Elisabeth Lewis-Jones – CEO, Liquid
Lis has extensive PR experience, having worked across a variety of sectors in both in-house and agency roles. She has played a significant part in shaping the communications landscape in the UK for the past decade through her involvement in the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) of which she was national president in 2008, chairman of the PRCA Council in 2011/12 and from 2013 a member of the PRCA Board of Management.
She is an expert in crisis communications and strategic PR consultancy, with knowledge and experience across a broad range of client business, from travel and tourism to education, food and healthcare. Lis has vast industry experience at the most senior level, including hosting the 5th Global Alliance World Public Relations Conference and Festival in London and speaking at key PR conferences in Argentina, Bahrain, Nigeria and South Africa.
Prior to founding Liquid, Lis was managing director of one of the largest independent PR consultancies in Birmingham for three years and a board director for six years.
Lis has acted as a PR commentator in the Financial Times, The Times and The Independent, was guest presenter for BBC Radio 5 Live’s travel programme ‘Blue Skies’ and was responsible for and became a main character in BBC Radio 4’s fly on the wall programme, The Airport.
She has contributed to the Kogan Page book, ‘Managing Business Risk’ (2007) and sits on the editorial advisory board of Independent Schools Magazine. She is a Governor of Bloxham School, a Freeman of The City of London Guild of Public Relations Practitioners and a Trustee of Iprovision, the benevolent fund of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. In 2015 Lis was appointed a Trustee of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.
Lis founded Liquid in 2004 in a room above her mother’s garage. The company is now eleven years old, a top 150 PR consultancy and operates in Birmingham, Guernsey, Jersey and London. It is the only UK PR consultancy to have offices in the Channel Islands.
In 2013 Lis became an advisor to the Cabinet Office/Number 10 reviewing the way the UK Government communicates in the regions. She is a mentor on the Government Communication Service’s ‘aspire’ programme.
PR Week has listed her as one of the top 100 most influential people in PR and ‘one of the leading crisis communication practitioners in the UK’. She has handled a variety of crisis situations from a fatal plane crash, BSE/CJD to prescription errors, industrial tribunals, court cases and corporate incidents.
In 2014 Liquid was named PRCA DARE Awards consultancy of the year in the Midlands and the CIPR PRide Awards consultancy of the year for the south of England and Channel Islands. Liquid is a PR Week ‘Top 40’ agency outside London.
Lis was awarded Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations for her contribution to the PR industry in 2003.