Our Team
Janice Hoad, Managing Director
Appointed Managing Director in February 2006, Janice joined Porter Novelli in August 2001 with extensive marketing communications experience spanning the United Kingdom and Australia. She began her career in advertising in Adelaide, before moving overseas and eventually taking up the role of Company Director and Group Account Director with a premium marketing communications agency based in the UK.
Janice is one of the consultancy’s most experienced project managers, with particular experience in the telecommunications and automotive sectors. She has managed multi-faceted programs that include launch events, media programs, stakeholder communications, dealer communications, community consultation, sponsorship sourcing and leveraging. Her clients have included Telstra Country Wide, SingTel Optus, Mitsubishi Motors Australia, United Grower Holdings, AusBulk Limited, Duracell and Beringer Blass.
Janice has a Graduate Certificate in Marketing at the University of South Australia.
Lee Welch, Senior Consultant
Lee Welch first joined Porter Novelli as an Associate in 2005 after working as a consultant communications manager and project manager, writer and editor in Australia and overseas. She is now a senior consultant on staff, and has extensive experience in communications and project management, communications strategy evaluation, editing, writing, event management and information systems.
Lee’s working life began with a degree in library studies and leading roles in a number of firsts in the information sector, such as Australia’s first electronic newspaper database, South Australia’s first information brokerage and selection as the first Australian librarian to attend the prestigious Snowbird Leadership Development Institute in Utah. She then went on to complete a Diploma in Journalism before taking on a range of marketing and communication challenges as a freelance consultant. Four years living and worked in Ethiopia gave Lee an insight into the communications challenges facing diverse cultural groups and remote environments while working alongside scientists and extension staff in a range of government and humanitarian aid agencies.
On returning to Australia in 1997, she took up the role of director of the National Textile Museum, where she developed and managed the museum’s public program as well as a program of events and exhibitions for members. This was followed by a year working for iconic South Australian chef Maggie Beer before Lee joined the University of Adelaide in 2000, where she developed and managed communications strategy for the University of Adelaide’s Faculty of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, including an extensive media and special events such as the launch of the Livestock Systems Alliance, Science on a Plate for Tasting Australia, the Education for the Planet secondary school program and website, writing and production management of a commemorative publication marking the 75th anniversary of the Waite Agricultural Research Institute, and plans for redevelopment for the exhibition at the National Wine Centre.
Lee’s writing and editing credits cover a wide range of areas. She writes features and profiles for a range of magazines in the arts and business and has written two books on marketing and promotion for the information sector which are now set as university texts. Lee also edited and managed the production of A traveller’s needle, the memoirs of textile artist Anne Hetzel. Food and wine writing, and particularly issues such as sustainability and consumer education are amongst Lee’s favourite topics and in 2006 she won the inaugural Sumptuous magazine Le Cordon Bleu Scholarship to undertake a Masters in Gastronomy, in recognition of her experience and passion for this sector.
Liz Harfull (formerly Kellaway), Associate Consultant
Designing communication programs that target Australian farmers is a speciality for Liz who has won multiple international and national awards for her work, including three national Golden Target Awards from the Public Relations Institute of Australia.
Liz has provided strategic advice, issues management, writing, event management, media liaison and training to a wide range of clients including Elders, the Grains Research & Development Corporation, Dairy Australia, Meat & Livestock Australia, Australian Wool Innovation, Horticultural Australia Limited, Animal Health Australia, DuPont, Wrightson Seeds, WestfaliaSurge, WMC Fertiliser, Biotechnology Australia, the National Grower Register, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, and Land & Water Australia.
She is in demand to work with professional communicators, rural organisations and private companies to provide mentoring and develop communication strategies that support corporate,marketing, awareness and adoption programs in both agricultural and natural resource management sectors.
As a Churchill Fellow, Liz travelled to six countries studying communication tools and strategies that encourage farmers to take up new technology and best practice. She is a staff associate of the Agricultural Communications Documentation Centre, based at the University of Illinois, USA, and sits on the international executive of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ),which provides her with regular opportunities to study communication and extension programs in other countries, and to meet with world leaders in areas such as international trade and agricultural research.
Sharon Watt, Consultant
Sharon has been with Porter Novelli since 2001, and during that time has worked with a range of clients in the development and implementation of public relations programs and associated activities.
The majority of Sharon’s time in recent years has been spent working closely with all national and international divisions of leading Australian agribusiness Elders Ltd. She is largely responsible for devising and implementing internal and external communication strategies to promote Elders’ corporate and divisional developments and activities, domestically and globally.
Sharon manages public relations, on behalf of the Elders marketing department, for the Corporate division as well as Elders Rural Bank, Elders Wool, Livestock, International, Insurance, Real Estate, Merchandise, Wealth Management and Trustee services. She liaises with senior management of all divisions, providing strategic advice and support on a regular basis.
Elders has, in recent years, undertaken significant global expansion, promotion of which has, to a large extent, been Sharon’s responsibility. Her work to raise the profile of Elders’ operations and trade developments in China was recognised in the 2005 South Australian Media Awards in which she was a finalist in the Best Public Relations Campaign category.
Before entering the public relations industry with Porter Novelli, Sharon’s career in journalism spanned some 18 years, most of which were spent at rural and country newspapers in Victoria and South Australia. Her work has included holding the position of editor of the Stock Journal, South Australia’s weekly rural newspaper published by Rural Press.
Sharon had a rural upbringing on the family property at Balmoral in the Western District of Victoria, where her parents continue to produce fine wool and prime lambs.
Sharon is the recipient of a number of awards, including the National Australia Bank Royal Adelaide Show media awards for best human interest story and best print story. She was named Stock Journal employee of the year in recognition of outstanding loyalty and dedication to the company.
Jessie Morris, Communications Assistant
A recent addition to the Porter Novelli team, Jessie Morris brings substantial administrative experience as well as organisational, writing, editing, media and marketing skills to her multi-faceted role as Porter Novelli’s office and Media Unit manager. She combines this with a strong customer service ethic developed from years of experience with high-profile employers in the hospitality and finance industries.
Her experience includes several months with a specialist media company in the Netherlands, during which her primary focus was the development of media information services for the general public in several countries not all of which have English as their official language. Jessie developed and edited a vast amount media information according to strict deadlines and guidelines.
As head of Porter Novelli’s Media Unit, Jessie coordinates and manages the distribution of media materials for all of the consultancy’s clients. This involves the ongoing development, maintenance and updating of countless media distribution lists specific to a range of clients, and utilisation of Porter Novelli’s unique global database featuring more than 400,000 individual media outlets and journalists.
Jessie provides high-level strategic and logistical support for all media and publicity campaigns, events and other activities undertaken by Porter Novelli. Hers is an essential role across all activities of the consultancy. As office manager she also provides complete and comprehensive administrative support at Porter Novelli.
Just prior to joining the Porter Novelli team, Jessie worked for a prominent financial planning and stockbroking firm as assistant to the managing director. This involved general administrative and reporting duties, the generation of client correspondence, and database management.