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.
Ben joined Paternoster in 2025 having completed a MA in Philosophy at the University of York in 2024, which followed his BA in history and philosophy at the University of Sussex.
A Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award holder, Ben’s adventurous charity endeavours include a World Challenge Expedition to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in 2016, raising £4000 for the month-long trip which included getting running water to a remote village in Uzbekistan; completing an 8-week training camp to participate in a boxing match and raised over £300 for Cancer Research (he won); and also several charity skydives.
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.
Sally cut her marketing teeth on blue chips. An American Express grad trainee, the marketing placement was her perfect match. Agency life as a ‘suit’ and planner followed, where Sally led accounts including The Guardian, Elida Faberge, Channel 5 and Which? before heading back client side as Marketing Controller at Sky.
Three toddlers stymied commuting and Sally applied to lead marketing at an independent school near home. Sally found that marketing a school offered unique opportunities like meeting customers in real life every day and working on ‘the factory floor’ right alongside industry experts. In a fiercely competitive market buffeted by birth rates, political policy, the economy and school gate gossip, dull moments were hard to come by and Sally was soon Director of Marketing & Alumnae and a member of the Senior Management Group.
After 15 years of school bells Sally embarked on a new adventure in 2024 providing marketing consultancy under the moniker, Propelling Communications. Sally describes herself as a ‘Marketing Thinker & Doer’ steering strategy, planning and delivery. Sally's first project has been working with Caterham School on the launches of AI powered edtech. Sally was delighted to be invited to join Paternoster in July 2024.
Alistair has 30 years of experience in leading communications and corporate affairs teams in high profile global organisations, including Barclays, EY and Linklaters.
At home handling complex and contentious crisis and issues, Alistair has also advised CEOs and senior leaders on communications strategy to support business transformation, restructuring and major strategic initiatives. Alongside his focus on strategic communications, he loves to see a good plan implemented thoroughly and effectively, and to see the impact that can have on an organisation’s audiences and reputation.
Alistair has a particular interest in the development of organisations’ corporate narrative, and in ensuring this is aligned to the business strategy and consistent across all client, customer, investor and stakeholder interactions. He has written senior leaders’ speeches, presentations and opinion articles for high stakes events and announcements, and coached CEOs and leaders to ensure their delivery is successful.
Having worked in complex and high-profile organisations, Alistair has a keen antenna for reputation risks and has led projects to enhance risk horizon-scanning and to develop and implement measures to mitigate and manage those risks.
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.
Christina has worked in the PR industry for over 20 years, beginning her experience at WP owned agency Cohn & Wolfe as personal assistant to the UK Chairman and European MD before moving to global independent agency, Edelman. A husband and two children later, she broadened her experience, taking on other operational roles at the RLF Partnership and Gardant Communications plus roles in the executive search industry and marketing & comms.
In 2014 she made some significant life decisions and returned to professional acting while keep her corporate work going as a freelancer, offering event management, book-keeping, operational support and presentation coaching. She joined Paternoster in 2018 and continues to balance family life, showbusiness and ‘business-business’, (combining a bit of the latter two as part of the Paternoster media training team). Christina loves the culture at Paternoster, which is to celebrate and encourage following your passion…something she is happy to be doing.
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.
Ben joined Paternoster in 2020, and brings over a decade's experience advising clients in technology, financial services, and real estate. During his time at the firm he has led work on issues management as well as financial calendar communications, and supported on several transactions.
Ben cut his teeth at Brunswick and Firstlight, going on to run technology campaigns at Seven Hills and head up marketing at a cybersecurity startup founded by the former heads of GCHQ. he has also delivered sensitive international work at Chelgate, including for the Rwandan President's office and Libya's National Oil Corporation.
A fluent Irish speaker and former Students' Union President, Ben volunteers in his spare time as a basketball coach in Peckham.
Tim is an experienced brand strategist, commercial writer and champion of the Integral Brand.
He’s headed both Planning and Copy departments at several agencies, working closely with senior teams at clients such as Unilever, Diageo, BA, JLR, Ford UK, Nokia, EE, Carslberg and Rémy Cointreau. He was a founding partner of Sequitur London, which from 2015-2020 helped many prominent businesses to use a key inflection point – major anniversary, new leadership, rebrand – as a springboard to continued profitable evolution.
Tim also writes articles in the persona of food tech disruptor Modern Baker, counting public nutrition as a personal passion project. He’s Tone Captain of the Shackleton brand of expedition apparel and, having lived/worked in France for six years, still oversees all American English output from the Ritz Paris. He has co-authored a successful series of children’s books and had two plays produced on the London stage.