Tim Sutton, chairman of Weber Shandwick in Europe, is one of the European PR industry's most respected practitioners. Tim is also European chairman of the Constituency Management Group of the Interpublic Group of Companies, including its businesses in the areas of public relations, events management and corporate & brand identity.
Educated at Magdalen College, Oxford (Philosophy, Politics & Economics), Tim is a renowned corporate PR professional having directed corporate programs and public affairs campaigns for some of Europe's top companies and industries. He has a particularly strong track record in reputation strategy, public issues campaigning and brand development which has won him significant industry recognition.
For twelve years, Tim was personally responsible for the whole of BMI British Midland’s corporate and brand development programs in Europe reporting to the Chairman, Sir Michael Bishop. The excellence of this long term campaign, in support of deregulation of the UK, European and transatlantic airline routes, and the development of a broader international franchise for the brand, has received many accolades and still remains the only European PR campaign to have won both of the industry's top awards: the PR Week Grand Prix (1991) and the IPR Sword of Excellence (1994).
In the late 1980s and early 90s, he led the successful political campaign, described by the London Sunday Times as "devastating", for the UK brewing industry against government competition policy proposals for pubs. He was later instrumental in advising the UK drinks industry to establish The Portman Group, as a voluntary industry initiative to combat alcohol misuse. In the mid 1990s, his campaign on behalf of independent gas companies was responsible for the deregulation of the UK gas market and was described by the leading trade publication Gas Matters as a 'brilliant PR coup'. He was an advisor to the worldwide oil industry via its industry bodies UKOOA and the E&P Forum, as well as directly to Shell, on the difficult communications issues following the Brent Spar North Sea platform controversy; and later led the campaign by the Community Pharmacy Action Group to preserve Resale Price Maintenance on over the counter medicines.
Tim has been heavily involved in advising numerous other companies at senior level on major restructuring and communications strategies, including Compass Group, IBM, Kingfisher and Unilever and is also a recognized authority on crisis management, brand strategy and employee communications.
Prior to his current position he was chairman of Orpheus Group and previously chairman of BSMG Worldwide's European operations and chief executive officer of Charles Barker plc, then one of the UK's best known independent PR companies.
A member of the Institute of Public Relations, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Superbrands Council, he is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, and a guest on radio and television business and media programs.