Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K), one of the world’s leading public relations firms, has expanded its London Better Impact team with two senior hires, Tom Fern and Libby Wyman, and the secondment of Megan Castilla from H+K’s LA office.
The Better Impact team provides sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) consultancy expertise across H+K’s industry sector teams to empower clients to have a better impact on people and the planet. The team provides expertise on how brands can build long-term, sustainable and shared business value and consults clients on how to measure and improve the impact of their sustainability strategies.
Tom Fern
Tom Fern joins as a Director, bringing over 16 years’ in-house and consulting experience as a senior ESG, sustainability and strategic communications adviser. He previously worked at The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), Brunswick, The European Climate Foundation and Blurred. During his time with IIGCC, Tom led global communications activity for the US$55 trillion backed Climate Action 100+ investor engagement initiative, which encourages the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters to take necessary action on climate change.
Libby Wyman
Libby Wyman joins as a Senior Associate Director. She was previously at eBay where she led the strategic direction of eBay for Charity, its multi-million-pound fundraising arm. She has created and brought to life purpose and sustainability programmes for multinationals, start-ups and international non-profits across a range of fields including agriculture, health and technology.
Megan Castilla
Megan Castilla is Vice President and Deputy Lead of H+K’s Better Impact Practice in the US. She is seconding to the UK for the next year to drive H+K’s international engagement around Better Impact. In partnering with clients to improve their impact on people and the planet, she has led a diverse range of award-winning campaigns for private, public and non-profit clients. In 2020, she was named one of PRNEWS’ Rising Stars.
The appointments follow the promotion of Chris Pratt last year to Managing Director, Better Impact. Chris is a graduate of Cambridge University’s Institute for Sustainable Leadership and has been with H+K for nearly sixteen years, having previously led H+K UK’s Energy + Industrials business and developed significant sustainability advisory work with agency clients.
Simon Whitehead, CEO of H+K London, commented: “Our clients are rightly focusing more and more on how they can make a difference to the world by embedding sustainability strategies across their businesses. We already have several Better Impact specialists in our industry sector teams, but I have always believed that we would benefit from creating a central team of experienced ESG specialists so that we can further leverage this part of our consulting business for all our clients. With Chris we have an outstanding leader, and I am now delighted to welcome Tom, Libby and Megan into our London business so that we can continue to grow this vital specialism in the months ahead.”
The team have recently advised Bayer, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Cotton Council International and The US Cotton Trust Protocol. Earlier this year, the team also secured a mandate with leading climate change think tank E3G to work on the COP26 Summit, together advising brands on how best to engage with the Summit and demonstrate authentic climate leadership.
