ITV news correspondent Mike Pearse joins Kenyon’s Crisis Communications team

Kenyon International Emergency Services, the world leader in emergency planning and incident response and part of global aviation services group Air Partner, has appointed former ITV News Correspondent Mike Pearse as an Associate Director of Crisis Communications with immediate effect. In his role Mike will work with a team of 13 senior directors based across the globe, providing a rapid in-person response to incidents and offering regular crisis and media training.

Kenyon has over 110 years of hands-on experience managing complex international crises and stands as the leading full-spectrum provider of disaster-response services. These services include emergency planning, disaster recovery, crisis communications, call-centre services and training. Kenyon’s staff and services are the most experienced and adept of their kind and are trusted by businesses and governments worldwide.

The organisation offers a team of highly experienced, multilingual communications professionals based in key locations across the world. Mike Pearse will be joining this team of Associate Communication Directors, which draws from across a variety of sectors including aviation and news broadcasting. Kenyon’s Crisis Communications Service provides counsel at the executive level and direct support to communications department, assisting in determining, implementing and maintaining an effective communications strategy following a major incident. The aim of the Service is to protect the reputation of an organisation through communications both internally and externally and at all levels.

As part of Kenyon’s wider Crisis Communication services, the Directors also provide training courses covering auditing, planning, training and exercises around the globe and in various languages. These courses are delivered directly on-demand at a chosen location and can be personalised to fit the requirements of an organisation.

Donald Steel, Vice-President, Crisis Communications at Kenyon said: ‘We are delighted to welcome Mike to the Kenyon team. His wealth of experience and reputation within transport and broadcasting further enhances our ability to provide the highest quality of crisis response and training to our clients across many sectors.’

Mike brings over 30 years of reporting experience to Kenyon International and is one of the most experienced broadcast journalists in the UK. A former Broadcast Journalist of the Year, he has covered a vast range of stories for both ITV and BBC News. Most recently he produced a landmark documentary with Julie Etchingham looking at how ITV covered and coped with Covid-19.

Previous reporting experience ranges from major incidents, including plane crashes and fatal rail accidents, to interviewing key political leaders, covering the UK High-Speed Train project, 9/11 and most recently, Coronavirus. Mike has also reported from the Falklands for every ITV region on the anniversary of the conflict. 

As a senior manager at ITV Mike led significant projects changing the way hundreds of journalists work. He led and devised training that now allows most regional reporters at the BBC and ITV to self-shoot and laptop edit. He has been at the forefront of new technology and has a unique insight into the current and future trends of the broadcast industry and crisis communications.