Headland has made three senior hires, appointing strategic communications adviser Leo Wood and technology specialist Adam Davidson as Partners, alongside former Airbnb communications leader Abi Woolston as Director.
The appointments add significant international experience to Headland’s senior team, alongside deep expertise in frontier technology, as the firm continues to invest in building the pre-eminent strategic advisory offer in the market.
Wood joins as Partner with 20 years’ experience advising global businesses and senior leaders. His career spans London, New York and Hong Kong with a mix of senior consultancy roles with FTI Consulting and Edelman and in-house at Starbucks, where he led corporate affairs across 14 Asia-Pacific markets. Most recently a Partner at Hanbury Strategy in London, he has advised businesses through major corporate change, crises and reputation challenges across multiple markets.
Davidson joins as Partner from DGA Group, where he led its European technology communications work. He has built a reputation advising founders, executives and boards at the forefront of technological change, with expertise spanning financial situations, policy campaigns, issues and crises, and transformations of all kinds. Prior to DGA, he was with FTI Consulting as Managing Director in its UK TMT sector practice. While at FTI, he also co-founded and jointly led its UK Crisis team.
Woolston joins as Director from Airbnb, where she most recently led Trust and Safety Communications across EMEA. She brings first-hand in-house experience navigating complex reputation and crisis communications challenges from within a global technology platform. Prior to Airbnb, she advised several high-growth technology businesses including Stripe, Twitch and Kry at Portland and at Burson.
Dan Mines, CEO of Headland Consultancy, said: “Leo, Adam and Abi are three fantastic additions to Headland, bringing an impressive mix of deep sector specialisms, international, in-house and agency advisory experience to the firm.
“Leo has spent more than 20 years advising businesses across all sectors in the UK, US and Asia-Pac. And Adam and Abi will help us to build on our strong reputation in the technology sector.
“The breadth of experience they bring will be hugely valuable to our clients as we continue to grow. Our ability to attract advisers of this calibre reflects our ambition and the quality of our client offer.”
Leo Wood said: “I’m delighted to be joining Headland at an exciting stage in its growth. The firm has built an enviable reputation for serving clients with a combination of strategic advice, creativity and outstanding results, powered by collaboration. I’m looking forward to working with the brilliant team and clients to tackle some of the biggest reputation challenges facing businesses.”
Adam Davidson said: “Headland stands apart in an industry where genuine originality is easy to talk about but very hard to deliver. The team’s ongoing success is proof they’re the real deal: brilliant people making a big impact for companies that know what good looks like. I’m thrilled to be joining them and can’t wait to get started”.
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