Who we are

Our people are our only real asset. Their understanding of politics, regulation and communication is what enables us to help our clients meet their objectives. Amongst our team, you will find some of the biggest names in the public policy arena-and happily without the egos to match!

Our team is intentionally diverse: we are truly cross-party, with a range of professional backgrounds in the broad public policy arena.

Chris Lowe, Partner

Chris has been a senior player in public affairs for 20 years. He set up Precise Public Affairs with Robbie MacDuff in 2002 after being Head of Public Affairs at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Prior to that, he set up and headed Scottish & Newcastle's public affairs department, operating in London, Brussels and Edinburgh. His public affairs career started with IBM, where he also won the Dragon Award - a national award for community programmes.

Chris has lectured in public affairs at the Universities of Oxford and Westminster, and was a Director the Lambeth Credit Union.
Specialisms: alcohol, waste and resource management, housing, financial services, gambling, health.

James Nason, Partner

With fifteen years experience in the public affairs industry, James is responsible for advising clients in sectors ranging from financial services to energy. He has also advised on some of the largest UK M&A deals in recent years: Morrisons Supermarkets/Safeway; Ferrovial/BAA and Iberdrola/Scottish Power. James joined College Hill after being Deputy Managing Director of Citigate's public affairs practice. He has extensive communications and campaigning experience in the UK political arena and beyond.

Prior to entering the public affairs industry he worked for the Conservative Research Department.
Specialisms: financial services, energy, health, water, transport, mergers & acquisitions, Africa.

Robbie MacDuff, Partner

For 22 years he has advised a range of clients on UK (including devolved administrations) legislative, regulatory and public policy issues. He set up Precise Public Affairs with Chris Lowe in 2002 after running Edinburgh-based Strategy in Scotland (part of Grayling Group) where he was Managing Director and a Director of London-based Westminster Strategy. Prior to that he was a Director of IGA. Before joining the public affairs industry, Robbie worked for seven years as the researcher for a former MP for Bootle and Labour's Front Bench Spokesperson for Environmental Protection.

Robbie is former Chair of the Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC) and in 2007 was elected "UK Consultant of the year" by over 3,000 professionals from across the public affairs industry. He was recently named number 9 in Total Politics list of the Top 100 public affairs professionals in the UK.
Specialisms: housing; transport; skills & training; creative industries; EU-Russia relations; waste and resource management.

Warwick Smith, Managing Partner

For 18 years Warwick has advised a range of clients on domestic and international legislative, regulatory and public policy issues. Prior to joining College Hill, he was Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Citigate Public Affairs. Before joining the public affairs industry, Warwick was in government service for 16 years as a policy adviser, ministerial aide, and international negotiator.

Warwick is a former Chair of the Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC) in the UK and is a past member of the Policy Committee of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was recently voted number one in Total Politics list of the Top 100 public affairs professionals in the UK.
Specialisms: competition policy; mergers & acquisitions; pharmaceuticals; transport; gambling; financial services; international institutions.

Ania Swirski, Account Manager

Ania has worked in public affairs for four years. Prior to joining College Hill in January 2007, Ania spent fifteen months at Global Government Relations (GGR), the government relations group of DLA Piper, a global legal services organisation.

Here she assisted a number of major clients including BAA and Tesco, in providing policy analysis. Previously, Ania had been a researcher at University College London's Constitution Unit.
Specialisms: education, health, pharmaceuticals, Poland, transport.
Language capabilities: Polish

Katharina Derschewsky, Account Executive

Katharina joined College Public Policy whilst completing her Masters degree in Public Affairs and Lobbying at Brunel. She has a strong international background having studied in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK as well as interning with a think tank in Argentina promoting democratic development across South America. Most recently, she worked in German MEP Hans-Peter Mayer’s European Parliament Office in Brussels & Strasbourg providing research support on a number of different policy issues such as financial services, food & agriculture and health.
Specialisms: food policy and new media.
Language capabilities: English, German (native), Spanish

Robert Russell-Pavier, Account Director

Robert joined Precise Public Affairs in January 2007. Since then, he has worked on a range of companies, such as Scottish & Newcastle and CEMEX, as well as organisations like the publically-funded National Consumer Council and the pan-European think-tank, the EU-Russia Centre.

Robert is an experienced political researcher, having previously worked for Labour MPs, Paul Clark and Gareth Thomas, for three and a half years. Whilst working for Gareth Thomas, Robert organised his constituency's 2006 Local Election campaign as well as playing a significant role in the MP's successful re-election campaign for the 2005 General Election. Robert also interned for the United Nations Association, where he helped to organise the Association's 2005 Lobby of Parliament.
Specialisms: data security; digital media; alcohol; training and skills; waste and recycling.

Sophia Goring, Account Manager

Sophia joined Precise Public Affairs in April 2006, whilst completing her Masters in British Politics at the University of Leeds. During her internship, she also worked in Parliament as a researcher for Fabian Hamilton MP. Prior to this, Sophia obtained a Politics degree from Edinburgh University. While she was completing her first Masters in Political Communication, Sophia became a researcher for a European political communication think-tank based at the University.

Sophia is currently Chair of the APPC Young Consultants’ Committee.
Specialisms: housing; tourism; water industry; EU-Russia relations.