London – 5 April 2023: Lynn Davidson, British political adviser and journalist, and the spokesperson for COP26 President Alok Sharma, has joined APCO Worldwide as a senior director, Founder and Executive Chairman Margery Kraus announced today.
“Lynn’s counsel is trusted and sought after at the highest levels of government and business, across sectors,” Kraus said. “She is an effective leader with a proven track record in crisis communications and reputation management, helping clients shape and reform strategies and narratives—internally and externally. In addition, Lynn’s recent experience with climate issues and corporate engagement significantly adds to our ability to advise clients on this most important issue. Lynn’s sage advice on the most relevant issues of our day will help clients and colleagues better understand and overcome risks and challenges to achieve their short- and long-term goals while managing and curating reputations.”
Prior to joining APCO, Davidson served as the communications adviser to COP26 President Alok Sharma. As a core member of the president’s inner circle, she provided key counsel leading up to COP26—directing climate messaging, positioning, tone and narrative across all communications channels in support of the overarching strategy and objectives of the UK presidency. Latterly she was Sharma’s senior adviser as the UK fulfilled its presidency ahead of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh. Before this, she was special adviser to the UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and to the Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt in the Ministry of Defence, the Department for International Development and the Government’s Equalities Office.
An award-winning journalist, news editor, investigative reporter and commentator with a career spanning more than 20 years, Davidson was a senior reporter at The Sun and a news desk executive at the Daily Mail. Her first decade in journalism was spent on local newspapers and the Daily Record in Scotland where she covered crime and investigations, winning several awards. She also previously worked as a managing director at the global CEO advisory firm Teneo.
“Having directly advised the COP26 President and the senior presidency team on delivering the historic Glasgow Climate Pact, I am delighted to be joining APCO at such an exciting and optimum time, both for the business and the planet,” Davidson said. “We know this is the decisive decade to avert the worst impacts of climate change and action from business and governments is crucial if we are to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
She added, “APCO Impact has made great headway in supporting governments, business and civil society to help solve some of society’s most pressing issues, including achieving the SDGs to bring prosperity for all. I look forward to joining that effort.”
Based in London, Davidson joins APCO’s award-winning UK team offering strategic advisory support in public affairs, financial communications, media relations, crisis communications and integrated digital campaigns. APCO’s team works across all industries both in the UK and internationally, with deep expertise in health care, life sciences, technology and innovation, environment, sustainability and food and consumer products.
She joins APCO at an exciting period of continued growth for the firm. Recently, APCO made a strategic push into financial communications with the acquisition of Camarco—a London-based financial communications firm, elevating APCO’s C-suite advisory capabilities and spearheading an ambitious move to extend its counsel to stakeholders in the capital markets arena—and added deep change, transformation and employee engagement expertise with the acquisition of Gagen MacDonald—a Chicago-based human-focused transformation and consulting firm, joining two independent and pioneering woman-owned companies together to bring deeper stakeholder insights and expertise to help organizations achieve their vision for positive change and transformation. It also broadened its M&A and Competition offer to help clients overcome the regulatory and communications challenges of high-profile, complex M&A and antitrust investigations in global business hubs.