Liza-Jayne Loch
CEO
LJ brings extensive reputation protection, litigation pr, government relations and crisis campaign experience as a result of her almost 30 years’ consulting experience at a senior level for businesses, government and causes across Asia-Pacific. LJ brings nuance, context and experience – an unbeatable combination. Her measure of success is that no-one outside the client knows Alpha has been involved.
LJ is one of Asia-Pacific’s most experienced reputation protection and litigation pr experts. She brings hands-on experience in handling just about every type of reputational crisis at an organizational and individual level. This includes her highly effective campaign with Blackmores during and post the Pan Pharmaceuticals crisis as well as on major land contamination issues; drug crises; product recalls; prison breaks; asbestos; aviation incidents (including QF32) and numerous product safety issues. She has also successfully managed personal reputation issues for numerous high profile Australian individuals.
Just some of the major brands and organisations LJ has assisted are American Express, Rolls Royce, Macquarie Bank, James Hardie, BPay, Deutsche Bank, Deloitte, LVMH, Hawker Pacific, Fastway, Lions Australia, Hochtief, Blackmores, The Economist, Helloworld, Travelscene American Express, Qantas Holidays, the Franchise Council of Australia, the Garvan Institute, Aramex, University of Sydney, UNSW, Queensland University, QLD Corrective Services, St Vincents Hospital, the Macular Degeneration Foundation, Sydney Water, Australian Federation of Travel Agents, UDIA, Landcom, Royal College of General Practitioners, Avant Medical Insurance, Griffith University, Westpac, the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision, and the Australian Space Agency.
She has also worked with a range of organisations, executives and leaders to help them successfully prepare for Court Cases, Parliamentary Inquiries, Estimates, ICAC and Corruption Inquiries, and Government and Industry investigations and Reviews.
Her media contacts are current and extensive, supported by her involvement with the NSW and National Committees of Women In Media and her work over almost three decades in working closely with senior journalists and media outlets. She is the Founding Chair of Now Australia, the #TimesUp equivalent in Australia and Co-Founder of Outspoken Women with Louise Pascale. LJ is also an in-demand speaker, speechwriter and media and presentation trainer. She regularly works with Chairs, CEOs and Senior Executives on major speeches, presentations, award submissions and policy initiatives.
LJ Loch holds a Masters of Commerce/Law and a Bachelor of Business Communications (Journalism). Prior to consulting, LJ was Corporate Affairs Director ANZ for an ASX Top 30 company, a ministerial adviser (including to the QLD Premier) and a journalist.
Sari-Elle Kraemer
Senior Account Director
Sari-Elle is a highly experienced reputation strategist. Her background in helping individuals, organisations, government departments and corporates successfully navigate the most complex of challenges means she is high demand.
From litigation pr support through to profile amplification, she brings the nuance required to map the likely reputational landscape and best strategy to a successful outcome. Her sense of calm, her outstanding strategic approach, and her commonsense engagement with key stakeholders are a winning combination.
Sari-Elle’s enthusiasm, professionalism and powers of persuasion make her highly sought after as a profile advocate for emerging and established brands, organisations and individuals in arts and entertainment, aviation, tourism, transport, hospitality, technology, government, not for profit and STEM. It’s hard not to be caught up in Sari-Elle’s exuberance in unearthing the best ways of engaging with key stakeholders including media for maximum traction. Her experience includes strategic profiling campaigns, litigation PR, social media management, internal and stakeholder communications etc etc etc – no problem or challenge is too big or small!
Sari-Elle holds a Bachelor of Media (Communications and Journalism) from the University of New South Wales.
Andrew Stewart
Account Coordinator
Andrew is the newest addition to the growing Alpha team.
He has previously campaigned for the state charity NSW Kids in Need across various media channels including TV, print and radio.
He has many years experience across both public relations and advertising.
Andrew is fluent in conversational Italian, having complemented his UTS Public Communications degree with a year’s study at the Università di Lingue e Comunicazione in Milan. Andrew spent time teaching English to CEOs and mature age students at the Shenker Institute of English.
Andrew is passionate about delving into the stories behind the company spokespeople and high profile individuals who constitute Alpha’s diverse clients.
Suzanne Mercer
Senior Advisor
Suzanne Mercer is a highly motivated corporate and public affairs consultant with more than 20 years of international experience in driving communications and positive change for businesses, government and industry organisations.
Suzanne advises leadership and project teams, often in times of intense media scrutiny, and is experienced in effectively guiding communications strategies that build stakeholder awareness, increase confidence and protect reputation.
Suzanne has been a senior corporate affairs manager for leading ASX-listed companies and subsidiaries including Stockland, Macquarie Group, Insurance Australia Group and Leighton Contractors. In these roles, she has applied her problem solving skills and creative thinking to support the organisation’s corporate positioning and strategy. In particular, Suzanne led Stockland’s corporate and sustainability reporting, resulting in the company’s highest-ever combined rankings in key sustainability surveys in 2016, and she played a key role during the international expansion of Macquarie Group’s infrastructure asset management business.
Suzanne has also worked extensively as an agency consultant and contractor. Most recently, she held government engagement and public policy contract roles with QBE Insurance, where she developed submissions to several high profile government and regulatory inquiries and helped coordinate the response to the Financial Services Royal Commission. Suzanne has also established and led a successful strategic communications consultancy, with a particular focus on crisis and issues management and social media strategy.
Significant consulting briefs in the past decade have included advising an ASX100 company in the turnaround of an international transformation program, designing a state transport agency’s 5-year stakeholder engagement strategy, advising a major professional group on a member-led governance review, repositioning the Australian red meat industry’s issues and media management, and introducing customer-focused social media for a WA energy retailer.
Suzanne holds a Master of Business Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Public Policy, both from the University of Sydney.
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