Tom is one of the most experienced communications advisors in the UK, with deep experience of advising businesses and institutions in Europe, the US, the Gulf States and Asia on how to build and protect their reputations.
Having graduated from the University of St Andrews with an MA in English literature, Tom spent three years at Price Waterhouse training as a Chartered Accountant. From there he went to Brunswick - first as the press clippings boy and working up to join the partnership 6 years later.
Since Brunswick Tom has fulfilled a number of management roles in other agencies before taking the plunge to set up Paternoster. He has led teams on more than 20 IPOs in various exchanges across the globe, has completed numerous M&A projects and acts as the strategic counsel to a number of listed Boards on ongoing communications matters. He has a strong reputation as a crisis advisor and led teams on a number of high profile mandates, including the death of Alexander McQueen, a case of botulism in a major food manufacturer, a sustained campaign by activist shareholders, and the discovery of a significant accounting fraud.
He is a highly experienced advisor to independent school governors and academic institutions. As a former Chair of governors himself, he is able to offer advice on governance as well as reputation risk, and typically acts as spokesman for the school to the media.
Extracurricular interests include working on Sundays as a priest in the Church of England and as a Canon at Ely Cathedral. Tom speaks French.
Sophie recently joined Paternoster, bringing more than 25 years’ experience in corporate affairs across a wide range of sectors and geographies, advising organisations on their strategic communications with influential stakeholders. A trusted adviser to corporate leaders with significant expertise in political, corporate, financial, internal, digital and ESG strategies, reputation and brand management, message development, thought leadership, and crisis communications.
Sophie has advised on M&A, demergers, IPO’s, restructurings, change programmes, sustainability plans, developing and executing reputational corporate & political campaigns. She has helped to develop and drive strategic reviews, recovery plans, responsible business ambitions, reputation measurement, and political and evolutionary strategies. Sophie’s previous roles have included in-house as Group Head of Corporate Communications & International Relations at Centrica plc; in agency as a Partner at Brunswick and Senior Adviser at Citigate Dewe Rogerson and Portland.
Edward Mason was previously CEO of a disruptor advertising agency that he built to 200 people and sold to Omnicom. He was a Strategy Director (and NED) for Fortnum & Mason, leading the reinvigoration of this famous institution into its successful fourth century. He was also a co-founder of True Royalty TV and successfully raised £18m to fund its rapid growth. Edward has over the years worked with leaders in a diverse range of companies from start-ups to large global corporations across different sectors.
Alex joined Paternoster as an intern in January 2024, having graduated with a first-class degree in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Bristol and recently obtaining a distinction in a master's in physics at UCL. Some of his work in theoretical physics is set to be published later this year.
In his free time, Alex enjoys doing (and sometimes writing) cryptic crosswords, hiking, and playing five-a-side football poorly. As someone with a quantitative background, Alex is particularly interested in the work Paternoster does in corporate finance.
Ollie joined Paternoster in 2022 having graduated from Durham University with a First Class degree in English Literature, and supports the team in a research capacity.
Jane has worked in publishing and communications for over 30 years, initially for the newly launched Independent newspaper and then a succession of magazines, including Publishing Director of the journalist’s journal, the Press Gazette.
Subsequent publishing roles included Wine Magazine and the International Wine Challenge, where she nurtured an already enthusiastic appreciation of the subject, before a move into the Public Sector as a Communications Director at the Department of Health, producing a couple of children along the way.
After a family move to Africa, while raising two small children, she volunteered for a local education charity before re-training as a biology and chemistry teacher and working in British curriculum prep and secondary schools. Jane left the teaching profession when her own children came to boarding school in the UK and began working as a freelance writer for a wide range of organisations, including large commercial outfits, NGOs and government agencies, before joining Paternoster as their Schools’ Lead earlier this year. She continues to travel widely, drink expensively and spend time with her horse, dogs, husband and children. In that order.
Kate has over 30 years experience as a communications advisor specialising in issues based PR. No stranger to contentious issues, she ran her own consultancy where her work included launching the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Pilot for the Home Office and sitting on the Stop Violence Against Women and Girls steering group. She was the communications advisor for the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV chaired by Labour peer Baroness Joyce Gould for eight years, and has spoken about communications and HIV at St George's, Windsor.
Prior to that, she had an extensive PR background including publishing PR (Random House, Dorling Kindersley, and National Magazines), providing marcoms for household consumer names and culminating at Citigate Communications where she headed up the health team for four years as an Executive Director responsible for - among others - the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, the Care Quality Commission, the Agriculture, Environment and Biotechnology Commission, and producing a dissemination review for the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE).
A mother of two and avid consumer of all things educational, she worked as a reviewer for the Good Schools Guide, a trustee of international aid charity, LEPRA, and was a keen educator about the history of the Thames, organising events and talks for a local charity.
Having lived abroad from the age of four to 18 in the US, Canada, Germany and Japan, Kate returned to study English Literature at University College London. She has backpacked around Pakistan, China and India, and has written her first novel, The Other Church, about a vicar who boxes.
Christina has worked in the PR industry for over 20 years, beginning her experience at Cohn & Wolfe as personal assistant to the UK Chairman and European MD before moving to Edelman. She broadened her experience, taking on other operational roles at the RLF Partnership and Gardant Communications. Her experience also includes the executive search industry and marketing & comms.
As head of operations, her role is to ensure the business functions efficiently, cohesively, and positively so that the team can focus on client work safe in the knowledge that everything else is optimised. Christina is also part of the media training team.
