Jolyon
Kimble

Jolyon Kimble is a former political journalist and a communications expert with a specialty in developing media relations and stakeholder engagement programs. He is a senior director and member of the senior management team in the MENA region. He also serves as general manager of Bahrain and head of the firm’s regional Geo-Commerce Practice.

Jolyon led APCO’s European Technology Practice for five years, and has worked in Brussels, Shanghai, North Asia, the UK, Kuwait, Bahrain and now the UAE. He has supported clients from a variety of sectors including financial services, technology, energy and extractive, automotive, food and consumer products, and has recently led federal-level communications programs on FDI and trade initiatives for the UAE.

He is a specialist in organizing integrated communications programs, weaving online approaches with traditional outreach. He has experience working closely with a wide range of media from national news desks through to trade magazines and independent bloggers.

Jolyon spent a large part of 2011 and 2012 seconded to Rio Tinto’s $15 billion Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia, where he helped develop and execute a new integrated communication strategy for the mine. He handled media relations, crisis communication and issues management, and introduced new protocols and working practices, liaising directly with the CEO, and working across departments such as legal services, operations and finance to ensure accurate and swift message delivery.

Jolyon joined APCO in 2010 following two years working across the Middle East, where he led communication and change management around the restructure of the corporate communication department at Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). He co-wrote the company’s crisis communication plan, which covered three refineries and was rolled out internally to more than 5,000 employees, and project-managed and wrote the Gulf’s first Global Reporting Initiative-compliant CSR report for the company.

Jolyon was previously editor of the global government relations magazine Public Affairs News and was chief political correspondent for the website ePolitix.com. He has interviewed more than 100 leading parliamentarians and newsmakers for political magazines including The House Magazine and Europe-based Parliament Magazine.

I’m your Huckleberry.