PROFILE – MILES CELIC
His parents were not much involved in politics: originally from Yugoslavia, forging a life in a new country, they wanted to keep their heads down and work hard. “It was a classic working-class immigrant background,” says Celic. Celic made his way from the local state school to Oxford University to study history. “He’s proud of his working-class, comprehensive school background,” says his university contemporary Mark Littlewood, who went on to be the Liberal Democrats’ head of media (see boxout, right). Although Celic says he “turned up and was thrown by the place”, he recovered his balance quickly among the dreaming spires to set up with Littlewood the Oxford Reform Club. A self-confessed “political obsessive”, Celic naturally sought the company of other politicos, including Daniel Hannan, the Conservative MEP for South East England who this year became a YouTube sensation for his attack on Gordon Brown. And Danny Alexander, now MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch Strathspey, was another undergraduate associate.
‘Falling into’ broadcast journalism Intelligent and plausible, Celic might even have made a fist of Westminster himself. “Any political aspirations are well behind me, having been pretty much finished off, such as they were, by having a young family,” he insists. Rather than to Westminster or Whitehall, it was to independent TV production company Barraclough Carey that he went after university. He “fell into broadcast journalism”, and enjoyed making programmes on politics and indulging in some low-level media punditry. Fun though it all was, Celic took a pay cut to leave, joining the office of the “very cerebral, very civilised” Labour MP Calum MacDonald, who represented the Western Isles until he lost his seat to the Scottish National Party in 2005. With MacDonald, Celic worked on the progressive Labour Initiative on Co-operation, looking for areas of overlap between Labour and Lib Dem policy. This crossparty, collegiate approach served him well when, in 1997, Celic entered the world of PA proper, joining what was then GPC Connect which became Connect PA. He stayed for two years. “It was my first involvement in lobbying direct,” he says. “I quite enjoyed it but rather than flitting across from one client to another, I fancied getting my teeth into the issue.” A job at Water UK “came up”, during which he became convinced that “PA works
Celic has also just finished a review of Pru’s Brussels requirements, re-appointing UNIVERSITY CONTEMPORARY: Mark Littlewood (ex-head of media for the Kreab Gavin Anderson after a four-way Liberal Democrats, now at Progressive Vision): “My experience of PA people pitch (see p12). “We hadn’t reviewed the is that they think twice before saying nothing, but Miles always has decisive agency for nine years and the brief has views – and expresses them. He has a friendly personality but has developed changed,” he says. “We’re going to be proaca harder edge. He’s outspoken [in private meetings] and doesn’t hold back, tively engaging much more. The review was but he’s not completely insistent about getting his own way. I think he’s not in any way a reflection on Kreab.” better off in-house – he likes to pursue a monomaniacal approach.” This final comment is typical Celic: if he FORMER COLLEAGUE: Mark Tierney (worked with Celic at Fishburn Hedges, had not chosen PA, he would have enjoyed now director of comms for Europe at Standard Poor’s): “Miles’ the diplomatic corps. Celic says he has been appointment at the Pru is testimony to the fact that nice guys can come first too. He likes to debate things, hearing all views, and then come to a blessed with some top-class man-managers, consensus about the way forward. He certainly wouldn’t like people sitting and there is still something ‘hail fellow, back, afraid to contribute for fear their view might be ‘wrong’. Weaknesses? well-met’ about him. Manchester United fan, need I say more? But to be fair to him, he is from Celic is able to talk with the same enSalford so can’t be accused of being a glory-hunter.” thusiasm about demographic shifts, public AGENCY BOSS: George Hutchinson (MD and chair of the PA practice at policy challenges in China and changing Burson-Marsteller, Celic’s agency when he was at HSBC):“Miles is a conhousehold sizes as he is about Manchester summate professional who combines political insight with an intelligence in United or the Ridley Scott movie Kingdom managing his professional relationships. It isn’t all good, however, as he has Of Heaven. Friends say he is also very failed in his greatest comms challenge: his son is, I believe, a Manchester aware of what is required in any given situCity supporter, despite his dad’s best efforts to communicate the admittedly limited benefits of being a United fan.” ation – be that assessing the outside interests-versus-work ratio needed to get him a at its best when married to other comms good degree, or his ability to influence an disciplines”, a mantra he works by to this argument. “On occasion he has a sort of day. Despite his desire for in-house work, faux naivety but he knows it was to Fishburn Hedges that he moved exactly what he’s doing,” after being made redundant from the water Littlewood says. “The Asian side of things This rings true: it was business. It obviously agreed with him, as he stayed for six years. “It would have been Celic himself who threw is terrifically exciting” so easy to stay there for years but you had in the anecdote about the to challenge yourself,” says Celic. “The job footie with Ryan Giggs and his appearance at HSBC came up and it was the blank sheet on People’s Parliament; the former broadof paper again.” cast journalist still has a good grasp of what makes a colourful story. PAN
Miles Celic
What others say
Global responsibilities
And so, earlier this year, to Prudential. His remit covers the group’s quartet of businesses, with responsibility for PA across Europe, the US and Asia. “It’s a very federal model,” he says. “The Asian side of things is terrifically exciting. By 2030 China will be ‘older’ than the US; by 2050 there will be 440 million Chinese over the age of 60. That’s an immense demographic shift and a really interesting public policy challenge. In the US there is a broader public policy debate over regulation.” Travel in Asia and the US will be required but Celic, who does not strike you as the nine-to-five sort, looks excited rather than resigned about this. Nearer to home, his other main PA priority is preparing for a potential change of UK government before June 2010. Long-standing UK PA agency Lexington Communications will remain in place, but Celic recently hired Open Road to produce a global ‘stakeholder audit’, charting perceptions of Pru and its other brands such as Jackson National Life Insurance Company and M G (PAN, July).
Prudential
Factfile
• The group comprises four business units: Prudential UK, M G in the UK and Europe, Prudential Corporation Asia and Jackson National Life Insurance Co in the US. • Prudential’s pre-tax profit of £3bn for 2008 was a 17 per cent increase on the previous year; but it reported a five per cent fall in sales during the first quarter of 2009, to £697m – the company said the drop was in part because 2008’s first quarter was “exceptionally strong”. • Prudential made headlines in March when it announced that Tidjane Thiam would become the first black chief executive of a FTSE 100 company when he takes over in October. • The group’s UK communications team numbers 20 people, with six of those in public affairs; group communications director is Stephen Whitehead, to whom Celic reports.
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August 2009 DS AR – AW S N ER IDE S PA W INN E IN SE www.publicaffairsnews.c inside this issue Chemicals lobby suspended from Commission’s register Complaint from Friends of the Earth Europe over CEFIC’s declared spend triggers action By ian hall MP S IN OUR MIDST? The PPCs who work in lobbying
Ideas sent in so far for our ’50 Best Lobbying Campaigns Ever’ ranking... ...keep them coming to top50campaigns@publicaf
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Profile – MILES CELIC The Man United fan who is the new Man from the Pru After Oxford University, and working for companies including Fishburn Hedges and HSBC, Miles Celic recently landed the top public affairs job at FTSE 100 insurance giant Prudential. Not bad for a ‘working-class’ Salford lad, s
PROFILE – MILES CELIC His parents were not much involved in politics: originally from Yugoslavia, forging a life in a new country, they wanted to keep their heads down and work hard. “It was a classic working-class immigrant background,” says Celic. Celic made his way from the local state school to
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out and about my life CRAIG JONES Head of media and public affairs Legal Services Board Where do you live? Near Liverpool Street. I have been in the central-east bit of London since moving here four years ago. What’s your media diet? The comment pages of all the broadsheets at breaks during the day
out and about All group shots are captioned left to right. To include photos of your event, send images to ian.hall@publicaffairsn Chris Quigley, CIOT head of external relations Simon Goldie and Makis Galiatsatos of the European Parliament’s UK office Fleishman-Hillard (F-H) Brussels summer cocktai
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