Andy Holdsworth

Experience

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  ACAS

  Oct 2003 - Sept 2005

  Helpline Advisor

  Provided simple and comprehensive advice on Employment Law, Human Resources issues and ACAS best practice to the public (ranging from highly skilled professionals to the lay-person) through telephone helpline, correspondence and face to face. Advice had to be exceptionally clear, concise and unbiased. Personal Assistant to Conciliators to assist in the administration of Individual Conciliation work and ad-hoc tasks. This required a high level of organisational skills to ensure tasks were completed effectively and within appropriate time lines. Show less

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  Department of Trade & Industry, UK Government

  Sept 2005 - Jun 2008

  Represented the UK at Framework Programme 7 – Energy negotiations. The proposed programme for 2009/10 was very difficult as there were disagreements between the European Commission and the UK, plus other countries. Through communication and negotiation with the Commission and other countries, identifying commonalities, successfully negotiated a call ensuring that future programmes would suit UK business, research and development and Government Policy objectives, this was different from what the Commission had originally proposed.Jointly ran a Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and USA on carbon abatement technology, monitoring current projects and preparing the ground for future collaborations. Successfully gave the MoU more emphasis going forward and made it more result focused but agreeing deliverables.Responsible for a ~£600k contract running the National Contact Point for the Framework Programme 7 – Energy and Intelligent Energy Europe 2 programmes. Using project management skills I monitored the progress of the contract, managed risks and ensured improvements to the service were completed.Represented the UK in various International Energy Agency (IEA) forums, gathering thoughts and opinions from academics and industry to ensuring the UK view was effectively put across. Show less Monitoring progress of priority projects across central Government department and advising Management Board on project progress and emerging risks.Successful development of Project Pool website, enabling staff to access key information easily and quickly, and reducing pressure on core central team. Built trust in the use of website by ensuring it was accessible and up-to-date with key and relevant project management documents, HR advice and news on priority projects across the department.Data management of resource within the Project Pool, enabling quick responses to short notice projects requiring resource and providing information to enabling the planning of resource for future projects.Reported on Finances for Operations Directorate enabling Director to clearly see a breakdown of costs across his Directorate and make decisions on spending.Monitored travel arrangements for staff, leading to changes in policy that saved substantial money for the directorate. Show less

  • Emerging Energy Technologies Policy Advisor

    Jan 2007 - Jun 2008

  • Project Pool Administrator

    Sept 2005 - Jan 2007
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  Cabinet Office

  Jun 2008 - Sept 2010

  Horizon Scanning and Response Policy Manager

  Built productive relationships with key stakeholders and Government departments, making sure they understood what information we needed and why, leading to key information being proactively shared enabling a quicker response to potential problems in the energy and transport sector. Prepared contingency arrangements to manage the impact of fuel, electricity or gas shortages in the UK. Took lessons learnt from previous fuel shortages and new ideas to update the National Emergency Plan for Fuel, consulting those at all levels that would use the plan. The result was a more robust plan that, in the event of its use, would enable key services to continue.Using analytical skills I researched and prepared horizon scanning documents headlining potential domestic challenges to the UK on a bi-weekly basis for senior Ministers and Civil Servants. Ensuring key risks were highlighted with key points.Presented and prepared in-depth discussion papers for Committee on various topics related to potential disruption to the UK through Energy or Transport related incidents.Supported the Government and Civil Contingency Committees (COBR) in the event of an emergency stemming from my areas of responsibility and contribute to the handling of other emergencies.Ensured, through presentations, that responders from different levels of the resilience community understood the workings of COBR, and what information was needed and why. This led to clearer and relevant information being fed up the correct channels during emergencies.Using people management skills, managed a summer placement student with hearing difficulties. To ensure he could work effectively and be part of the team, made certain I understood what his needs were. Show less

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  Department of Business, UK Government

  Sept 2010 - Jul 2011

  Engage public sector stakeholders with the Commercial Strategy programme to ensure development of and implementation of viable and realistic solutions to deliver savings over next Spending Review period.Development and implementation of strategic programme level stakeholder engagement process. Mapping and segmenting programme and workstream stakeholders according to their interest / influence and relevance to programme phases ensuring key stakeholders were properly engaged in the process.Ensure engagement plans in place and followed for each stakeholder group including the successful organisation of workshops to engage 10 senior key partners of the programme and a successful round of bilateral meetings with senior personnel in partner organisations and Head of Finance. This led to greater engagement for the programme between core BIS and Partner Organisations.Produced communications about the Commercial Strategy from mixed sources, ensuring they were clear and consistent to enable greater understanding of the programme. Messages were appropriate and timely so stakeholders had clarity about their role within each phase of the programme. Identification and exploitation of channels according to stakeholder, including making use of engagement opportunities offered by the work of other BIS teams. Show less

  • Government Procurement Advisor

    Jan 2011 - Jul 2011

  • Communications and Stakeholder Engagement for Commercial Strategy

    Sept 2010 - Jan 2011
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  Regester Larkin

  Oct 2011 - Feb 2012

  Consultant, Issues & Crisis Management (5 month contract)

  Preparing organisation specific exercises to test and develop the emergency response of a variety of different organisations, their plans and communications. Wrote reports following exercises, highlighting what worked well and where the organisation can improve following the exercise.Planned and developed a workshop/exercise to explore co-ordination between 3 joint-venture partners in Egypt. Subsequently assisted in writing the findings which, if implemented, will assist the 3 organisations to function more effectively during an incident.Supported the development of a crisis plan for a small executive airline.Supported a media team in an external organisation during an incident at short notice, ensuring that media calls where effectively dealt with and on-going logs of calls where kept throughout the incident.Supported the researched and planning of a high profile public affairs engagement programme for an Indian IT trade association. Show less

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  Bell Pottinger

  Mar 2012 - Sept 2017

  Providing press relations and support to a number of clients in both the UK and overseas.Providing support and training to a wide range of companies and organisations in their planning of, responding to and recovering from an issue or crisis.I have provided crisis support to a number of organisations and individuals with real time issues ranging from media exposés to the tragic death of Eva Rausing, Dana Air plane accident in Nigeria and the Lord McAlpine libel case against twitter users (Highly Commended at the PRCA Awards 2013 (Issues & Crisis Management)).I have assisted organisations in preparing crisis manuals and communications plans so they are ready to respond to an incident. I have been the contact point for international and national media regarding breaking news stories as well as handling media for clients who are of national and international interest. Show less

  • Associate Partner (Global Advisory)

    Apr 2016 - Sept 2017

  • Consultant (Mar 12 to Mar 15) / Senior Consultant (Apr 15 to Mar 16) (Crisis and Litigation)

    Mar 2012 - Mar 2016
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  Grayling

  Oct 2017 - Jun 2018

  Associate Director
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  Surrey County Council

  Nov 2018 - Feb 2019

  Interim Head of Communications

  Interim contract running the Communications Team for Surrey County Council.

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  Q5

  Mar 2019 - May 2021

  Associate

  Associate of Q5 delivering a risk and resilience project in the Middle East.

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  Holdsworth Consultancy Ltd

  Mar 2019 - now

  Working with individuals and organisations on projects related to risk and resilience (individual, organisational, national), crisis management, crisis communications and reputation management. Capacity building and training in the area of crisis and resilience. Contracted through Q5 as an expert on resilience and risk for a project in the Middle East. Built capacity within the country to carry out risk assessments, including a first National Risk Assessment, and to build resilience through Preventing and Preparing activities. Built and training the risk team alongside colleagues.

  • Founder / Director

    Jun 2018 - now

  • Subject Matter Expert on Resilience / Crisis Management

    Mar 2019 - Apr 2021
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  ADS Group Ltd

  Apr 2022 - Aug 2022

  Media and PR Manager

  Working with ADS Group and some of their Members on their communications in the run up to Farnborough International Airshow and throughout the show. Ensuring well prepared media briefs and good engagement with both national, international and trade media.

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  Stuart Leach Associates

  Dec 2022 - now

  Associate