Director and Founder of Eskenzi PR – Was there life before Eskenzi PR? it was her time at News International Exhibitions launching massive consumer shows that gave her the imputus to start her own business with her first client being Reed Exhibitions the owners of Infosecurity who took her on for her golden touch at turning any new show she worked on into a success. It didn’t take long before the cybersecurity industry came knocking on her door to turn them into household names too, and so Eskenzi became known as “The Cyber-Security PR agency”. Helping more than 300 clients over the years, Yvonne has been described in PR Week as “the matriarch of technology PR – what Yvonne doesn’t know about PR or her security clients cannot be categorised,” they said. With one journalist quoted as saying “If you could clone Yvonne and her team then you could invade China”
Yvonne had her proudest moment this year when the agency received the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise for outstanding achievement in Export, which is the highest accolade a British company can receive. Yvonne and Neil were both invited to Buckingham Palace to receive their award.
When Yvonne’s not being a “PR professional” she’s usually renovating a house, designing the interiors, making pottery very badly and most importantly eating and drinking with her family and friends or travelling to far flung places. And of course she’s been known to have “no carbs before Marbs”, so she can hang out and behave very badly with her girlfriends.
As a cofounder of Eskenzi PR, Neil has lead PR, Marketing and Social Media for clients in the following sectors: Information Security, Big Data, Mobile, Broadcast, Telecoms, Storage and Electronics. Neil is also on the UK Advisory Board for ISSA, the Conservative Technology Forum and the White Hat Ball.
In the PR Week Most Rated Agencies by the journalists Neil was described as “Always fast off the mark and helpful”, “A man with a real drive for excellence in PR”, “No shrinking violet and his determination in ensuring his clients are at the top of the agenda is excellent.”
Prior to becoming a director with Eskenzi PR, Neil who is also an ACMA, was the European Financial Director and MD of the French subsidiary of software development company Datawatch Inc. As a result, he brings a unique first-hand view of working in the IT market. He has also worked on corporate strategy, reporting directly to board level at NASDAQ (Datawatch) and London Stock Exchange quoted companies (Tate & Lyle plc and WPP plc, where he also held divisional Financial Director roles).
When Neil isn’t working overtime for his clients, checking the books and overseeing the computer systems he is an advanced practitioner in NLP so able to calm the office during times of stress!
Lucy joined Eskenzi PR in January 2013 and she has almost ten years’ experience working in IT security PR. During her career, Lucy has worked with some of the biggest brands in the industry including Adobe, Vodafone, ESET, Imperva, Proofpoint and BskyB. Lucy graduated in 2009 with a BA (hons) in Journalism from Edinburgh’s Napier University. Lucy loves media relations and enjoys coming up with creative campaigns and new ways to drive awareness around IT security issues. In her spare time, Lucy loves spending time with her daughter, shopping and going for long walks in the countryside.
Eskenzi has been lucky enough to have Lara for over five years (and to all those head-hunters she has no intention of moving)! As a senior director at Eskenzi Lara is relentless, and known as the rapid response queen. Never a day goes by when she doesn’t get her clients in the nationals, TV or on the radio. A legend for jumping on stories as they break and her clients adore her, working on a wide range of topics from DDOS, biometrics and even health tech PR - nothing holds her back. Outside of work, she loves nothing more than headbanging front and centre at a rock/metal gig, binge-watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, and spending quality time with her son and two very naughty rescue dogs. Just don’t get on the wrong side of her, as she has spent 3 years training as a pro-wrestler.
Beth is originally from Michigan (the Mitten State) and has worked in public relations since 2008, starting in tech and cybersecurity. She loves working with clients to bring their unique voices to the masses. Beth is a keen writer with a good understanding of the cybersecurity space and can articulate complex subjects in a more easily digestible way. She also helps organise Eskenzi conferences and Security Serious Week with the Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards, which are all about the great people that make up our industry and raising awareness of cyber issues. When not entertaining her two daughters, Beth teaches swim lessons, jams a little on the bass guitar or takes on the odd crochet project.
Melanie has over 12 years’ experience within the PR industry working with both B2B and consumer clients. During her career she worked as an account executive, account manager and now account director with PR agencies that are solely B2B IT focused. Melanie gained valuable experience working with various companies such as security experts, Kaspersky Lab, AVG and M86 Security during her time, and even worked with online card company Moonpig. She thrives on creating headlines and claims her crowning moment was breaking the Flame virus news back in 2012. In her spare time, Melanie loves nothing more than listening to 90s Indie music whilst crocheting.
James works on an array of clients that specialise in everything from geopolitical risk to email network security, from ethical hacking to password access management. In a short time with the company he has generated coverage in VICE, Forbes, The Sun and the Daily Mail, among other major outlets. He has also written several by-line articles that have been placed in tier 1 trade publications. Besides writing engaging content and chasing coverage for his clients, James loves playing football at a high standard, cooking his signature dish – seafood risotto – for friends, and fuelling his passion for all thing’s footwear.
Conor Has been working at Eskenzi PR for almost two years, working with a wide range of infosec clients focusing on everything from software security to malware and phishing. In that time Conor is proud to have gained coverage through comments, articles and interviews for his clients across a wide range of top tier national, trade and broadcast publications. When not focusing on cybersecurity, you can find him reading, shouting at Chelsea on the TV, attending concerts and festivals, and arguing with his flatmates about music into the small hours!
Competitive analysis, strategic thinking and working through the analytical tools such as Cision, Meltwater and Trendkite never phase Rohit as this is an important area at Eskenzi that he has grasped with great precision. Working on a range of clients, Rohit has used his journalism skills to get his clients in the nationals on a daily basis and has quickly moved up the ranks to become a senior account executive working on some of Eskenzi’s most exciting clients from the start-ups to the biggest most established. When not throwing himself wholeheartedly into his work he loves to get together with his old Uni mates and play American football.
When we need to make something look stunning, eye-catching and clever we ask Nikalya. She runs all the social media platforms for Eskenzi, as well as doing the videos, podcasts, blogs and dozens of daily tweets for our events and managing our client’s sites too. Nothing is too big or small for Nikayla always happy to help with powerpoints, infographics or other crazy ideas we throw at her daily. Nikayla graduated with a 2:1 in multimedia computing as has spent time as a graphic designer, social media expert in a range of consumer industries which is where she learnt her trade. In her spare time she a fashion and beauty Youtuber, loves to dance (especially to K-pop) and inspite of her size has a passion for KUNG FU – so don’t cross her!
A 1st class graduate from Durham University, Milly is our newest recruit who loves to be organised and writes prolifically. She is tenacious when it comes to liaising with journalists and getting the perfect pitch that resonates with them. She enjoys nothing more than seeing her clients mentioned in the media, with article writing, picking through the results of surveys and turning them into headline grabbing stories a part of the job that she excels at. Outside of her work she enjoys cooking and visiting the wonderful museums and sites that London has to offer – that’s when she’s not travelling to and from her second home down-under in Sydney!
Meet the UK Team
Paula Brici
West Coast US Account Lead
For more than 20 years Paula has developed and implemented successful public relations initiatives for technology startups, emerging growth companies and established global corporations. For the past 10+ years, she’s focused exclusively on cybersecurity and has never been happier, delivering successful, meaningful results for clients including breaking news, trade, business, broadcast and feature story media coverage. She’s also happy relaxing at home near beautiful Laguna Beach with her very spoiled cats, enjoying a well-earned cocktail and anticipating what opportunities tomorrow will bring. Paula’s roots are in the Midwest where she graduated with a degree in public affairs from Indiana University.
Tila Pacheco
West Coast US Account Lead
Driven by her passion for media relations, Tila Pacheco has built a solid reputation for helping companies secure the media coverage they require to achieve their public relations’ goals. She’s worked with a variety of companies in industries that include cybersecurity, retail technology, entertainment, customer engagement management, real estate development and financial services. When she’s not pitching media or writing, Tila can be found working out at the gym or scouring local grocery stores for unique ingredients to develop gourmet dishes for her husband, son and three Exotic Shorthair cats.
Stacy Warden
Global Content Strategist
Stacy has over 10+ years of experience in publishing and marketing, and holds a BA in professional writing. She has worked with several notable news outlets in both the US and UK including the Chicago Sun-Times, BizBash Media, and Dennis Publishing, to name a few. She has a strong background in content marketing and digital media, with a focus on creating high-quality pieces that help drive brand awareness and sales for clients. Stacy has developed marketing materials and copy for organizations across various industries including cybersecurity, edtech, corporate event planning, automotive, and automated solutions vendors, among others. Currently, Stacy serves as Eskenzi PR’s global content strategist, which allows her to flex her creative muscle in her passion for writing while also helping companies share their stories across the planet.
Jan Wiedrick-Kozlowski
East Coast US Account Lead
Jan has cherished the opportunity to work with some of the most cutting edge technologists in Silicon Valley and across the US for more than 15 years. She has had the ability to take their stories to some of the top security and business publications as well as key analysts covering a variety of IT and cybersecurity issues. Through rapid responses and contributed articles, Jan has been able to increase clients share of voice in the market. On her off hours, she dashes off to the great outdoors with her husband and golden doodle to swim, hike, kayak and travel.
Maureen MacGregor
East Coast US Account Lead
A communications strategist and launch specialist focusing on PR/branding and issues leadership for technology companies and associations, Maureen has launched and helped drive market leadership for several highly-successful, broadly-deployed B2B tech-based brands. She is deeply experienced helping clients and multivendor organizations to emerge, evolve and share their larger change-potential story. Maureen excels at achieving national and sector coverage, credibility and cross-channel impact that reverberate across markets and target sectors. She also enriches PR programs with initiatives such as social media/constituent communications, prospect education and demand creation initiatives (webinars, events, tutorials, etc.), speaking/thought leadership, case studies and content development and marketing. In addition to a broad base of current data security and network security clients, Maureen has successfully launched an array of technology clients such as Softricity (now Microsoft), Sandburst (now Broadcom), Sonus (NASDAQ:SONS), Edge Velocity, Internet Photonics (now Ciena), and Avalias, establishing them as respected sources and sector leaders.
She has written for IT and regional news media, and holds a B.S. in Communications and Finance from Boston University and Salem State University.
Dagmar Schulz
German Account Lead
Dagmar has been in the world of PR for over 20 years and worked with Eskenzi for over 5 years. Dagmar has focused on IT Security right from the beginning which happened by chance and has since became a life-long obession. In her work Dagmar is a master at balancing the needs of a client with what the media need for a good story. Dagmar has worked on both the vendor-side and now on the agency side for a host of Eskenzi clients like GlobalSign, Cylance, One Identity and Thales eSecurity as well as for regional brands in renewable energies, distribution, consultancy etc. In the last couple of years Dagmar has included filming in her pitches and work.
Florian Riener
German Account Lead
A specialist in cybersecurity PR, Florian works tirelessly at a high level working on Eskenzi’s strategy in Germany, blending his PR skills together with writing he manages to get excellent coverage for our Eskenzi clients in Germany. Working as an account Manager since 2010 Florian prides himself on regularly getting into the nationals with rapid response opportunities, pitching clients into the trades as well as managing to secure broadcast press for clients with local spokespeople.
Stefan Winter
German Account Lead
A seasoned PR professional Stefan looks after Eskenzi clients in Germany to make sure they are frequently quoted not only in the nationals but trade and verticals. Stefan also has a passion for creative writing and can manage to turn the dullest of press releases into shining interesting information that impresses the entire team.
Bruno Sanvoisin
French PR Account Lead
Bruno has been in the world of PR for over 20 years and has worked with Eskenzi for over 5 years. He knows the IT security and tech media inside and out getting many articles published not only in the trade and vertical press but receiving great coverage in the nationals. Bruno has worked for a range of international companies – Dell SonicWall, Baltimore Technologies, GlobalSign, Unisys, Toys ‘R’ Us, Amazon and other local organisations such as Gaz de France, Lyonnaise des Eaux – and specialized SMEs like Brain Lab.
Bruno is also on the board of the SYNAP (PR Agent professional organization) and gives lectures on the Masters degree for Strategic Communication at SUP’de Com Lyon.
Laëtitia Berché
French Account Lead
Has been in PR for over 20 years and drives the communications strategy for Eskenzi clients in France. Based in Paris Laëtitia is known for her specialism in cyber- security and has made that her trade mark.
Sophie Decaudin
French Lead
Sophie has also been in PR for 20 years with a deep knowledge of the cybersecurity and IT industry with a special focus on B2B corporate and product-related marketing methods, tools and tactics. Her media relations expertise has served everything from international groups to SMEs specializing in niche markets and to institutions.
Aurélien Rouby
Account Lead
He has been working in PR for over 15 years and focusing primarily on storage, Cybersecurity and cloud computing . Aurelien likes nothing more than getting his clients into the national press and onto Radio and TV.
How can we help?
We’d be delighted to discuss your marketing and communications requirements with you in more detail and we’re always happy to have a chat, so please get in touch!
+44 (0)20 7183 2849
