IFR Senior Reporter Jean Lavin Joins ECD Insight
8 November 2004

Jean Lavin, senior reporter at International Financing Review, is set to join the international corporate communications consultancy ECD Insight as a partner based in the group's New York office.

Ms Lavin, who begins work on November 8, will work alongside Kyle Pope, partner for ECD Insight in New York, in advising and coaching business leaders on their communications with shareholders, investment analysts and the media. Mr. Pope, a nine-year veteran of the Wall Street Journal, joined ECD Insight in January 2004.

With offices in London, New York and Paris, ECD Insight has a strong reputation in corporate message development, which Ms Lavin will further strengthen.

Ms Lavin said: "My career in journalism and marketing has taught me from different perspectives how important effective communication is. ECD Insight has built a reputation as a leading provider of advice in that field and I'm very excited to be joining the team."

Ms Lavin worked at IFR for six years becoming one of the most well-known and respected bond market reporters on Wall Street. Her journalistic experience spans breaking news on the wires to writing in-depth analysis of industry trends.

She worked at Thomson Financial, IFR's parent company, for a total of 13 years. Her career has included a stint as a marketing executive for Thomson's Primark Decision Economics financial and economic consultancy. Before that, Ms Lavin spent five years at Thomson's Technical Data unit selling financial market data products.

"Jean has both a fine track record as a top financial journalist and also valuable experience of sales and marketing in financial markets. Her wide-ranging skills will be of tremendous benefit to our clients," said Mr. Pope. "Bringing Jean on board is a big boost to our rapidly growing US business," he added.

ECD Insight was founded in 1998. Since then, it has won a leading share of the financial communications coaching market, working for several of the world's top financial services companies from its offices in London, New York and Paris. The firm specializes in advising and preparing companies for presentations to shareholders and analysts as well as interviews with the print media and for TV appearances.

ECD Insight's clients also include the investment ratings agency Standard & Poor's, the oil services group Schlumberger, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Switzerland-based specialty chemicals company Clariant AG and the video games group Electronic Arts.

For further information please contact:
Glenn Whitney: +44 (0) 207 645 4001 or e-mail gwhitney@ecdinsight.com