Our People

Mark is Director & Vice Chair of Project Associates. In addition to overseeing our US operations, Mark helps drive our global business development efforts. Mark served at The White House as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director on the National Security Council and at the U.S. Treasury as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs. He also worked at the State Department and the United Nations.

His business leadership posts have included: president of a strategic communications firm based in Washington, D.C.; president of the global private equity division of a leading asset management company headquartered in Chicago; and equity partner at a major international law firm where he led the sovereign advisory practice. He was also Vice President at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mark is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on several corporate and non-profit advisory boards, including the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna, the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, and the Wilson Centre.

Rob leads the Project Associates Group and has primary responsibility for overseeing the Group’s activities across all divisions and regions. He has specialist expertise in advising on governmental affairs and international political trends, with particular focus on the European Union and the Middle East.

He previously worked in the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, ran a macro-economic risk consultancy, and at an earlier stage in his career was an advisor to a European Commissioner and a senior member of Tony Blair’s government.

Sheila is a cultural communications and event management expert with international experience in the Arts, luxury retail, finance and the not-for-profit sectors. She has co-founded a variety of agencies and projects in Hong Kong, Sydney, London, Budapest, Rome and New York.

Sheila is on the advisory board of Volta art fairs, Basel as well as Vice-chair of the Europe Asia Center.

Prior to joining Project Associates Simon worked as a senior official in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office over a 15 year career serving on a number of postings in Africa and the Middle East. He also worked as a human rights and development advocate within the third sector working closely with the United Nations and European Commission.

Thierry was the European Union Ambassador to Norway between 2017 and 2021, and the Chief of Protocol of the EU External Service between 2021 and 2023. He served as EU Ambassador to the OSCE in Vienna from 2012 to 2017. He was a member of the private offices of three EU Commissioners focusing on foreign policy, development and humanitarian assistance, energy and institutional matters. He worked on the Gulf countries and the GCC, the Eastern Partnership, and held a leading position in the mediation on Georgia after the 2008 war. Thierry was the European Commission Representative to the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA, and to the Geneva-based UN agencies. He trained as a lawyer, and has been teaching for many years at the College of Europe.      

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Elissa has nearly a decade’s experience in strategic communications, working across sectors including government affairs and for corporate clients. Throughout her career, she has specialised in media relations for global campaigns and international events, as well as crisis management.

Elissa has significant experience in global events, having contributed to the establishment of their strategic communication roadmaps.

Prior to joining Project Associates, Elissa held various roles at consultancies based in London, Paris, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi.

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David is one of the UK’s most respected communications advisors, having provided reputation and crisis advice to some of the world's leading private individuals, multi-national companies and governments. 

David founded Project Associates in 1997, bringing together an impressive team of associates with extensive media, communications, business and political experience. He has worked in over 100 countries around the world and has been named one of PR Week’s ‘Top 100 Most Influential People in PR During the Past 21 Years’. 

Before founding Project Associates, he was Communications Director of Camelot, the UK's national lottery operator and was a founder member of the consortium that went on to win the first national lottery licence.  

Erhan leads the firm’s operations in Brussels and specialises in EU affairs and multi-lateral diplomacy.

Prior to joining Project Associates, Erhan was a Special Advisor during the UN-sponsored Cyprus settlement talks. Previously, he served as the Chief Diplomatic Advisor to the Turkish Cypriot President and as an Undersecretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Philip provides strategic counsel to high-net-worth philanthropists and their foundations. He previously ran Project Associates Group's operations in Central and Eastern Europe, where he led campaigns and constructed communications narratives for governments, heads of state and leading families in the region.

Prior to Project Associates, he worked as a speechwriter for Jerzy Buzek during his presidency of the European Parliament; Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe; and three Polish foreign ministers.

Lord Darroch was the British Ambassador to the United States from 2016 - 2019. Prior to this, between 2012 - 2015, he served as the National Security Adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron, overseeing global issues and conflicts in Iraq, Libya and Ukraine. He held senior roles working on multilateral negotiations in UK-EU Policy, including working as the Permanent UK Representative to the European Union from 2007 – 2011, and as Prime Minister Tony Blair’s EU Adviser from 2004 - 2007.

Other roles held by Lord Darroch during his earlier career include Private Secretary to the Minister of State for the Middle East, Head of the News Department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Adriatic Department during the Dayton Accords negotiations that put an end to the Bosnian War.

General Sir Mike served as UK Chief of the General Staff (CGS) from 2003-2006, the culmination of four and a half decades in the British Army. His active service included command at company and brigade level in Northern Ireland, and divisional command in Bosnia.

After a degree in Russian Studies, General Sir Mike joined the Intelligence Corps in 1963, transferring to the Parachute Regiment in 1970. He served as the Commander in Chief of Land Command from 2000, having previously served as Commander of Kosovo Force in 1999, the Commander of the NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps and Director General of Development and Doctrine at the Ministry of Defence. 

Howell sits on the Board of Project Associates Holdings Ltd.

Howell has had a long career as a senior executive and advisor in both government and multi-national businesses. He held roles at Christie’s, the global arts business, as Global Head of Corporate Communications, and at Barclays as Vice Chairman, Corporate Affairs. He was also a member of the Board of Management at the BBC. Howell was CEO of Quiller Consultants, and a Founding Partner and Director of Brown Lloyd James corporate public relations. 

In government, Howell was the Permanent Secretary for Government Communication in the Cabinet Office, under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He also served as Political Secretary to Prime Minister John Major.  

Howell is Chair of Radiocentre, the body that represents UK Commercial Radio as well as Chair of the Trustees of the Arts Foundation, amongst other trusteeships. He was a Trustee of the British Council until 2016 and was awarded the CBE in 1997. He is the co-owner of El Fenn, a luxury boutique hotel in Marrakech. 

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Jonathan has held various Middle East-focused positions in military intelligence. He then headed a global bank’s coverage of political and financial crime risks in the MENA region from Dubai, and also conducted forensic investigations in the region for a leading consulting company.

Nina has over a decade’s worth of experience as a conference producer and project manager at both DMG Events and CWC, where she acted as a senior operational and sales leader, working with governments and industry experts around the world to develop content-rich and commercially viable events.

Most recently, Nina has spent the last few years as the Director of Global Partnerships at the World Art Foundation, specialising in event formulation, sponsorship, & partnership structuring.

Carlo Mazzi is executive Chairman of Chora Srl – Milan, a real estate and corporate advisory company. Carlo was Chairman of the board of Prada SpA from 2014-2021, having been appointed to the board in 2004. He served in a number of roles at the Prada Group, including as deputy Chairman before becoming Chairman.

Prior to this Carlo worked for 30 years in the field of finance: from 1973 until 2000 in IMI and IMI-San Paolo Bank, where he was Managing Director of the large corporate department from 1994. He also has been board member of many Italian and Swiss banks, and of an Italian listed industrial company.

Joe is a member of Project Associates Senior Management Team and leads our UK operations.

He has significant experience in managing and responding to high-profile and complex crisis situations. He has advised clients ranging from CEOs, heads of state, and ministers, on matters including cross-border legal disputes, reputational crises, international arbitration cases, as well as election campaigns.
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Before joining Project Associates, Joe spent time working for two Westminster MPs at both constituency and national level.

Ryan has advised heads of state, ministers, and CEOs across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, North America, and Europe, with a focus on international policy and strategic communications issues. He has worked on high-profile global cases involving conflict resolution, international arbitration, sanctions, elections, diplomatic crises, and communications campaigns.

Before joining Project Associates, he worked for a number of years in Abu Dhabi. Earlier in his career, he was a strategy consultant in the UK.

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Ebru Özdemir is Chairwoman at Limak Group of Companies, a Turkish conglomerate, with major interests in construction, energy, cement, and tourism. She also acts as Limak Foundation’s Chairwoman, a private foundation established in 2016 to professionally manage social investments of Limak Group of Companies.

Ebru serves as member of the Board of Executives and Board of Directors at the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEİK),  and Chairwoman of the DEİK/Turkey-Kuwait Business Council. She holds board membership at the Turkish-American Business Council (TAİK) and DEİK/Turkey-Korea Business Council, and membership at the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD). Ebru is a regular participant at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Annual Meetings in Davos, and is the only representative from Turkey at Bruegel, the Brussels-based think tank.

Ebru is among Founding Members and Board Members of Turkey’s 30 Percent Club, a voluntary platform aimed at developing a diverse and gender-balanced pool of talent for all businesses at all levels. She is also a member of TOBB’s Women Entrepreneurship Council and International Women’s Forum Turkey, and is an Atlantic Council International Advisory Board member.

Based in Brussels, Lucie is the Operations Manager to our EU offices, and also acts as Executive Assistant.

Mariana has extensive experience in the HR field, developing and managing operational processes and procedures within the full remit of the function.

Prior to joining Project Associates, Mariana worked in the London office of a prominent financial compliance advisory firm headquartered in New York.