Andy Holdsworth

Andy is a communications and reputation and crisis management specialist with over a decade of experience working with Governments, businesses and individuals.

He has assisted a wide range of varied clients both in the UK and abroad in preparing and responding to issues, crises, and litigation. He has developed crisis procedures and response plans for small organisations to multinational ones, travelling internationally to test crisis response and conduct crisis exercises. Clients have included local authorities, retail, entertainment, food, oil and gas, aviation, education, sovereign wealth funds, and many other sectors as well as supporting high-net-worth individuals and charities.

Formerly a civil servant, Andy spent over two years in the Cabinet Offices’ Civil Contingencies Secretariat preparing and responding to domestic challenges to the UK. He was part of the UK Government response to a variety of domestic issues and crises including Swine Flu, Severe Weather and Icelandic Volcano Eyjafjallajokull as well as being part of numerous Government exercises that tested response mechanisms. He recently spent over two years in the Middle East, building the capacity of a national risk unit to enable them to conduct national and seasonal risk assessments and analyse prevent and prepare activities.

Andy has also worked with multiple High Net Worth individuals and families, assisting them with a wide range of issues and reputational challenges both in the UK and abroad on various issues. These have included false accusations made on ITV, the BBC and Twitter regarding a peer; media speculation concerning an entrepreneur and a former partner; an attempted blackmail attempt on sports stars and their club and subsequent sensational media stories that were published

Additionally, he has worked alongside legal and intelligence firms on litigation involving high profile individuals and corporates. This has involved both preparing and building the reputation of litigants in preparedness for attacks on their credibility during cases.