Culture & People
Culture & People

We’re On It, We Do The Right Thing, We Bring Out The Best, We See The Positive.

Caroline Kinsey

Chairman

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Caroline Kinsey
Chairman
Believing passionately about the power of PR, Caroline founded Cirkle in 1998 after 12 years in marketing and PR.  At the heart of the agency’s success lies Caroline’s energy and positivity and a belief in balancing commercial understanding with campaign excellence and unswerving client satisfaction.  In 2018, Caroline made Cirkle the first  PRCA-accredited agency to become a majority employee-owned business. A Fellow of the PRCA, inaugural Chairman of PRCA PR Council, the UK’s Female Entrepreneur of the Year, PRCA’s Agency Head of the Year and The Daily Telegraph’s ‘Britain’s Fittest Director’, Caroline was also awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bedfordshire for services to Marketing/PR.

Ruth Kieran

CEO

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Ruth Kieran
CEO
20+ years consumer and corporate reputation experience across public, private and third sector communications, Ruth is also an experienced crisis & issues expert. Ruth’s career began as a media buyer with McCann-Erickson in Sydney  as well as working with Microsoft and IBM in Hong Kong. Her client experience includes Miele, The National Lottery, Department for Transport, Pizza Hut, Costa Coffee, Harley-Davidson, The Open University and Whitbread.  A seasoned leader, previous roles include Managing Partner and Deputy Managing Director for both Kindred and Lexis. She currently sits on the MAAG’s Advisory Board and chairs its diversity group.

Rikki Weir

Managing Partner - Marketing & Business Development

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Rikki Weir
Managing Partner - Marketing & Business Development
Rikki's 25+ years comms experience, includes 12 years working with Wella and P&G (including being headhunted by one of its global ad agencies for her copywriting skills). Claims to fame include 85% new business pitch win success rate (vs 33% industry average), as well as being the scribe behind the award entries that have culminated in over 150 wins and nominations for Cirkle. Rikki’s direct report includes the agency’s Creative Director and she also sits on judging panels across the PR & Digital industry for PR Week, PRCA and PR Moment and Sabre Awards. Mentor for Career Ready, championing Diversity in the workplace.

Katie Gallop

HR Director

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Katie Gallop
HR Director
Katie sits on the Cirkle Board and is a strategic senior HR professional with over 15 years experience across marketing & advertising, legal clinical research and publishing sectors. Katie’s remit includes all employee engagement, HR legal/regs and policy, recruitment, training, internships and mentoring, ensuring Cirkle continually over achieves against its competitor set.

Kate Gibson

Managing Partner - Consumer Brands

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Kate Gibson
Managing Partner - Consumer Brands
Kate thrives on the constant challenge of creating distinctive communications for consumer brands and developing imaginative “chapters” of content which build on one another to tell a bigger story and influence behaviour change. Kate has spent many years working at some of London’s top agencies, leading PR strategies across an enviable portfolio of FMCG brands and high profile retailers including Warburtons, Persil, John Lewis Partnership and McDonald’s to name a few.

Annemarie Penderis

Managing Partner - Corporate Reputation & B2B

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Annemarie Penderis
Managing Partner - Corporate Reputation & B2B
Annemarie left her native South Africa more than 13 years ago to embrace the UK. She has over 20 years corporate, retail trade, foodservice and B2B experience working across a range of sectors for brands including Stella Artois, Bidfood, Mission Foods, Cadbury, Bayer Aspirin and PepsiCo. A seasoned corporate comms professional, Annemarie’s remit includes driving corporate profile, media training, thought leadership and building employer brands for her clients. She is a highly experienced crisis & issues expert and has helped brands including  Hovis, Hipp Organic, Noble Foods, Loyd Grossman and Mission Foods in addition to those who face difficult trading environments.

Amy Searle

Head of Trade

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Amy Searle
Head of Trade
With 10+ years experience within retail and fmcg, Amy has worked both client and agency side – as well has holding previous experience within a not-for-profit lobbying association for the convenience sector.  Working across a raft of blue chip accounts, including Birds Eye, Aunt Bessie’s, Ferrero and PepsiCo, Amy is passionate in delivering commercial and reputational gains for her clients and has created a number of award-winning campaigns.

Andy Quin

Senior Strategist/Planner

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Andy Quin
Senior Strategist/Planner
Andy has spent over 20 years working as an Planner across global accounts at McCann-Erikson (Coca Cola, Nescafe, MSN and Kerry Foods) and Havas (Peugeot, Citroen, Ella’s Kitchen, Chivas Regal, VO5 and EDF). As a Media/Comms Planner, he also worked at large network agencies Universal McCann (Sky) and Mindshare (Nike and Diesel), as well as creating campaigns for Dulux, Channel 4, V05, EDF and Nike.

Chris Grabowski

Creative Director

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Chris Grabowski
Creative Director
Having started out on the account management side of PR agency life, Chris quickly discovered a love for ideation, innovation, new-tech and creative craft.  With over a decade of experience activating campaigns for leading lifestyle, bluechip and FMCG brands, client have included Bacardi, BMW, Cadbury, Nando’s, Nestle, Nintendo, and Under Armour.  PRCA Creativity Group Mentor

Laura Jay

Experiential Director

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Laura Jay
Experiential Director
With 16+ years experience, Laura has managed large scale events, immersive theatre, roadshows, stunts and experiential activations across a range of sectors including fashion, sport, travel and automotive.   Her experience spans all aspects of event operations and logistics, from concept and creative development through to design and implementation.  Her passion lies in creating engaging, thought provoking experiences that offer both memorable live experiences and compelling film, digital and social media content. As well as campaigns for O2 Mobile, British Airways, Coca-Cola, H&M, Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, Vodafone, Rio Olympics, TomTom and Microsoft, Laura has also worked with the public sector across Departments of Education & Transport.

Simon Hargreaves

Board Advisor

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Simon Hargreaves
Board Advisor
With over 30 years senior finance experience, Simon originally trained as a Civil Engineer (winning multiple Institute of Civil Engineers awards) and was also part of Deloitte’s Partner Fast Track Scheme.  A seasoned entrepreneur, Simon has helped FTSE 100 companies with their long term business strategies, development and growth.  Simon sits on the Cirkle Board and is instrumental in ensuring best financial practice, systems and reporting.  Other claims to fame include playing Cricket at Lords and football at QPR!
One of the most awarded PR agencies for Employee Engagement.

One of the most awarded PR agencies for Employee Engagement.

Our energetic, fun, inclusive and transparent culture offers outstanding levels of flexible working.

"We lead the way in looking after our team’s physical and emotional wellbeing - investing in them through our robust ‘Wellbeing in the Round’ programme."

- Ruth Kieran, Managing Director

98% for ‘Outstanding People Development’ (PRCA).

98% for ‘Outstanding People Development’ (PRCA).

Nurturing and growing best-in-class talent will always be in our DNA. We offer exceptional support for progression – spanning mentoring, bi-annual 360° reviews, career roadmaps and training that prioritises business,  leadership & marketing acumen.

Join our new agency model if you value career progression, autonomy, wellbeing & fitness and flexi-hours.

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