Michele Filippi

Before setting up the Belfast-based PR Consultancy, MF Communication in 2003, Michele held the position of Communications Manager with UDV Group which later merged with Guinness to become Diageo plc, the world's leading premium drinks company. She was responsible for the planning and implementation of communications for UDV Operations, R&A Bailey & Co and Gilbeys across the island of Ireland. Her role also encompassed corporate PR and reputation management in Ireland as well as internal communications with Baileys brand community worldwide.

Notable achievements included delivering employee engagement and external communication strategies in support of organisational change; an engagement strategy on cost-competitiveness and productivity measures; and the management of communications for industrial relations issues. She left the company in 2003 to set up MF Communication and continues to work with Diageo on a consultancy basis.

She has also held senior positions with PR consultancies in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, including Weber Shandwick and Inform Communications. In a career that spans more than two decades, she has helped clients plan for a range of challenging 'live' and scenario communications issues from site closures and liquidations to down-sizing and employee relations issues; as well as pre-emptive communication planning for crisis and major incidents. She is also engaged in the proactive design and implementation of proactive, positive public relations campaigns for a portfolio of clients across a variety of sectors.

Michele is an Hons. English graduate of Queen's University and a Graduate of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

She is an Accredited Practitioner with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, CIPR's hallmark of professional excellence; a founding member of the NI branch of the Marketing Institute of Ireland as well as a past Honorary Secretary of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists of Ireland (NI Section).