How to Influence & Manage Upwards

Speakers

• Sam Magnus-Stoll

  Former Special Advisor to the Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) | Former Press Secretary to the Leader of the House of Commons, Cabinet Office

  United Kingdom

• Melissa Crawshay-Williams

  Assistant Head of Church and Lord-Lieutenant Appointments

  United Kingdom

• Patrick Case

  Former Assistant Deputy Minister, Ontario Ministry of Education

  Canada

• Sam Magnus-Stoll, who manages Google’s executive communications in Europe, Middle East and Africa. She leads on strategic comms, speechwriting, media and social media for senior executives, as well as Google’s comms approach to major events like Davos and Munich Security Conference. Prior to joining Google in 2021, Sam worked as a Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In this role, she oversaw the introduction of Parental Bereavement (Jack's Law) and Neonatal Care Leave, and handled major crises like the collapses of Flybe and Thomas Cook. Before that, Sam worked as Press Secretary to the Leader of the House of Commons and as a Press Officer at the Cabinet Office, both part of the UK Government. Sam has also worked for communications agencies Freuds and Hanover, and has contributed as a columnist to the Times of London and Refinery29. Sam lives in London with her husband and dog Bernie.

• Melissa Crawshay-Williams, recently joined the Cabinet Office Propriety and Constitution Group following ten years as a civil servant primarily in the Department for Business and Trade working on policy, project management, stakeholder engagement, spending controls and Ministerial visits overseas. She is beginning training for the ILM Level 5 Certificate in Effective Coaching and Mentoring qualification. She has found mentoring and coaching to be a great wellbeing boost and is keen to share tips and experiences.

• Patrick Case, LSM, LL.B., LL.M. is the Former Assistant Deputy Minister, Educational Equity Secretariat in the Ministry of Education. He is an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and director of the Osgoode Hall Law School Certificate Program in Human Rights Theory and Practice. He has been a trade unionist, school trustee, and a practitioner whose chief focus was serving women who were victims of male violence. Case has served as a staff lawyer in the Family Law Division at Parkdale Community Legal Services. He is the past chair of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, which was created as a part of the federal government’s redress agreement with Japanese Canadians, and has been a member of the Equality Rights Panel of the Court Challenges Program of Canada.