The Team
Stephen Watson
Founder and CEO
Stephen is the founder and CEO of CTN Group. His background is in media and politics; he is a former journalist and BBC news producer and has been a communications advisor to 10 Downing Street. He works predominantly with global businesses, governments and international organisations, advising leaders and their leadership teams on reputation, leadership strategies, communication and personal impact skills.
Stephen is a frequent public speaker and retains an interest in political campaigning and international relations. He is the director of the Atlantic Future Forum, the defence, security and technology summit hosted by the UK Government. He is President of the British-German Association and Chairman of Prince William’s African conservation charity, Tusk Trust. He serves as an Honorary Commodore in the Royal Navy and is a Vice-President of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.
Sir Michael Lockett
Partner
Sir Michael is a partner in CTN Group. He is an advisor to leaders, corporations, nations and institutions across the globe and has been creating stand-out moments and managing reputations for over 30 years. He was Chairman of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant in 2022 and previously led the celebrations to mark the Diamond and Golden Jubilee celebrations, including the 2012 River Pageant and Buckingham Palace concerts in 2002. He was involved in organising the London Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2012.
Sir Michael has been Chairman of the Conservative Party Conference organisation and led the Prime Minister’s presentation unit. Sir Michael was the founder and CEO of WCT Live and was Chairman of Caribiner International Inc. Sir Michael is also Chairman of Audley.
Carol Lamb
Chief of Staff
Carol has been with CTN Group for over 12 years and is our Chief of Staff. She previously worked at Jack Morton as Head of Administration. Carol oversees CTN’s operations, including the CTN Media Centre, live productions and location activities around the world.
Carol works closely with CTN’s diverse range of clients; supporting our executive team, consultants and producers. She managers our marketing and communications and leads internal teams overseeing CTN’s HR and office environment.
Tatjana Jovanovski
Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary
Tatjana is our CFO and has been part of the finance team at CTN for 16 years. She is an experienced accountant with commercial oversight of CTN’s client activities. She has helped CTN launch its new presence in Asia Pacific and helped establish our first trading entity in Ireland, CTN Europe Ltd, following the UK’s departure from the European Union.
As Company Secretary, Tatjana has fiduciary responsibility for CTN Group’s financial reporting and accounts and has oversight of CTN Group companies including Anglovision International and St Martin’s Communications Group. She is also Company Secretary of Atlantic Future Forum limited.
Stewart Milton
Creative Director and Editor
Stewart leads CTN’s creative team; conceiving, designing and delivering inspiring ideas and impactful visual content. He’s an award-winning filmmaker with 25-years’ experience of directing, writing, shooting and editing. Stew joined CTN in 1997 as an apprentice and honed his skills in live television and tape editing.
He’s helped CTN and our clients embrace generational changes in technology and visual communications and has been a pioneer of new platforms and filmmaking techniques.
Stew works across different genre, including documentary and drama, and has earned a reputation for his distinctive and powerful visual style.
Sally Pugmire
Director Live Events and Event Director, Atlantic Future Forum
Sally leads our live events and exhibitions team. She has over 20 years’ experience of directing and delivering international exhibitions and conferences, in the UK and internationally. She was previously the Commercial Lead for DSEI, the world’s largest defence and security exhibition and Event Director with Centaur Media, where she launched the Business Travel Show in Dubai.
Sally combines skills in business strategy, event delivery and partner acquisition. At CTN she oversees a team delivering events globally, from townhall meetings to international summits. Sally is the Event Director for the Atlantic Future Forum, the annual defence and trade summit hosted for the UK Government on one of the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers. Sally has previously lived and worked in the United States.
Rebecca Denholm
Lead, CTN Asia Pacific
Rebecca leads CTN Asia Pacific, our first permanent overseas presence supporting clients across the region. Rebecca trained as a journalist and spent more than a decade in television news with ITN and Channel 4 News. She has always worked internationally and has gained experience supporting client projects in more than 45 countries.
Rebecca manages diverse and often complex client assignments. She has worked with many leaders and VIPs and has interviewed Mikhail Gorbachev, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Stephen Hawking on behalf of our clients. She has led high-profile campaigns, including the Home Office UK counter-terrorism programme and cyber awareness campaigns for FTSE 100 companies.
Rebecca is based in Australia and divides her time between London and Melbourne.
Nick Ashley
Head of Technical Delivery
Nick leads our technical delivery and is also the manager of the CTN Media Centre and Studio. He is a versatile project and production manager with many years’ experience working with high profile clients in a busy video production environment.
Nick supports CTN’s many diverse productions, including our studio transmissions, international broadcasts, live events and location filming. Working with our technical partners and network of suppliers, Nick helps ensure the seamless and dependable delivery of complex technical productions.
Nick is a familiar face in the CTN Media Centre where he manages the executive coaching and media training sessions for our clients, including for many leaders, politicians and VIPs.
Alex Turk
Consultant and Communications Coach
Alex is part of CTN’s consulting and executive coaching team, helping deliver our Personal Impact Training and strategic communications advice for clients in the UK and internationally. Alex is a business television presenter with more than 25-years’ experience as an executive coach working with senior level leadership. She specialises in high-profile media training, negotiation skills and provides coaching for pitch teams, public speaking and presentation via digital platforms.
Alex is part of the coaching team for CTN’s Leadership Communications Academy© and supports our Advanced Advocacy Programme©, delivered for large cohorts of leaders and emerging leaders in global companies and brands.
Ben Van Grutten
Major Events Director
For more than 30 years, Ben has been captivating audiences worldwide producing shows and events. With a background in theatre he has consistently produced outstanding events for corporate clients, live music, ballet, opera, television, governments and the Royal Household.
In 2013, Ben oversaw the staging of the G8 Summit of world leaders produced by CTN for the UK Government and has helped deliver subsequent G7 and NATO summits. He has been the Production Manager for The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee River Pageant, the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in 2022 and is involved in the staging of The King’s Coronation. Ben is the Technical Director for the Atlantic Future Forum, staged annually by CTN on one of the UK’s aircraft carriers; the first international summit to be hosted at sea in a warship.
Stephen Higham OBE
Strategic Consultant
Stephen has over 25 years of experience working in the UK Military and latterly at the heart of UK Government. He brings a rare blend of proven operational delivery and an exceptional understanding of national strategic influences, the impacts of geo-political decisions, and the financial and economic risks and opportunities that follow.
Stephen served in the Royal Navy and is a former Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales. Stephen became Senior Policy Advisor to the National Security Advisor in the Cabinet Office and subsequently served in 10 Downing Street as Military Assistant to the Prime Minister Theresa May. He was appointed Private Secretary (International Security) to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Stephen provides high-level strategic advice to CTN clients.
Theresa Miller
Media Trainer and Communications Coach – CTN Asia-Pacific
Theresa is a highly skilled media trainer and communications coach, helping our clients hone their advocacy and personal impact skills for media interviews, presentations and pitches. Theresa is a former journalist and TV reporter, having worked with Sky News, CNN, ABC Australia and Good Morning Britain for TV-AM.
Theresa is based in Sydney, Australia and supports our clients across the region. Both face-to-face and virtually, Theresa helps deliver our executive coaching programme and clients participating in CTN’s Leadership Communications Academy©.
Michael Dugard
Outside Broadcast Specialist
Michael and his team at Prolink TV have supported CTN’s live broadcast events for more than 20 years. Prolink TV is a family owned business and of the UK’s foremost providers of outside broadcast and television studio facilities. They’ve earned a reputation for their attention to detail, robust technical delivery and agile solutions. With extensive BBC and ITV experience, they are CTN’s partner of choice for our live television events; from satellite uplinks, international townhall meetings or acting as host broadcaster for global summits.
In 2023, Michael and his Prolink TV helped broadcast The King’s Coronation for a worldwide audience, having previously provided live coverage of The Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations and State Funeral.
Bharat and Jean
Design Partners
Design duo Bharat & Jean have been partnering with CTN for almost a decade, designing and delivering inspiring and engaging exhibition and event environments for clients around the world.
While exploring new ways of brand interaction, we work together to combine physical and digital to create significant spaces and meaningful experiences. The team have helped CTN design and deliver memorable event environments for clients; including the Airbus Zephyr visitor centre at Farnborough and the Royal’s Navy’s stand and exhibit at DSEI.
Gifford Booth
Executive Coach at TAI
For over 35 years, Gifford has led the TAI Group based in New York, delivering high-performance people skills to the world’s leading brands. Gifford trained as an actor and now coaches leaders in business and politics in the art of performing in a public environment.
CTN and TAI have enjoyed a decade long collaboration, working together to deliver bespoke training solutions and for mutual clients in Europe and the United States. Our bespoke coaching modules leverage the best insights and expertise from our two agencies, allowing us to deliver in-person training on both sides of the Atlantic.
Reim El Houni
Dubai – based Producer
Reim is a media strategy consultant and adviser, based in Dubai. She was formerly CTN’s global production manager in London, before moving to the UAE in 2007. Reim was an Executive Producer and Head of Events at Dubai One TV responsible for bringing large-scale events to a global audience. Her latest projects include executive producing the daily live show ‘Studio Expo’ for EXPO 2020, a new daily TV show ‘DXB Today’ for Dubai One, as well as supporting corporates, Government entities, and thought leaders with their media strategy.
Sarah Baker
Executive Producer
Sarah is an award-winning film producer with more than 20 years’ experience working with clients around the world. Her production skills, creativity and client relationships are exemplary. She has produced live-action dramas, documentary/factual, animation and live video, all with outstanding results.
Chris Wilkins
Strategic Consultant
Chris is a strategy and communications advisor with experience of senior level strategic counsel in public and private sector institutions from the UK, US and Middle East. He was Director of Strategy and Chief Speechwriter to the Prime Minister in Downing Street between 2016-17 and has worked extensively with political leaders around the world. In 2018 Chris undertook advisory work for the Abu Dhabi Government Media Office. Chris coaches political speechwriting and advises on communications strategies.
Awards
Over the years we’ve won many industry awards for live events including Tusk Time for Change, the Home Office Run Hide Tell counter terrorism films and Cyber Awareness campaigns for a FTSE 100 company.