Des Wilson
Des Wilson, currently retired, was the corporate and public affairs director at the British Airports Authority (BAA)[1] from 1994 until 2000, while it was fighting environmental groups for permission to build Terminal 5 at Heathrow.[2] He took the position of Director of Public Affairs and Crisis Management at Burson Marsteller in 1983.[3] Before that he was the chairman of Friends of the Earth[4] and a director for the charity Shelter in 1969.[5]
Career
In 1969 he became the first director of the charity Shelter and kept the post until 1973.[6] He was also on the national committees of the Child Poverty Action Group and the NCCL (now Liberty). In 1983 he became Chairman of Friends of the Earth, worked on a campaign for lead-free petrol, Citizen Action and the Campaign for Freedom of Information. In 1973 he had joined the Liberal Party, becoming President of the party in 1986-87. He ran the Liberal Democratic party's General Election campaign in 1992. The same year PR Week presented him with an award for industry’s outstanding individual. He was director of public affairs for Burson Marsteller and from there went to BAA as director of corporate and public affairs and was there from 1994 until 2000 when he retired.[7]
According to the biography on his website, he subsequently became a member of the board of Earls Court and Olympia Ltd. and was a non-executive director of The Carphone Warehouse.[8]
Wilson was chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board's Corporate Affairs and Marketing Advisory Committee[9] and worked as an executive with the Royal Shakespeare Company as head of public affairs. He was a columnist for the The Guardian and The Observer and edited Social Work Today as well as the London Illustrated News.[10]
From 1998 until 2004 he was appointed to the Board of the British Tourist Authority, deputy chairman of Sport England and chairman of its Lottery Panel, and a member of the UK Sports Council. He acted for three years as public affairs advisor to the MCC and was elected to the English Cricket Board but resigned during the Zimbabwe tour controversy of 2004.[11]
He currently writes books about playing Poker.[12] His son Tim Wilson now runs his own public affairs agency in London,[13] of whom BAA is a client.[14]
Environmentalists headhunted by big business
In an article from The Independent in 2002, corporate headhunters state that:
- they were actively seeking prominent environmentalists to join global companies desperate to be seen to be "green aware". The result is an unprecedented demand among oil giants and energy companies for expertise in green issues, which they can find in the members of groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.[15]
Des Wilson in a PR Week article in 1996, notes the need for corporate reputational management:
- Convincing employers that businesses should be ‘good neighbours and not just producers of goods’ is now a key task in maintaining corporate reputations, said former chairman of Friends of the Earth.[16]
Contact
- Email:des.wilson@talk21.com
- Website: www.deswilson.com
Notes
- ↑ Sophie Barker, PR Week UK, BAA defends IR over ’misleading analysts’ charge 08 October 1999, accessed 04/01/11
- ↑ Cahal Milmo,Eco campaigners go corporate as global firms set out to prove they really are green-aware, The Independent, 14/01/02, accessed 05/01/11
- ↑ Des Wilson's website Biography accessed 02/01/11
- ↑ Des Wilson's website Biography accessed 02/01/11
- ↑ BBC website, 1969: Shelter exposes slum homelessness accessed 04/01/11
- ↑ BBC website 1969: Shelter exposes slum homelessness accessed 04/01/11
- ↑ Des Wilson's website Biography accessed 02/01/11
- ↑ Des Wilson's website Biography accessed 02/01/11
- ↑ BBC website Tour row claims ECB scalp accessed 04/01/11
- ↑ Des Wilson's website Biography accessed 02/01/11
- ↑ Des Wilson's website Biography accessed 02/01/11
- ↑ The Observer, Anthony Holden Straight-up guys 11/06/06, accessed 05/010/11
- ↑ Des Wilson's website Biography accessed 02/01/11
- ↑ Tim Wilson Associates, Testimonials, 04/01/11
- ↑ Cahal Milmo, The Independent Eco campaigners go corporate as global firms set out to prove they really are green-aware, The Independent, 14/01/02, accessed 05/01/11
- ↑ PR Week UK HARD COMMERCIAL EDGE OF PR 1996: CONFERENCE REPORT; PR people must act as conscience of employers12 July 1996, accessed 04/01/11
