EXPERT LEADERSHIP
Our Faculty
Members of our faculty are recognised experts in their fields and are dedicated to the study and practice of communication.
The Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence boasts a faculty of global communication leaders from diverse global markets.
Adrian Cropley
FOUNDING PARTNER
OAM, FRSA, IABC Fellow, SCMP
A certified strategic communication management professional and past global chair of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Adrian Cropley is widely recognised as one of the world’s foremost experts and consultants in strategic communication. With a career spanning over 35 years, Adrian has worked with clients worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, on major change communication initiatives, internal communication reviews and strategies, professional development programs, executive leadership, and coaching. At the IABC he implemented the IABC Career Road Map, kick-started a global ISO certification for the profession and developed the IABC Academy. Adrian pioneered the Melcrum Internal Communication Black Belt program in Asia Pacific and ran that program for over 10 years. He is a sought-after facilitator, speaker, author and thought leader. He has been a keynote speaker and workshop leader on strategic and change communication at international conferences in Canada, the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, China, India, Hong Kong, Thailand, New Zealand and Australia. He has received several awards, including the International Gold Quill Awards for communication excellence and is a two-time recipient of the Rae Hamlin. Adrian is chair of the Industry Advisory Committee for the RMIT School of Media and Communication as well as a non-executive board member with several organisations. In 2017, he was awarded a Medal to the Order of Australia, one of the highest national honours, for his work in professional communication and youth development.
- Phone:+61 (0)414 323 973
Sia Papageorgiou
MANAGING PARTNER
FRSA, SCMP
Sia Papageorgiou is a multi-award-winning strategic communication leader on a mission to elevate the value and visibility of communication professionals and help them become trusted, strategic, and in-demand advisors. She’s bloody good at everything she does and that includes communication strategy, thinking, creating, producing, training, and mentoring anyone who believes communication professionals have the best job in the world.
Sia is a certified strategic communication management professional, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, and past president of the Victorian chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). She’s also a past board director at IABC Asia-Pacific and is chair of the Global Communication Certification Council.
In 2020 she was named IABC’s Chapter Leader of the Year, and in 2021, IABC Asia-Pacific named her Communicator of the Year. Sia holds a Bachelor of Arts Media and Communications, a Graduate Certificate in Management, and a Diploma in Business Administration.
- Phone:+61 (0)414 436 147
Amanda Hamilton-Attwell
PARTNER AND GLOBAL FACULTY
ABC, IABC FELLOW
Dr Amanda Hamilton Attwell was the first woman in Africa to be awarded a Doctorate in Communication Science. Over the last 34 years, Amanda has taught, coached and mentored thousands of communication professionals. She has worked with hundreds of organisations to demonstrate the value of strategic communication and has delivered significant business results for her clients.
Originally a journalist and a lecturer at the University of South Africa, Amanda has spent most of her career conducting communication and organisational research at the National Productivity Institute in Pretoria. In 2000 she started Business DNA as a communication and organisational research group. As her client base grew she extended her services to include training and implementation solutions.
She specialises in stakeholder research, measuring communication ROI, communication audits, communication structure, facilitation of strategic planning, communication professional development and the design and implementation of communication campaigns specifically to address absenteeism, unsafe behaviour and poor production.
She has served on numerous community and industry boards and committees. She was a board member of the Gauteng Chamber of Commerce and Industry for several years, is the past president of the Northern Areas Chapter and deputy president of the Africa Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).
Mary Hills
PARTNER & GLOBAL FACULTY
IABC Fellow, ABC, Six Sigma
Title:
Professional/Scholar in Residence Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, USA and The Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence, Melbourne, Australia
Specialty Areas:
Business – Finance and Marketing; Strategic Communication – Change and Leadership
Mary Hills, MA, IABC Fellow, ABC, Six Sigma, serves as a Professional/Scholar in Residence in Loyola University Chicago’s MS Global Strategic Communication program and as Professional and Organizational Management Faculty for the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence.
Mary’s professional career includes serving large corporations such as First Wisconsin National Bank – Milwaukee, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Whiteco Advertising, NiSource, Northern Trust, Unilever and Zebra Technologies. As a member of senior management, her work included research, risk analysis and strategic planning for product launches, market expansion, and change and crisis management. In 2009, she co-founded HeimannHills Marketing Group, Chicago and Phoenix, serving as business principal until 2021.
A believer in life-long learning blended with practical experience, Mary serves academia and organizations in her professional/scholar career. She holds teaching certifications in MBA coursework including marketing management, research, advertising, consumer behavior, new product development, distribution channels, sustainability marketing and sales management. She served on the graduate capstone panel.
In global strategic communication, her subject areas include campaign development, corporate communication, foundations of global strategic communication, global multinational audiences and stakeholders, organizational leadership and change management, strategic communication ethics and law and graduate capstone. She holds certifications in blended learning, experiential learning and Ignatian pedagogy.
Utilizing her expertise in business management and communication, she published, in 2020, the Business of Business for Communication Professionals on-demand, interactive course to upskill communication professionals as they pursue communication management positions.
Degrees:
BS/Marketing-Finance, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
MA Communication – Organizational Communication & Structure, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana USA
Recognized Research:
Professional & Community Affiliations:
Awards/Recognition:
IABC Southern Region Hall of Fame (2022)
Gifted Professional & Communicator (2022)
Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce - Fellow (2018)
IABC Fellow (2016)
Karen Utterback Award (2015)
IABC Chairman's Award (2012)
Professional/Scholar in Residence Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, USA and The Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence, Melbourne, Australia
Specialty Areas:
Business – Finance and Marketing; Strategic Communication – Change and Leadership
Mary Hills, MA, IABC Fellow, ABC, Six Sigma, serves as a Professional/Scholar in Residence in Loyola University Chicago’s MS Global Strategic Communication program and as Professional and Organizational Management Faculty for the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence.
Mary’s professional career includes serving large corporations such as First Wisconsin National Bank – Milwaukee, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Whiteco Advertising, NiSource, Northern Trust, Unilever and Zebra Technologies. As a member of senior management, her work included research, risk analysis and strategic planning for product launches, market expansion, and change and crisis management. In 2009, she co-founded HeimannHills Marketing Group, Chicago and Phoenix, serving as business principal until 2021.
A believer in life-long learning blended with practical experience, Mary serves academia and organizations in her professional/scholar career. She holds teaching certifications in MBA coursework including marketing management, research, advertising, consumer behavior, new product development, distribution channels, sustainability marketing and sales management. She served on the graduate capstone panel.
In global strategic communication, her subject areas include campaign development, corporate communication, foundations of global strategic communication, global multinational audiences and stakeholders, organizational leadership and change management, strategic communication ethics and law and graduate capstone. She holds certifications in blended learning, experiential learning and Ignatian pedagogy.
Utilizing her expertise in business management and communication, she published, in 2020, the Business of Business for Communication Professionals on-demand, interactive course to upskill communication professionals as they pursue communication management positions.
Degrees:
BS/Marketing-Finance, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
MA Communication – Organizational Communication & Structure, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana USA
Recognized Research:
- Career Assessment Tool, 2021
- The 2020 Communicating AI: Using Communication Tools
- Communicating Artificial Intelligence Survey: Building the Playbook 2019
- 2018 Communicating Artificial Intelligence (AI) Global Report
- The Global Standard of the Communication Profession
- Value of Accreditation Study
- Graduate Thesis: Women Leaders in Financial Institutions: Towards the Identification of a Gender – Based Leadership Style, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, Indiana, USA.
Professional & Community Affiliations:
- American Association of University Women
- Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs
- Harvard Business Publishing - Educator
- International Association of Business Communicators
- JDRF
- Quality Matters
Awards/Recognition:
- Email:[email protected]
Paulo Henrique Soares
GLOBAL FACULTY
ABC
Paulo Henrique Soares is the Director of Communication at IBRAM – the national entity that represents the companies and institutions that work in the mining industry in Brazil. Prior to that, Soares was Head of Corporate Communication and External Relations for Brazilian mining giant Vale S.A., where he worked for more than 21 years and was instrumental in building the communication department to cope with the company’s expansion from 9,000 employees in 1997 to 110,000 employees in 2016.
Paulo is also Director of Aberje, the Brazilian Association of Business Communication in Brasília and has served on the International Executive Board of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). He has won many awards during his career including: two Silver Dolphin Awards at the 2014 Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards, first prize at the International Festival of Preventative Media, four IABC Gold Quill Awards and over 30 Aberje Awards, including Communicator of the Year in 2012 and again in 2015. PRovoke Media (formerly The Holmes Report) has included Soares on its annual Influence 100 list of the most influential in-house communicators around the world six years in a row from 2015-2020.
Sue Heuman
GLOBAL FACULTY
ABC, MC, IABC Fellow
Sue Heuman is an award-winning, accredited authority on organisational communication, with more than 40 years’ experience in progressively responsible positions. Since cofounding Focus Communications in 2002, Sue has worked with clients to define, understand and achieve their communication objectives. She is a leader in elevating the communication profession worldwide.
Sue is a much sought-after executive advisor, focused on leading communication audits and strategies for clients in all three sectors. Much of her practice involves a strategic review of the communication function within an organization, analysing channels and audiences, and making recommendations. She also supports clients to implement these recommendations by creating strategic communication plans and providing expertise to enable their execution.
Sue has been a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) since 1984, which enables her to both stay current with, and contribute to, communication practices. In 2018, IABC named Sue a Master Communicator, the Association’s highest honour in Canada. In 2016, Sue received the prestigious Rae Hamlin Award from IABC in recognition of her work to promote Global Standards for communication. She was also named 2016 IABC Edmonton Chapter Communicator of the Year. In 2022 Sue Heuman was named an IABC Fellow – a career achievement designation for the industry. She is currently serving as the Chair of IABC’s largest region, Canada West.