Alistair McLeish, Chairman

Alistair began his career with a specialist management consultancy and worked on, or directed projects as diverse as crop protection inputs in UK & Europe, land use studies, regional aid development, product strategic marketing planning, and inputs into Chinese agriculture. He moved to become the communications, and then commercial manager, of a US owned leisure group, completely re working its route to market from a US model of owner operators to a UK model of local government partnerships. In 1985 he founded Mmd in the UK. The agency provided 360 degree support – encompassing advertising, relationship marketing and public relations – to the agricultural sector across North West Europe. An office in Paris followed with many market leading multi-country clients including ICI, Renault, Du Pont, Cyanamid, Monsanto, Hoechst, Genus, among others. In the late 80′s Mmd developed a marketing communications arm, providing UK-centred public relations to companies in the financial services, construction and industrial, technology and telecoms sectors. Clients included Barclays Bank, Tarmac, Oki and Lucent, Technologies. Given the emergence of global networks and the fierce competition in UK markets Alistair evaluated global emerging markets where rapid change created dynamic market demand as well as lower barriers to entry. Mmd opened its first office in CEE in Prague in 1992/3 and, following the strategy of client multinationals, quickly opened offices in Budapest (1994) and Warsaw (1995). Under Alistair’s leadership Mmd grew to become a top-ten global independent PR agency, and the leading emerging markets focused communications consultancy in the World. Now merged into Grayling, the Mmd network has twenty offices around the region and is the leading Public affairs, corporate affairs and PR firm in CEE, being the de facto ‘go to’ consultancy for major multi nationals requiring New York or London level quality in these emergent economies. In 2006 Mmd was sold to Huntsworth plc and on final-completion of the sale Alistair stepped down as Chairman in mid 2009. Alistair remains the largest private shareholder in Huntsworth plc. A founder member of the charity ‘Suits on Bikes’ he has been its Chairman since 2007. He co-founded Speyside in 2009.

Email – Alistair.mcleish@speysidecr.com
Skype – alistairmcleish

Telephone – (+41) 79 827 7353

 

Ian Herbison, Chief Executive Officer

Ian began his consulting career with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Western Europe before moving to the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe and working with multinational investors on Greenfield investment, M&A and privatisation projects during the ‘golden age’ of post-communist liberalisation, investment and reform in the region. In 2001 he joined Mmd – the leading corporate communications and public affairs consultancy in Eastern Europe, providing board-level counsel to leading investors in the energy, mining, steel, telecoms and financial services sectors. He worked on many of the most high-profile and contested transactions in the region and developed and led offices in seven markets before assuming overall responsibility for Mmd in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2009 Ian left Mmd and co-founded Speyside in Latin America, overseeing the development of offices in Sao Paulo, Bogotá and Mexico City. A corporate communications and public affairs specialist, he has directed international campaigns for GE, Google, HP, Visa, Mars and many other Fortune 500 companies – working with regional and global communications heads to set strategy and direct international teams in up to 19 countries, ensuring effective delivery in each territory. He also has extensive experience in advising emerging market multinationals on corporate affairs and investor relations structure and strategy; helping to support cross-border growth and manage sentiment among ‘western’ regulatory and investment audiences. Ian is based in Sao Paulo.

Email – Ian.herbison@speysidecr.com
Skype – Ian.herbison

Telephone – (+55) 11 7603 9697

 

Daniela Fleischmann, Vice President, Mexico & Andean Region

Daniela began her career in corporate and investment banking switching to financial journalism with Spanish press agency ASAP Worldwide, responsible for international assignments in Egypt, Jordan, Mozambique, Indonesia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Jamaica, Greece and Barbados. Her corporate communications and public affairs consultancy experience started when she joined global network MS&L, first working in London and later playing an instrumental role in the start-up of Middle-East operations, based in Dubai during the boom years for IPOs, M&As and growth. She provided board level counsel on a wide range of corporate-issues led campaigns including the merger and integration of Emirates Bank and National Bank of Dubai in 2007. She also executed regional corporate communications and investor relations strategies for a wide range of local and international clients across the Middle-East including Morgan Stanley, The Bank of New York Mellon, and TAQA (the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company). A fluent Spanish speaker, Daniela established the Speyside office in Bogotá before assuming responsibility for our fast-growing operations in Mexico City. Today she is based in Mexico City, providing senior counsel to local clients while overseeing our regional financial services practice.

Email – Daniela.fleischmann@speysidecr.com
Skype – daniela.fleischmann.speyside

Telephone – (+52) 1 55 54502378

 

Raphaël Mazet, Vice President, Brazil

Raphaël has extensive experience running cross-border communication campaigns, providing board level counsel both in-house and as an agency consultant. He started his career as a lobbyist for the French government on European financial policy before joining Brunswick Group, one of world’s leading strategic corporate communications consultancies, in 2006. There he specialised in large cross-border M&A transactions, IPOs and crisis communications. He was also part of Brunswick’s Latin American practice, focusing on clients based in Brazil, Mexico and the Andean region. Prior to joining Speyside, Raphaël was in charge of corporate communications for Europe at RBC Dexia, a global asset servicing firm. Raphaël graduated from the London School of Economics, the Externado de Colombia in Bogotá, and Sciences-Po in Paris.

Email - Raphael.mazet@speysidecr.com  
Skype - raphael.mazet.speyside 

Telephone - (+55) 11 6168 2301

 

Fiona McCollum, Director

Fiona began her career in the UK, focusing on PR support in Western Europe for large multinationals in the financial services, tech and heavy industry sectors.  In 1998, she moved to Warsaw, Poland, with Mmd and spent the following 12 years based out of Eastern Europe.  Fiona played a key role in opening offices across the fast-growth region & established and ran the South East European division of the company.  With extensive experience in corporate communications in support of FDI and M&A, she directed campaigns supporting some of the largest investments in the region, as well as pre- and post-privatisation.  She also worked on the strategic development and direction of cross-border campaigns for multinationals in the tech sector (such as Intel and Xerox), the energy & heavy industry sectors (such as E.ON Ruhrgas, BASF and Dow), the financial services sector (such as Visa and Unicredit) and the pharmaceutical industry (such as Schering Plough). Fiona moved to London in 2010 as International Client Services Director for Grayling where she worked on a number of major international corporate communications campaigns across up to 15 markets.  She specialises in international corporate communications and emerging markets and is currently based just outside London, UK. 

Email -Fiona.McCollum@speysidecr.com    
Skype - fiona.mccollum_speyside 

Telephone - +44 (0)778 068 7376  

 

SENIOR ADVISORS

Aldo Musacchio

Aldo Musacchio has been in the faculty of Harvard Business School since 2004. He is currently an associate professor in the Business, Government, and International Economy Unit and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Professor Musacchio’s research has focused on how companies can adopt corporate governance practices that protect investors in relatively adverse legal and institutional environments, with a particular focus on Latin America. His teaching experience includes undergraduate, graduate, and executive courses at Ibmec Business School in São Paulo (now Insper), the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), Universidade de Sao Paulo, and INALDE in Colombia. He has provided board-level counsel for governments, public companies and multinational investors across the Latin American region.

Martin Raven

Martin had a long and distinguished career at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth office and the UK overseas Trade & Investment Department, most recently serving as HM Consul General in Sao Paulo from November 2006 to November 2010. In this role he was responsible for leading the UK Diplomatic Mission for the South of Brazil, including Sao Paulo, the business capital of South America. He also led the UK Government’s trade promotion and development activities across Brazil, supporting top-tier multinational investors and facilitating contact with Brazilian government and industry. He left the FCO in 2010 to pursue a career in consultancy.

Alberto Meade

Alberto has over 15 years of experience in the private sector, working for financial institutions such as Citigroup and CAT Financial, as well as in the industrial sector with leading international plastic manufacturers, such as Husky and Engel, where he was responsible for operations across Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. He is also former President of the Strategy Committee for the National Plastic Industry Association in Mexico. With a broad and solid network in both the private and public sectors, Alberto’s experience has facilitated the development of effective business strategies for international companies seeking to establish operations in Latin America, including Coca Cola FEMSA, Big Cola, VW, BMW, Lego, Gillette, P&G and Nokia. Alberto graduated in Civil Engineering from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). He is now based in Queretaro, Mexico and is a fluent English speaker.

SENIOR CONSULTANTS

Adriana Souza, Senior Consultant – Brazil

Adriana is a former journalist specializing in economic and financial issues. She has a solid experience in corporate communications with in-depth knowledge of the Brazilian capital markets (including IPO and M&A transactions, institutional and retail investor relations, equity and fixed income markets and corporate social responsibility). Before joining Speyside, Adriana worked as the press advisor of the Brazilian Stock Exchange (BM&FBOVESPA) for four years. Prior to this, Adriana spent almost 10 years working as a reporter in major national newspapers and magazines in Brazil such as Folha de S.Paulo, Veja, IstoÉ, Capital Aberto and America On Line Brazil. During her journalistic career, Adriana won a number of awards for both her political and financial reporting. She leads Speyside’s public relations practice in Brazil, working with Visa Inc., Amgen and others. In 2006, Adriana completed an MBA in Economy and Finance at the University of São Paulo (FIA-USP).

Alexandre de Paula, Senior Consultant – Brazil

Alexandre is the former Executive Manager of the Brazilian Association for Medical Device Importers in Brazil, where he was responsible for external affairs on behalf of the industry. Prior to that he held various roles within the Institutional Affairs team at Natura, the leading consumer products group in Brazil, where he worked on issues ranging from sustainability to greenfield investment, with a focus on government and stakeholder relations. He started his professional career working for the US Consulate in Sao Paulo as part of the commercial team supporting US-multinationals with Brazilian market entry and growth. In 2010 he was seconded to work as an advisor for the Marina Silva Presidential Election campaign. He holds a BA in Public Relations and has extensive consultancy experience working with clients across a wide range of issues an d industry sectors.

Moises Medleg, Senior Consultant – Mexico

Moises graduated in law from the Universidad Iberoamericana before joining the Federal government and working across various senior roles including Assistant to the General Attorney, Director then Chief of Staff at the Environmental Protection Agency (1995-2000) and Supervisor of Regional State Offices at the Federal Consumer Protection Agency (2001). He has since consulted extensively for industry associations and private companies in Mexico supporting on foreign investment, environment, trade and consumer issues as well as providing in-depth political monitoring. His experience includes work for HP, Dell, Exxon, GE and the national association of Radio and Television companies. He is a Mexican national, based in Mexico City.

Ana Cacace, Senior Consultant – Argentina

Ana began her career in 1994 at DuPont Argentina, assuming progressive responsibility in External Affairs until being appointed External Affairs Leader for DuPont Argentina in 2003. She was responsible for all areas of internal and external corporate communications, including overseeing the company’s corporate social responsibility activities. She later assumed responsibility for internal communications across Latin America before leaving in 2007 to pursue a career in consultancy. As a consultant Ana has worked with multinational companies in the textile, automotive, construction, health, beverages, security, food and petrochemical industries.

Maria Pia Gazzella, Senior Consultant – Chile

Maria Pia graduated from Business Administration and obtained her MBA at the Catholic University in Chile. She worked as a journalist for an international newswire, as an international trader for the Japanese Trading Company Marubeni and as Marketing Manager for Motorola. In 1998 she joined the British Embassy in Chile as their Commercial Attaché. During her period at the Embassy she was responsible for the identification and development of business opportunities and investment for British companies, development of high level contacts within private and government sectors, economic and political analysis, advice on corporate and strategic matters, communication and trade policy issues. Her consultancy experience includes work with major multinational investors in Chile, including Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Diageo, Mott MacDonald and and Inaer Helicopters.

Julia Sobrevilla, Senior Consultant – Peru

Julia graduated from the Catholic University in Peru before completing an MA in communications at Stanford University. She started her career as a journalist, working with national-daily and business publications including Euromoney. She later moved into corporate communications working with MTV Latin America where she played various roles before assuming responsibility for the Latin American region. After working with NGO Population Services International in Washington, Rwanda, Mexico and Mozambique she returned to Latin America to focus on corporate and financial communications consultancy, based in her home city of Lima since 2008. Her recent work includes projects with the Inter-American Development Bank in Peru and support for a range of multinational investors. In addition to Spanish, she is fully fluent in English, Portuguese and French.

Alexandra Benavides, Senior Consultant – Colombia

Alexandra is a former print and broadcast journalist with over 10 years experience in corporate communications and public affairs in Colombia. She previously held positions as communications and public affairs manager for Henkel and Nestle in Colombia, responsible for media relations, community relations and government relations. Her consulting career started with international agencies Porter Novelli and Burson Marsteller where she worked on a wide range of technology, FMCG, financial services and industry clients. She joined Speyside to contribute to our international financial services practice and has since taken on a wider consultancy role for Colombia.

Natalia Riquelme, Senior Consultant – Latin American Region / Miami

Natalia is a corporate social responsibility and sustainability expert with over seven years specialist experience in the field. Until recently she was head of Corporate Social Investment at Nokia Latin America, helping to craft and implement a wide range of flagship initiatives across the Lat Am region, focusing on mobile education and financial inclusion. As a consultant she has worked with the UN World Business Council for Sustainability Development and advised companies on the implementation of the UN Global Compact in Latin America. Miami based, Natalia supports Speyside clients on corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives. She graduated with a BA and MBA from the Universidad Americana in her native Paraguay.