Creative Engagement Group’s people team in 2016 moving into HR following 12+ years working with vulnerable children and young adults.

In her previous role Claire was responsible for coordinating care, advocacy support, engagement back into education or employment and creating volunteering opportunities. These activities were undertaken whilst coaching individuals and managing change across multi-disciplinary teams. Claire has brought this experience into her role in the people team where she is passionate about empowering individuals and promoting access to opportunity. Claire has CIPD level 7 as well as an MSc in HR Management.

Silvia Randolf

HR Business Partner

Silvia joined The Creative Engagement Group’s people team in 2018 having spent 10 years within the manufacturing and retail sectors across Austria and the US.

Silvia is passionate about people development and employee wellbeing and is inspired by The Creative Engagement Group’s unique culture and amazing teams.

Avery Steinberg

Associate HR Director North America

Avery started her career in HR in the finance industry making the move to the agency world in 2015 before joining Huntsworth Health in 2019. Avery works across Huntsworth Health our parent group alongside her role within The Creative Engagement Group’s people team.

Avery is a Society of Human Resources - Certified Professional and active member of their community.

Avery dabbles in all areas of HR but specialize in employee relations and performance management.