Alexander PR
Auckland, New Zealand

Dwayne Alexander - Founder & Global Practice Leader

M: +64 21 324 463

Dwayne has nearly three decades’ experience in media and marketing. He holds a postgraduate honours degree in marketing (cum laude) and has international multimarket experience. After travelling to Australia, the Middle East, China and Africa, he developed a special interest in globally relevant content and effective communication. Dwayne enjoys sharing inspiring CEO and founder stories through interesting, rich and deep content shared across platforms – from opinion to podcast and video series, Wikipedia, TED Talks and international mainstream media. To that end, Dwayne has featured as a regular New Zealand Herald columnist (‘Inspired People’) interviewing business leaders, and he is especially interested in getting interesting and quality business stories over the line in the New Zealand and global media. It is not just coverage for the sake of it, but in-depth media stories that make a difference to the lives of companies, their people and their leaders.

With senior leadership experience at NZME (as CEO of one of the Australasian digital companies with 200 staff across both countries) and Fairfax (Sunday Star-Times head of advertising and administration) as well as advertising agency and client (financial services marketing) under his belt, Dwayne’s corporate and multimedia experience ensures that if you are in need of a truly integrated communication and marketing strategy, he will be able to take you calmly through a step-by-step communication audit and programme that will assist you to leverage earned, owned and sponsored media to achieve your business objectives.

Kate Alexander - Founder & Corporate and Financial Communications

M: +64 27 244 6094

A former broadcast journalist with more than 28 years’ public relations experience in New Zealand, the United States and South Africa, Kate brings strong finance and corporate public relations skills to the marketplace, propelled by her trademark media savvy. She has been recognised globally for her work in the area of crisis communications and issue management and founded her own PR business in New Zealand in 2005.

Kate has handled the communications for many prominent projects, from IPOs to receiverships, such as the South Canterbury Finance receivership, and has managed the New Zealand-facing crises of a number of multinational companies. On the corporate and consumer side, she has led complex and award-winning campaigns on behalf of financial and fiduciary services, retail, manufacturing and not- for-profit organisations, among others.

Kate was national director of STWS Communications when it was Africa’s largest PR consultancy, and has worked for several large listed companies in New Zealand and Africa and on landmark projects such as the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994 and the launch of the country’s first McDonald’s. She is accustomed to engaging with high-profile leaders in business and politics, having worked on projects led by the late President Nelson Mandela and with subsidiaries of Anglo American.

Kate is a Paul Harris Fellow for Rotary International. She has served as a judge for the Workplace Savings NZ Communication Awards (2013 to 2015).

Laura Air - Group Account Director

Specialising in corporate, retail and consumer communications, Laura is one of the industry’s foremost consultants and is sought after in moments of crisis. Laura came into the PR industry through the coalface of retail, where she managed the flagship store of an international brand. Her knack for tapping into the retailer and consumer mindset has earned her a high degree of trust among her large stable of clients in retail, hospitality, fashion, fiduciary services, sustainability and childcare.

A natural leader, Laura has nurtured and guided teams to create and implement award-winning campaigns. Her combination of high-level strategic nous and finely tuned interpersonal skills are vital to her clients, who rely on her sage advice and calm demeanour during both the best and worst of times.

Laura has managed many watershed issues for clients: consumer fall-out with major brands; on-site incidents including fires, injuries and theft; and to the large-scale and round-the-clock management of trans-Tasman communications for AMP Capital Shopping Centres during the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and their aftermath.

From launching shopping centre developments that achieve in excess of half a million dollars in PR coverage and widespread buy-in and anticipation, to navigating and managing delicate crises, Laura’s strategic approach and well-honed skills produce outstanding results. She also brings a creative edge to her work through her photography, forever in search of the perfect picture to capture and illustrate moments in a world where the fastest-growing media platforms are visual.

Jemma Crook - Senior Account Director

For the past 12 years Jemma has worked in the fields of media, public relations, digital, content development and corporate affairs. With experience in issues management, business to business, consumer and brand-building public relations, she has cultivated wide stakeholder, government and media networks in Australia and New Zealand. She works closely with her clients on ideas that will generate results and coverage, and develops unique content and story angles that create real market engagement and impact. Her specialist experience covers industries including retail, fiduciary and financial services, home and building, sustainability, FMCG, health, digital and technology, agriculture and fashion.

Jemma first joined Alexander PR in 2008 after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Hons, first class)) at the University of Waikato, majoring in Public Relations. She returned to Alexander PR in 2017 after five years in Australia, where she worked as a Senior Sustainability and Communications Advisor for a global corporate and held a senior position at a Sydney PR agency.

Stephanie Jones - Specialist Senior Writer

Stephanie has led communication strategy for global and national companies across more than two dozen industries, ranging from financial services to technology and SAAS, healthcare, real estate and property development, manufacturing and production, and retail. She is experienced in all facets of media and stakeholder strategy, corporate and consumer communications and crisis and issues management.

Stephanie is a content specialist, having begun her career as news editor of Craccum, the student magazine of the University of Auckland, where she earned a BA (Hons, first class) in history and literature, with first-class honours. She has produced content for national media outlets including metro daily newspapers, business publications, regional newspapers, vertical / industry media, TV, radio and digital.

Stephanie is an editor and writer of non-fiction and is currently working on The Four-Day Week, a business book to be published by Piatkus in early 2020. She has reviewed books for Newstalk ZB, Coast FM, Crime Watch and NZ Booklovers, and is a judge of the Ngaio Marsh Award for New Zealand crime fiction.

Tristram Clayton - Head of Content and Government Relations

Tristram parlays story-telling skills honed over more than two decades in journalism and PR into strategic content programmes for clients in multiple sectors. An experienced writer and interviewer, Tristram is comfortable on both sides of the camera and microphone: most recently he served as media manager for one of New Zealand’s most successful charities, and worked as a reporter and presenter for NZME, hosting NZ Herald Focus and writing a series for the Herald’s travel section that took him as far as New York City.

Previously he spent eight years with MediaWorks as a journalist for Campbell Live, where he covered the Christchurch earthquakes, reported on kids going hungry at school, uncovered a Fiji holiday house fraud and was a Television Awards finalist for his work exposing a multimillion-dollar magazine scam. In his five years at TVNZ, Tristram reported for the Breakfast programme and covered the foreign and assignments desks, a comfortable place for a man who speaks fluent French and has lived and worked in Germany and Spain.

Tristram’s esoteric career has given him an incomparable eye – and ear – for stories that will generate interest from media and other target audiences. Originally from Lower Hutt, he earned Bachelor’s degrees in arts and science from Otago University (and later a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from AUT) before spending a decade working around the world as a PR consultant, English teacher, busker and construction worker. During this time he made a documentary in Rwanda.

In his spare time Tristram enjoys music festivals, studying Middle Eastern politics and religion, running half-marathons and exploring New Zealand’s finest beaches and bars.

Jade Alexander - Senior Account Director

Jade works across numerous Alexander PR client accounts, leading the communications strategies for retail, business and environmentally focused clients and maintaining a special interest in not-for- profit organisations. Jade is particularly involved in research, media strategy and campaign design and implementation, and enjoys using her media relations skills and finding unique angles to help clients succeed in media and realise their corporate social potential.

Jade joined Alexander PR as a Bachelor of Science graduate, majoring in environmental sustainability and animal sciences. As a lifelong champion of animal welfare, Jade has networks within government agencies and NGOs; she is a prominent lobbyist, having conceived and led a rally that amassed more than 1,000 supporters of welfare issues; and she parlays her specialty in sustainability and consumer PR into real-world, commercially valuable results for clients. She is a digital media native, having published her first article at age 10 and has since become an experienced commentator on TV and radio.

Emily Svadlenak - Account Director

Emily has a background in corporate communications and content and inbound marketing. Having worked on both the in-house and agency sides with clients in industries ranging from finance and technology to retail, Emily brings a combination of strategy and creativity to the table. Clients working with Emily can rely on her expertise and enthusiasm to achieve great results in all facets of PR and media.

Originally from Austria, Emily graduated from the University of Waikato with a Bachelor of Communications, double majoring in public relations and supply chain management.

Kerryn Downey - Chairman

Kerryn has over 40 years’ business experience, including 32 years in business advisory and corporate restructuring in New Zealand and Canada. He obtained a BCA from Victoria University of Wellington, spent 24 years of his professional career in Canada and has been a partner in major advisory firms in New Zealand (KPMG and McGrathNicol) and Canada (KPMG) for 25 years. More recently, he led the receivership of South Canterbury Finance Limited, the largest receivership in New Zealand, and is completing the winding up of the New Zealand HIH Group of insurance companies.

Throughout Kerryn’s three decades in business advisory and corporate restructuring, he has worked closely with major corporates, boards of directors, government and regulatory authorities, legal practitioners and stakeholder groups.

Kerryn has held various advisory and restructuring roles for private and public companies on improving financial performance, board governance and effectiveness of board members. He is a member of the Institutes of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand and of Ontario, Canada, and a past president of the Rotary Club of Downtown Auckland. He is a former non-executive director of Guardian Trust.

Mary Pettigrew - Accounts and Administration Manager

Mary has been with Alexander PR since it was founded. As an experienced administrator and accounts manager, her expertise – and unruffled approach to paperwork! – ensures everything runs smoothly behind the scenes for APR’s staff, clients and suppliers.