Meet our senior PR team

Chris Warham, managing director

A member of the CIPR and the marketing society and with more than 20 years' experience of driving strategic and tactical communications, Chris's primary focus is on messaging and corporate positioning as well as the strategic integration of clients' reputation management activities with day to day sales and marketing.

Current and former clients include Hewlett-Packard, Logica/CMG, British Waterways, Waitrose, The Duchy of Lancaster, Dell Computer and he wrote for the Daily Telegraph under a pseudonym.

His passion today is to see Bell Pottinger North delivering public relations campaigns that deliver real and measurable return on investment.

+44 1625 506 401

John Butters, director

With a solid background in journalism, John has more than 15 years’ experience of delivering proactive public relations campaigns – both in the UK and overseas.

A member of the CIPR, John’s past and present clients include BASF, Cable & Wireless, Cranfield College of Aeronautics, Dunlop Aircraft Tyres, First Choice Airways, Hewlett-Packard, i3 Group, the NHS, Oldham Council, Swisscom and VLM Airlines.

John also boasts a successful track record of supporting individuals who find themselves under the media spotlight. His clients have included the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who John advised during his ownership of Manchester City FC.

He also supported Gillian Gibbons, the teacher imprisoned in Sudan for allowing her class to name their teddy bear ‘Mohammed’, and Gillian Duffy, the Rochdale lady who Prime Minister Gordon Brown referred to as a bigoted woman during the 2010 election campaign.

+44 1625 506434

Deborah Garritty, director

An experienced PR practitioner, Deborah has directed communications campaigns to launch and support many leading names in the property and construction sectors, including Bellway Homes, Crosby Homes, Dennis Ruabon Ltd, Linden Homes, National Tile Association, Rod Hackney Associates and Rugby Cement/RMC Group. Originally a bilingual editor for the International Union of Architects (UIA), and then press officer of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Deborah ran her own PR consultancy for nine years before joining the Bell Pottinger North team in January 2005.

Richard Clein, associate director

Richard is a former BBC journalist and broadcaster who heads up our Liverpool office and is recognised as being one of the most influential people in the industry having been listed in the PR Week Power Book. He is also a specialist in managing and enhancing reputations having worked with former Everton FC director and leisure entrepreneur Paul Gregg, staff and players at St Helens RLFC and global brand Cream. In 2007, Richard advised and acted as official spokesman for Gillian Gibbons, the British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her primary school class name a teddy bear “Mohammed”. More recently Richard managed the account for Liverpool Primary Care Trust (PCT) which included handling the media relations for the PCT’s public health programmes and for the multi award winning Liverpool’s Challenge, Lose a Million campaign, the biggest social marketing campaign in the UK.

Emily Crellin, account director

Emily has extensive experience in business-to-business public relations, working with clients across a wide range of industries including professional services, transport and construction.

She started her career in the press office at global logistics provider, Exel, where she was responsible for generating press coverage across a range of industry sectors in both the UK and Europe.

Before joining Bell Pottinger North, Emily worked at a Sheffield-based communications agency, handling a diverse range of business-to-business accounts, including Toyota Industrial Equipment UK and Europe, and Georgia Pacific.

Alex Henshall, account director

Alex has over eight years' experience in marketing, communications and project management.

He has extensive experience in both B2B and B2C public relations campaigns across an array of sectors including professional services, financial services, manufacturing, and FMCG.

Before joining Bell Pottinger North in 2006, Alex worked in the marketing division at the Cheshire Building Society for six years, where he was responsible for working with internal clients and suppliers to deliver corporate strategy to time, quality and budget.

Alex is a marketing graduate about to embark on the final year of a Masters programme at Manchester Business School. Past and present clients include RSM Robson Rhodes, SHM Smith Hodgkinson, Vita Group, The Debt Advisor and Glaisyers Solicitors.

Roger Summerskill, consultant

Roger had a 30-year career at the BBC and is best known for presenting the breakfast programme on BBC Radio Merseyside for six years with Radio 5 Live’s Shelagh Fogarty.

He could also be heard presenting the phone in and drive time programmes and had a stint at Radio 5 Live presenting After Hours.

Roger is also experienced in public relations and media training and has worked for the Merseyside Police, Wirral Borough Council and a number of charities including the RNLI. Roger also spent three years at Goodison Park as the matchday stadium announcer for Everton FC.