Our Capabilities

The Team

Ward Thomas is Chairman. He has been Chairman and Chief Executive at a number of leading UK media companies including Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television, Managing Director of Grampian TV, Managing Director and Deputy Chairman at Yorkshire TV, Managing Director and Chairman of Trident TV, as well as Chairman, British Bureau of TV Advertising and Council Member, the Independent Television Companies Association.    

Keith Hayes is Chief Executive. He has extensive experience in media and journalism in Canada, Northern Ireland and Britain. He has held senior positions at media giants CBC, BBC and Reuters as well as being London anchor for PBS TV business programmes. Former Chief of Party for the Kosovo Independent Media Programme, he has extensive experience in media development and training projects across Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Baltic States, Russia and Asia.

John Hurdley is a Director. A partner in a leading UK law firm, John specialises in corporate law and has experience in media projects.

Barry MacDonald is Head of Business Affairs. He has extensive experience of media business issues, with ten years at Reuters Television as General Manager. He also led corporate planning for government media business and advertising at the UK government's Central Office of Information. He has held senior strategic and financial roles for commercial companies and for the UK government. 

Randolph Walerius was a senior news editor at Dow Jones News Wires for ten years with editorial control of the London newsroom and 300 reporters and editors in 25 business news bureaus across Europe, Middle East and Africa. Previously he held senior positions with Knight-Ridder and Associated Press. He is an award winner for business and economic reporting and has trained journalists throughout Europe.      

Tim Hunt is Head of Communications. He has 35 years experience of Government information and communications work including 8 years as Head of News in the Cabinet Office at the heart of the UK Government. He is a regular lecturer on crisis communications, and on both internal and external communications for public bodies. He has 7 years experience in the Far East and recent consultancy work includes Poland, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Kosovo, Bermuda, Palestine, Serbia, Iraq, and China .

Andrew Clayton (Consultant) is a former editor and managing editor of C4 Business Daily, Financial Times Television, BBC's Money Programme and deputy editor of Panorama. He began his career with the BBC African Service, the World Service and BBC television's Nationwide programme.

He has worked on projects at TV and radio stations in Kosovo and Serbia, restructuring management and operations to meet the needs of both donors and the open market in a post-conflict situation. As Irving International's business reporting specialist, he has developed a sophisticated business reporting training scheme using unique techniques developed in cooperation with OSCE and UN. He is also an experienced PR practitioner, preparing executives to communicate with the press.                  

Graham Addicott (Consultant)  began his career at the Sunday Times, then Independent Radio News (IRN) in the UK and television reporter with HTV and Thames Television. As an independent television producer he made programmes for BBC, Channel Four, Five and Discovery. He has extensive training and consulting experience with organisations such as USAID, Baltic Media Centre and BBC World Service Training Trust. He has designed a market-leading training course for factual programme production and has worked as a trainer in Kosovo, Russia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Montenegro and Slovenia as well as the UK.         

Alexander Sambuk (Consultant)  is a senior journalist with over 15 years experience of writing, editing and presenting for TV, radio, and press, including “Die Zeit” and “Der Bund”, the Swiss Radio Corporation (DRS/SRG), Deutsche Welle, and several Russian TV channels. As Output Editor on Rossiya TV and Chief Analyst on Russia Today TV, he has had responsibility for the editorial management of teams of 30 people as well as for starting up a new programme from scratch. Additionally, he has project management experience with the Goethe Institute, arranging workshops, events, and exhibitions. For the University of Berlin he has managed training programmes for journalists from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. He is Moscow based and fluent in Russian, English, Belorussian, and German.   

Paul Andersen (Consultant) is a  member of the regional NHS Research Ethics Committee and an external examiner in Media for the University of Greenwich, London. He is skilled as a trainer, course designer and media analyst. A graduate in Zoology, he was for ten years a television director of BBC science programmes and subsequently worked as a producer/director in current affairs in commercial television. He has experience as an independent producer for Channel 4, BBC and Discovery Channel. He has undertaken extensive training and consultancy for public and commercial media organisations  particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.              

Andrew Ailes (consultant) has had more than 40 years' experience as a highly competitive television journalist and is a pioneer of satellite technology for the gathering and distribution of television news. In a career spanning UPI, Visnews, Reuters and BT, he began the world's first daily television news satellite services, arranged the first Moscow to London office-to-office satellite links using Intersputnik and created BT's global digital satellite service. He has worked extensively overseas, and his Visnews Newsroom Style Handbook has been used in many countries.            

Alex Kirby (Consultant) has worked in broadcasting for over 20 years starting in the BBC World Service newsroom. He worked subsequently in North Africa, first in Algiers and then as bureau chief in Cairo. He moved to BBC UK radio and television for nine years as environment correspondent before switching to cover religious affairs. He is Irving International's environment specialist, only recently having retired from his role as environment correspondent for BBC News Online and presenter of BBC Radio Four's environment programme 'Costing the Earth'. His training activities have covered CIS countries, Ethiopia and Albania.                 

Robert Elphick (consultant) is a former BBC foreign correspondent as well as a past spokesman for the European Commission in Brussels and London. His journalistic experience with BBC saw him act as Assistant Diplomatic Correspondent as well as covering eastern and central Europe from Vienna and Bonn. He has also worked in Ireland, India, Vietnam, Amman, Prague and Beirut. He was also Reuter correspondent in Moscow and Algiers.

He has worked as a consultant and lecturer for the Reuters Foundation, advised the Stock Exchange on European legislation and acted as Secretary General of the British Section of the European League for Economic Co-operation (ELEC).        

Tadd Eakin is Irving International's representative in Washington DC. He has managed $15 million media development projects for USAID and State  Department in Kosovo, Croatia, Ukraine and Serbia and Montenegro. He has special expertise in work plans, selection of trainers, liaison with international donor partner organizations, and ensuring project compliance. He coordinated  USAID and Department of State-funded U.S.-based technical training programs as well as training groups as diverse as Albanian mayors, Bosnian community leaders, Hungarian micro-credit specialists, Ukrainian accountants, and Azerbaijani refugee camp leaders during meetings and site visits in the U.S. He has an impressive list of contacts in DC, Baltimore, and New York City for cooperative training activities.