ABOUT US
Northern and Eurasia Strategies was founded and is run by Stephen Lock who works with a network of specialists around the world (see Where We Work). Some of these specialists are crisis or other PR experts in their own countries; while others are programmers or online campaign experts. We also work with chosen corporate intelligence or government lobbyist partners in a variety of countries.
Stephen Lock is a Cambridge University law graduate who trained and qualified as an investment banker at Lazard's, passing UK financial regulator exams. He moved into financial PR and investor relations, initially bondholder investor relations and IPOs, before specialising in crisis communications. He was first identified by UK media as a Litigation PR specialist in 1999. After over a decade based in London, he then spent 16 years living successively in Russia; Turkey; Indonesia & Brazil where he led the PR for crisis communications projects; legal & regulatory disputes; and political & public policy campaigns across these regions.
He has advised governments, NGOs and multi-lateral agencies; bondholder and shareholder action groups; private equity firms, investment funds and banks; family-owned firms and high-net-worth individuals.
His experience includes advising on matters including international litigation; arbitrations (including investor-state disputes at ICSID) and multi-jurisdictional disputes and crises. These include expropriations; corruption; fraud; shareholder and bondholder action groups; international sanctions; product recalls; catastrophic events (including fatal industrial accidents and transport disasters); INTERPOL Red Notice appeals; human rights breaches; & environmental crises.
Stephen has also led award-winning PR on 16 IPOs in seven countries and on countless corporate mergers and acquisitions. He has also advised on external and internal communications programs for divestments, closures; insolvencies and redundancies.
He has handled and led projects around the world in an unusually international career. He is perhaps best known for work in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the Near East; Latin America; and in Southeast Asia.
He has worked across countless sectors but perhaps most frequently for clients in banking, investment and financial markets; oil, gas and mining; pharmaceuticals and medical devices; transport (rail, aviation and shipping) and technology.
Stephen pioneered use of digital technologies & social media for crisis and litigation clients; & then set up digital newsrooms & paid social media programs for clients in Europe and Asia. He frequently dovetails his work with corporate intelligence professionals and has commissioned and managed such activities.
Stephen has written the global ethics policies for Europe's then largest PR agency and thereafter, for four years, sat on and chaired the global ethics committee for the world's largest PR firm (including vetting or vetoing controversial clients). He has helped firms devise their own ethics manuals and socialisation/training programs for sectors as diverse as pharmaceutical; government agency; oil and gas and technology.
This international award-winner (2014’s International PR Executive of the Year), has himself been a broadcast media commentator and spoken at Economist conferences & a UN summit.