simon redfern

Pagefield is a communications consultancy specialising in PR, public and regulatory affairs and integrated corporate campaigns.

Fishburn Hedges is an award winning communications agency based in Holborn, London. Apart from being regularly recognised as an outstanding workplace by the FT it is an amazing place to work.

I worked on a fascinating and wide-ranging set of clients which is one bonus and with a bunch of people who are sharp, inventive and creative.

The agency is not bound to one particular discipline which meant that I could develop skills in social media while honing my love of public affairs. This was the approach across the board - keeping fresh ideas flowing.

I started life as a PA consultant back in June 2001 and by the time I left Connect I was a Director of the company. Gill Morris and the whole team there gave me an amazing grounding in political communications and campaigning.

During my time there I was responsible for developing new business strategies as a director and successfully grew the business.

I also provided consultancy for loads of interesting clients including a financial regulator, a major bank and audit firm.

I loved, and still love, writing articles for publication on behalf of clients, and had my own regular page in the Health Investor magazine. I also became a regular at perception audits and benchmarking exercises for clients

I was lucky enough to work with a huge, varied range of Parliamentarians and clients on a number of influential campaigns, including the Children’s Food Bill, foundation hospitals, primary care issues and on long term care for the elderly. Notable successes include winning the CIPR Public Affairs Award as part of the team which amended the Adoption and Children Act to allow unmarried couples to adopt.

The dotcom boom tempted me over to election.com from ERS. This was a US start up designed to challenge the dominance of the Electoral Reform Society as official independent scrutineer for trade union and other elections.

The model was elections online, which enabled me to develop a depth of understanding about planning for online campaigning and activity from early in the industry's lifecycle.

election.com was subsumed into Accenture.