New leadership at Ogilvy Impact

April, 20 – We are delighted to announce the appointment of Lorie Helliwell and Mike Beckerleg as new joint managing directors of Ogilvy Impact Australia.

Lorie and Mike replace Tam Sandeman who has decided to return to the UK after eight years with Ogilvy Public Relations Group of Companies – Pulse and Ogilvy Impact.

The appointments reflect a growing trend of companies recognising there is significant bottom line benefit when more focus and investment are placed on building brands from the inside out and driving strong brand ambassadorship with their people.

“With more than 15 years’ experience in the employee engagement industry, Lorie is renowned for the development and delivery of behaviour change employee programs which have driven countless business results. Together with Mike, whose significant insights from his rich experience as one of Australia’s smartest marketeers, the pair will take an already very successful and leading business to new heights,” said Kieran Moore, CEO Ogilvy Public Relations, Australia.

“Tam leaves Ogilvy Impact in tremendous shape and the new team is working in tandem with her to ensure a smooth transition period for our clients and our people.”

Lorie has been with Ogilvy Impact for over a year and was hired from the UK.  She has vast experience in employee communication and prior to joining Ogilvy Impact in Australia, led in-house functions for large organisations such as BT, Telewest and Trinity Procurement, a SAB Miller company.

Mike brings 25 years’ experience on both the client and agency sides. He has overseen the brand, marketing and corporate communications divisions of such blue chip companies as Sony, Vodafone and Seiko and spent several years running Telstra, one of Australia’s largest advertising accounts.

They are both looking forward to making a strong Impact… (ahem…)

Three New International Faces For Impact

Fresh off the plane from a change management communication role in Switzerland, Lorie Helliwell joins Impact as a new Director. Her extensive internal communication experience stretches across telecommunications, cable TV, IT and procurement industries. With her experience of translating strategy into operational results and her complement of skills across events, programme management, transformational change communications, channel and campaign development Lorie already proving is a great addition to the Impact team.

A second new face, also from the northern hemisphere, joins the team this month in the form of Steven White.  Joining us as a strategist, Steve brings 15 years experience from client and agency side within internal communication, B2B and B2C marcomms and advertising disciplines. He owned and ran a successful creative communications agency in the UK between 2003 and 2010 and developed long term relationships with large UK corporates, primarily in the financial and real estate sectors.  Bolstering the creative side of our work will be a key role for Steve at Impact.

Last but definitely by no means least, our design studio is joined by Stef Neuhaus. Designer Stef’s previous work has covered FMCG, building and engineering, kitchenware and medical industries and ranged from developing corporate and brand identities, advertisements, brochures, magazines, packaging design to exhibit design.

Bringing a fresh new international flavour to our work means 2011 is going to be another great year for Impact.

From left to right: Lorie Helliwell, Steve White, Stef Neuhaus

Lorie Helliwell

Director

Lorie is a senior communications executive with extensive communications experience in the telecommunications, cable TV, IT and procurement industries. She has worked in close strategic partnership with leadership teams to drive effective internal communications and change initiatives. As a result she is creative and innovative and has highly developed strategic vision and future-focus.

She approaches challenges with energy, implementing and shaping creative solutions to deliver strategic goals with value added, measurable results. Before joining Impact, Lorie established the communications function for Trinity, SABMiller’s procurement company. (SABMiller is the second largest brewer in the world). Before that, she was responsible for communications at BT’s (British Telecommunications) IT division. She is an accomplished professional having designed and delivered internal and external communications for high-impact, large, complex change programmes internationally. Her deep understanding of the challenges leadership face in communicating and engaging with employees has enabled her to deliver communications that connect with stakeholders. With her  experience of translating strategy into operational results and her complement of skills across events,  programme management, transformational change communications,  channel and campaign development Lorie is a great addition to the Impact team.

Lorie has BSc from University College London and an MBA from the University of Bath, England.