Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Area
Versatile communications executive with deep media and digital expertise. Head of newsroom at Deutsche Bank. Previously head of media relations at European Central Bank, and before that reporter and news editor with 15 years of financial and foreign correspondent experience at Financial Times and Reuters, covering everything from mergers to war zones.
Global role overseeing media relations, social media and daily intranet and digital communication for the bank.
Played a leading role in advising Mario Draghi and later Christine Lagarde on media strategy. Managed a team of 30 people who advise the Board, handle media enquiries internationally and monitor media and social media. Overhauled ECB press office to work as one team, drove change to increase advisory role, introduced customer relationship management to log media activities. Set up the ECB social media team, created the Explainer section on the website and was the founding host of the monthly ECB podcast, which ranks in the top 10-20% of podcasts worldwide.
Managed FT bureau, covered economics in the eurozone and Germany as well as the European Central Bank. Led coverage of the ECB’s policy moves after the ‘whatever it takes’ speech the previous summer, generated frequent front page stories and stepped up blog coverage and use of Twitter. Interviewed Mario Draghi.
News edited the front page during the height of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. Commissioned stories for the front page and ft.com homepage. A job at the centre of the FT news operation that also involved on occasion standing in for the news editor for the day.
Covered business and politics in the Netherlands, in the aftermath of ABN Amro’s sale to RBS and into the great financial crisis. Covered the demise of Fortis in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as fracturing of Dutch politics and war crimes trials in the Hague.
Ran the Reuters bureau in Almaty, Kazakhstan, covering the five ex-Soviet 'Stans - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Managed a team of 11 reporters working in English and Russian, in countries with low-to-no press freedom. Also reported on revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia.
Covered business news for Reuters in Frankfurt. Initially reported on the automotive sector in Germany before joining the banking team.
Covered financial and political news in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and helped coordinate network of reporters, photographer and TV cameraperson. Assignment included a stint in Afghanistan in late 2001 during the war, entering Kabul days after Taliban retreated.