Francis Thomas Email & Phone Number

United Kingdom

Providing independent communications and public affairs advice, consultancy and training. Clients include the rail and technology sectors.

Responsibilities include:• Stakeholder strategy – Senior point of contact for all WMT stakeholders. Chairing bi-annual stakeholder conferences, managing a 1,200 member strong stakeholder database and producing a bi-monthly newsletter.• Integrated Transport – Set up two Transport Integration Forums to co-ordinate with local authorities and other transport operators (bus and aviation) across our networks.• Accessibility – ensuring WMT meets all its regulatory and legal responsibilities under the Equalities Act. Set up a Stakeholder Equalities Group to challenge and hold the business to account. • Public Affairs – Engaging with 84 MPs as well as local authorities across two railway networks• Media Relations – this includes all news websites, print, radio and TV networks from London to Liverpool. Regularly achieving an annual media sentiment score above 90%.

Birmingham, United Kingdom

Responsible for government , stakeholder and media relations for a £400 million turn-over company employing 2000 staff serving 75 million customers per year. London Midland operates train services through England from London in the south, to Birmingham in the Midlands and Liverpool in the north west.Turned around the reputation of the UK’s worst performing train company. Devised a new communications strategy, achievements included:• Launched £62million of new trains and a revolutionary new timetable• Successfully crisis managed the late delivery of a new £20 million station• Reinvigorated all 148 stakeholder relationships producing a 78% approval rating• A new approach to political engagement including House of Commons drop-ins• Over 100 TV and radio interviews from the One Show to Radio 4’s PM programme• Introduced a new bi-monthly stakeholder magazine• Created a 24 on-line newsroom and increased news release output by over 1000%• A new approach to social media separating out corporate news from consumer channels

• Set up Resilience PR Ltd. • Managed complex political relations and delivered a £1 million integrated marketing and stakeholder campaign around Greater Manchester’s £3 billion Transport Innovation Fund bid using a combination of traditional media relations and new media techniques. • Devised and delivered marketing, communications and stakeholder engagement for the regeneration of Southend including the expansion of London Southend Airport.• Advised the NHS on a £200 million redesign of health services in Worcestershire.• Responsible for managing relationships with MPs, pressure groups, staff and media

Ofqual is the regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.Achievements:• Responsible for launching a new government brand• Regulating a £1 billion high stakes, high profile qualifications market. • Led on crisis management and protected the regulator’s reputation during the worst year ever for exam errors and a national newspaper exposé.• Responsible for Brand, Press Office, stakeholder engagement, web, publishing, internal communications, government relations, customer services, investigations, public affairs and HR.• Created values and tone of voice programmes for all staff• Devised and implemented a successful stakeholder relations strategy for major changes to qualifications.• Led the department in preparing for the General Election and change of Government.• Devised and implemented a change management strategy following the departure of the Chair and the Chief Executive.• Organised parliamentary and stakeholder events to counter pressure group criticismResponsible for Communications, Public Affairs, Media Relations, HR, Customer Services, Help Desk, Investigations , Appeals, Publishing, Web, Stakeholder relations and Internal Communications.

• Co-ordinated crisis communications across police, fire, health, local and national government agencies and politicians in response to five major emergencies affecting Suffolk; the Suffolk Murders, H5N1Bird Flu (twice), Bluetongue disease and coastal flooding. Each event attracted global media attention. • Successfully managed communications during a six month trade dispute with the Fire Brigades Union.• Devised a stakeholder strategy for the county’s ‘Future of Waste’ programme to include building a £600 million energy from waste facility (incinerator).• Developed communications strategies to manage major change programmes affecting 27,000 staff.• Corrected an inherited budget deficit of £111,000 and made additional savings of £55,000 on a base budget of £½ million - a 33% saving in one year. • Reviewed the council’s marketing function and identified savings of up to £1.5m.

• Responsible for creating and directing the company’s global media strategy • Re-launched classic LEGO contributing to a 100% increase in sales in the first year• Launched joint ventures with Ferrari and the Disney Corporation • Conducted a strategic review and developed a major culture change programme for the LEGO Company affecting all staff worldwide from the factory floor to the boardroom.• Creation of the company’s first ever Cause Related Marketing programme.

• Introduced Boots to key business partners leading to the company entering the USA • Introduction of a whole new management team including chairman, CEO and CFO.• Communication of a new corporate strategy including two international businesses.• Managed media relations on the £410 million sale of Halfords• Managed media relations during the biggest restructuring in Boots’ history including the reduction of over 5,000 jobs in one year.• Responsible for media relations for Boots and J Sainsbury joint venture• Crisis management included going to Tokyo, at two hours notice, to handle the Japanese and UK media and staff relations when Boots partnership with Mitsubishi was terminated.

• Board Secretary and PR support for Boots Properties• Promoted Boots’ expansion in to Ireland, Thailand, Holland, Taiwan and Japan and the launch of Nurofen in Russia, the first branded analgesic in the country. • Managed Boots’ Annual & Half Year Results, A.G.M. and trading statements. • Managed acquisitions and demergers worth around £2 billion, from the sale of Boots Pharmaceuticals to the purchase of Ireland's largest pharmacy chain. • Managed media & gov’t relations for Boots sponsorship of the Millennium Dome

• Boots first ever corporate Media Relations Manager. • Developed a strategy to build the Company's profile with the City and financial media. This moved Boots from 13th from bottom in The Press Watch Annual Survey of 2000 UK companies, to 13th from top in my first year. • Successfully defended Boots against accusations of cot death on ITV’s highest ever rated consumer TV show.• Crisis management during animal rights fire bombings.

• Government relations: worked closely with the Department of Transport on the preparations for rail privatisation. • Crisis PR: managed the aftermath of four major rail crashes, terrorist shootings and the 1987 storms.• Consumer PR: devised strategy and managed the Mersey Railway centenary.

They said I was too noisy to be an accountant so I went into PR.

Bachelor'S Degree, Business Studies

Special subjects : Marketing & Economics

Ba (Hons), Business Studies

Education record