Andrew has had a career leading communications and engagement strategies for organisations including GCHQ and the BBC, as well as for the British Government.
Andrew is the Founder of his own advisory, public affairs and communications consultancy. He founded this after a career that has spanned senior leadership roles working alongside government, notably as the GCHQ’s First Director of Engagement - the first person to take on this role.
The GCHQ role required Andrew to lead an ambitious engagement programme designed to increase the understanding of the work the organisation platforms to keep people safe. Due to the nature of its work, GCHQ has a history of being secretive, and the communications strategy Andrew led was unprecedented in its scope.
Other senior roles have included being Director of Downing Street’s GREAT Britain campaign - the nation branding initiative that has returned billions to the British economy; he has been part of the Northern Ireland Office’s senior leadership, with particular focus on Brexit, political stability and Northern-Ireland related terrorism. He was the first Director of National Security Communications at Number 10 and the Cabinet Office, where he led the cross-government response to the Russian poisonings in Salisbury and the Gulf Tanker crisis.
Prior to these roles, Andrew was a career diplomat, with assignments that included Ireland, Poland, Libya, Yemen and Brazil. He worked in New York as Her Majesty’s Counsel with responsibility for Northern Ireland, and was the British Government’s link with the White House and the US Government at this time. He was deeply immersed in the Northern Ireland Peace Process, and was awarded and OBE for services to peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, followed by a CBE in recognition of his work in public service. Andrew has a keen interest in leadership development and chairs a programme at Windsor Leadership under the patronage of His Majesty the King. He is a trustee of the British Forces Foundation and senior adviser to Made By Dyslexia, Take A Moment and Battersea Cats & Dogs Home.