APCO Strengthens UK Public Affairs Team with New Head and Senior Political Comms Advisor

London–22 September 2022: APCO Worldwide has appointed James Nason, a public affairs specialist with more than two decades’ experience in government relations and public affairs strategy, as the firm’s head of public affairs for the UK, London Managing Director Roi Feder announced today.

In his new role Nason will lead APCO’s UK public affairs team and serve as a key member of the firm’s London leadership team. As well as driving business growth in this area of strategic importance for APCO globally, he will lead APCO’s engagement with political and policy leaders and influencers, helping clients create new opportunities for growth while navigating a fast-moving UK policy landscape. Nason will work closely with the company’s public affairs leaders in Washington D.C. and Brussels.

Nason joins APCO from Instinctif Partners where he co-led the 25-strong UK public policy team. Advising a range of FTSE 100, Fortune 500 companies and foreign governments, Nason has worked in almost every policy sector. He most recently focused his efforts on energy and environment, transport, financial services and culture sectors as well as providing support for local authorities.

In a second major appointment, APCO has also hired Jo Tanner, one of the UK’s leading political communications specialists, as a senior director in London.

Before joining APCO, Tanner was the CEO of iNHouse Communications–the company she co-founded 16 years ago–and a senior advisor to the UK government and clients across a range of sectors. As a political commentator and influencer, Tanner is passionate about supporting women in politics and the media–she is a Trustee of the Tommy Crush Foundation, which works to prevent teenage suicide, an Education Academy Trust member and also founded the UK Women’s Parliamentary Football Team.

Both Nason and Tanner are listed in MACE Magazine’s 2021 Top 100 UK political consultants.

Feder said, “one of APCO’s great strengths lies in our deep understanding of the policy landscape and the public affairs mindset that is imbued globally throughout our organisation. James and Jo not only bring this expertise and knowledge in spades, they have a proven track record of driving change for clients in some of the most critical policy areas on the UK’s national agenda. They have developed and led extremely high-performing teams and I couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome them to the firm.”

Nason said of his appointment, “the industry has always held APCO in high regard, and this has only increased as the company has made bold and innovative investments in areas ranging from ESG and impact through to AI-powered analytics and modelling. It’s an exciting time to be joining the company and I know that with the public affairs team that APCO has in place already, we are going to achieve great things together.”

Tanner added, “APCO has always been a stalwart of the global public affairs industry but in recent years that has gone into overdrive. There is a fantastic team in London and there’s clearly something exciting happening here. To join this dynamic, powerful team and to be able to support a female founder-led business was too good of an opportunity for me to turn down–I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

Nason and Tanner join APCO’s global network of experienced public affairs veterans around the world, including Europe Region President Paolo Compostella, London Managing Director Roi Feder, Brussels Managing Director Theo Moore, Tokyo Managing Director Masayo Nagai, Washington, D.C. and APCO Mid-Atlantic Managing Director Licy Do Canto, Shanghai Managing Director Jeff Astle, Rome Director Francesca Cima, Senior Director Nic Labuschagne and Washington, D.C. Senior Director Brandon Neal.