I’ve spent my career working alongside leaders, through some of their most important moments.

I had the pleasure of working closely with Ruth for four years and came to value her as much more than a communications expert. She was a trusted adviser who understood both the business and the people within it, and had an instinctive ability to help me communicate with clarity, authenticity and impact.

Ruth has a real talent for getting to the heart of what needs to be said – and done. Not simply helping with the message, but understanding why it needs to be said, who needs to hear it, and how, when and where it will have the greatest impact.

Ruth would challenge my thinking when needed, ask the questions others sometimes wouldn’t, and then turn complex ideas into communication that sounded like me rather than something written for me. That combination of strategic judgement, excellent writing and messaging and a genuine understanding of and care for people made her an invaluable partner.

What I particularly valued was the working partnership I had with Ruth. Whether preparing for an important leadership event, pulling together my weekly CEO videos, keeping colleagues updated and informed through business change, preparing award scripts or simply finding the right way to connect with our frontline colleagues in person, I knew she would always make the communication stronger without ever taking away my own voice.

Ruth would be a fantastic asset to any CEO or senior leader looking for a trusted communications adviser to help them create a positive working culture where they can communicate with clarity, visibility and authenticity.

I worked extensively with Ruth throughout the COVID pandemic, an extraordinary period for me, Greencore and our people when we all learnt the critical importance of clear, timely, inspiring, sometimes brave, but above all trusted communication.

Greencore played a central and strategic role in keeping Britain fed. That required us to stay in production through a period of unprecedented uncertainty, stress and change. We were at times having to ‘invent as we went’. The situation was changing constantly and, as a leadership team, we took decisions at pace, sometimes without having all the facts let alone all the answers. Ruth became an invaluable adviser to me during that period. She understood that our colleagues didn’t expect us to have certainty about everything, but they did need us to be visible, honest, reassuring and clear about what we knew, what we didn’t know and what it meant for them.

Ruth helped me think not only about what I needed to say, but how and when I needed to say it and, crucially, how it would feel to receive that communication as a colleague. She brought calm and sound judgement – but also creativity – to an incredibly fast-moving environment. Importantly, she was never afraid to speak up, to challenge, to question when she felt we needed to communicate differently. Then when we had a plan she implemented it brilliantly. 

One of Ruth’s real strengths is her ability to help leaders communicate in a way that is human and authentic. During COVID, when many of the usual opportunities to connect with colleagues had disappeared almost overnight, she helped us find new ways to remain visible, accessible and connected with our people.

The pandemic demonstrated for real the strategic importance of communication to an organisation. We all learnt so much. Ruth and her team were at the heart of our response, helping me and our leadership team maintain trust and build connections with colleagues through a period of enormous uncertainty and change.I trusted Ruth implicitly and valued having her alongside me during one of the most challenging periods that I have faced as a leader. Looking back, her contribution made a real difference to how I led, communicated and stayed connected with our people at a time when getting those things right mattered so much.

I had the opportunity to work closely with Ruth during a major business transformation, bringing together two organisations with different histories, cultures and ways of working.

As an external adviser supporting the transformation, I worked in tandem with Ruth, who led the communications and engagement agenda internally. From the outset, she understood that successfully bringing two businesses together required much more than communicating the mechanics of the integration. We needed to understand how people were feeling, what mattered to them and the cultures we were bringing together.

Ruth played a key role in the culture audit across both organisations, helping us listen to colleagues, identify the areas of common ground as well as the differences, and translate those insights into meaningful action and communication.

She was also instrumental in engaging leaders throughout the integration. Ruth understood the importance of equipping leaders not simply with messages, but with the context and confidence they needed to communicate authentically with their teams and help people navigate a significant period of change.

What was truly distinctive was the engagement Ruth had already established in her own company, the acquirer. It really was world class both in its depth and breadth from shop floor to exec team colleagues.

Furthermore, throughout the transformation, Ruth and her team maintained a strong and consistent rhythm of colleague communication, providing clarity on progress while being open about what was known, what was still being worked through and what colleagues could expect next. She brought together strategic thinking, excellent implementation and a genuine understanding of the human dynamics of organisational change.

I worked closely with Ruth through several significant periods of change and restructuring, including large-scale redundancy programmes. Many of these were also opportunities to rebuild the business. These were important and challenging times for the business and, more importantly, for our people. It’s important in these situations to strike the right balance. Clear, honest and sensitive communication is critical.

Ruth was a trusted adviser throughout my time in the business. She is able to work with complex and difficult business decisions, often influencing outcomes and making sure they are communicated in a way that is clear and straightforward, while never losing sight of the human impact.

Working in a heavily unionised environment is an important dimension of the business. Ruth worked closely with me and our union leaders, gaining their trust to help make sure colleagues received clear and consistent information, wherever possible creating alignment around the key messages while respecting the different roles and perspectives of everyone involved.

What I particularly valued was Ruth's judgement. She understood that during periods of uncertainty it isn't enough simply to decide what to say. She helped us think carefully about when and how we communicated, who needed to hear what and in what order, and how leaders needed to show up throughout the process. She was also prepared to challenge me and other senior leaders when she believed there was a better way to communicate something.

An effective organisation acts as one and needs leaders at all levels to be on board. An effective and open engagement programme builds trust, and this is what Ruth enabled us to do.

She brought calm, perspective and humanity to some very difficult situations. I trusted her advice and knew she would always balance the needs of the business with an understanding of how our communication would land with colleagues.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Ruth to any CEO or senior leader navigating significant change. She is a highly experienced communications adviser who understands that when the message is difficult, how you communicate it – and how you show up as a leader – matters enormously.

I worked closely with Ruth for over seven years and particularly valued her ability to understand the connection between communication, culture and colleague engagement.

She was a trusted partner in shaping how we built a stronger and more engaging workplace culture. Together we worked on bringing our values and behaviours to life, creating greater focus on recognition and making sure people felt valued.

What sets Ruth apart is that she never thinks about communication simply in terms of the message. She thinks about the people receiving it — what will genuinely resonate with them, how leaders can create stronger connections with their colleagues, and what needs to happen beyond the communication itself to make a lasting difference.

Ruth brought both strategic thinking and practical ideas to our work. Whether that was helping turn our strategy from words on a page into something meaningful for colleagues, introducing initiatives such as colleague recognition awards, or helping our leaders show up in a more human and friendly way, Ruth was always focused on creating genuine connection and impact. Her fun, friendly and positive personality shone through, and she encouraged other senior leaders to do the same.

During the time we worked together, colleague engagement increased from 65% to 84%. That improvement was the result of a much broader programme of work, but Ruth’s contribution was a hugely important part of that journey.

She was a trusted adviser and partner who wasn’t afraid to challenge our thinking and continually brought us back to the colleague experience. I would happily recommend her to any CEO, Chief People Officer, or senior leader who wants to strengthen the connection between their leadership, their people and their organisational culture.