The Communicators welcomed four new members this month.
We believe they must have been the last Freemen to have sworn allegiance to the Queen and the first to swear the oath to our new King.
Jan Meek and Jon Woodburn swore their oaths at Armoury House moments before the news of Her Majesty's death was announced, while Pasquale Urselli & Gary Brook's ceremony at the Guildhall took place only two days after the official mourning period.
Caption: Jon Woodburn & Jan Meek with Master James Gurling
We are delighted to introduce and welcome our new Freemen:
Jan Meek, Polar Maidens expedition leader and motivational speaker
Jan has run several businesses, including a PR business. A series of adventures, such as cycling around China, rowing across the Atlantic, and racing to the North Pole, earned her four Guinness World Records.
Jan is a professional speaker, communicating the lessons she has learnt to a variety of audiences: corporate, after dinner, women’s groups and over 700 schools.
Jon Woodburn, Public Affairs Executive at the Nuclear Industry Association
Jon previously worked at the Royal Statistical Society before joining the House of Commons and working for numerous Members of Parliament. His passion for public affairs arose after his selection as one of three British nationals to speak at the Change the World conference at the United Nations in New York. He became a Future Freeman.
Caption: Pasquale Urselli & Gary Brook with the Master, Master Elect Mark Glover and Senior Warden Neil Griffiths.
Gary Brook, Head of External Affairs, Yorkshire Building Society
Gary has more the 30 years of experience in financial services during which he has spent most of his career promoting and protecting the reputation of some of the UK’s leading building societies.
His role at Yorkshire Building Society incudes maximising the Society’s ability to positively influence and build its reputation among external stakeholders including members, media and political audiences.
Pasquale Urselli, Professor of Finance at ESCP Business School in France
Pasquale teaches an Advanced Masters in Finance course. A seasoned investment banker and a prominent sovereign-wealth-funds expert, he serves as a member of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum Advisory Board, as a fellow of Istituto Bocconi and of Institut d'Etudes Politiques, as global lead for Mazars’s FAS practice, as working-groups member at Chatham House and the Peterson Institute. Previously he has served in top-management positions of BNP Paribas Group and Crédit Agricole Group, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.
We wish them all a warm welcome to the Company and look forward to meeting them again at future events.