Meet our Advisory Board - Katie Mallinson

At Huddersfield Business School, we’re passionate about providing our students with inspirational and innovative industry knowledge to enhance their learning experience. Huddersfield Business School’s Advisory Board plays a crucial role in supporting this by guiding the school with industry recommendations, curriculum development, research and general advice about directions and trends from their industry. 

Our Advisory Board is made up of leading industry experts who hold various senior positions within businesses and the public sector. The Advisory Board aims to strengthen our school’s links with industry and professions to provide input into the academic and strategic direction of Huddersfield Business School. 

As part of our ‘Meet the Advisory Board’ feature, you’ll be introduced to all our Board members here at Huddersfield Business School and learn how their professions and networks have impacted the school’s strategic direction. 

In our fourth blog, you’ll meet Katie Mallinson - Founder and Managing Director of Scriba PR. Katie has over 15 years of experience working in the communications industry and is an expert in her field. In this blog, Katie shares with us her journey with Huddersfield Business School, from being a student here herself to life after graduation, and more recently how she plans to use her role on the board to continue her strong relationship with the university. 

 

Please can you tell us a bit about yourself? 

My name is Katie Mallinson and I’m an alumna of Huddersfield Business School after graduating in 2008 with a first-class degree in Business Management. After graduating from university, I went to work for a PR agency in Leeds, the same company where I did my placement year. The university kick-started my career, not just in an academic capacity. My placement year gave me the connections, experience, and skills to go back and work for the same company full-time after graduating - I even worked my way up to Account Director Level. However, after 5 years in the role, I got to the point where I was falling out of love with the communications industry as I knew it at that time. One night over dinner, I tossed a coin to determine whether to quit my job; the next day I resigned. 

I decided quite quickly during my notice period, that I was going to set myself up as a freelance copywriting consultant as I had always enjoyed writing. In 2013 I came back to The University of Huddersfield and pitched for an initiative that was running at the time with the Enterprise Team in the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre. This initiative gave me the support I needed to set up my business, as well as access to a mentor, a hot desk, a small grant, and the expertise of the Enterprise Team. I was successful in setting up Scriba PR at the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre and it took off faster than I could have imagined. Journalists that I had worked with over the years were referring work to me and I had my first client within 48 hours!

I was with the Enterprise Team for just over 12 months and although I didn’t have a lot of set-up costs associated with establishing Scriba PR because it’s a service-based business, the grant that I was provided hugely supported me. From day one I felt like I had this ecosystem around me. The people in the Enterprise Team are wonderful and are really knowledgeable. They were not only there to help and support me, but they were also like cheerleaders, encouraging and cheering me on. They were there to offer guidance and signpost me to other people in their network that could help me and my business and you can’t put a value on that. 

My goal at the time was to become a successful freelancer and to be able to support myself by concentrating on the job I loved. But because Scribe PR did so well in the first 12 months, after a short while I decided to start employing staff. My first permanent employee still works with me today and I have an amazing team of 15 colleagues. We rebranded last year to ensure that the organisation has a shared set of values and ambitions that mirrors what every person in the company wants to achieve. When Scriba PR was first created it was just one person but now it’s a team. We made sure that we all agreed with what we stand for, how we appear in the market and the type of clients we want to work with. Over the years, people have asked if we are tempted to go to Leeds or Manchester, but I don’t believe you have to be in a city to succeed - 10 years later, we have proved that.

What made you want to join Huddersfield Business School’s Advisory Board?  

I have always tried to get involved in things that aren’t necessarily related to what Scriba PR does on a day-to-day basis. I have worked with Greenhead College, Scriba PR has supported charities with pro bono expertise, and I have sat as a trustee on a charity board. I think it’s important to take yourself outside of your work environment, whether it’s linked to your job or not, and do something with your time, skills, and mind. I have a lot to thank Huddersfield Business School for and I’ve been involved with the school a lot over the years. Scriba PR employs graduates from the Business School, I have done guest lectures, and sessions with the Enterprise Team, so I felt like the next logical step was to join the Advisory Board and what an amazing time to join! There’s so much going on and it feels like a vibrant place to be. There’s a huge amount of ambition and an appetite for ‘what’s next?’ which is very energising – I want to ensure that I can add value to the board. 

What impact do you think you can have on Huddersfield Business School's Advisory Board and what are your strengths? 

As an alumna, an employer in the area and someone who has tapped into the wider knowledge of Huddersfield Business School, I try to look at the subject matter that we discuss in our meetings with my many different roles. That’s where true collaboration becomes exciting when you have lots of varied opinions. As I run my own business, I’m used to thinking outside the box and thinking about challenges and what we can do with them. I enjoy having the opportunity to do that with the Advisory Board too. I have discipline-specific skills as well, having 15 years of experience working in the communications industry. I hope that I can overlay some of my communications expertise to continue to raise the profile of Huddersfield Business School and enhance their well-deserved recognition. I do a lot in the sustainability sector and a lot of my clients operate in that field – it’s an area which I’m extremely passionate about – and the School’s progress in this respect is particularly exciting. I also just genuinely enjoy education, which is why I’ve tried to remain involved with the school ever since I graduated. It’s something I encourage my colleagues to get involved in for their enrichment too. I think it’s inspiring to see what the university is doing, how education trends are changing and the impacts on business. I also believe it’s important that organisations understand the role of education in modern society and how organisations can collaborate with universities as we nurture employees and leaders of the future. 

What contributions have you made to the Advisory Board or Huddersfield Business School?

As I’m fairly new to the Advisory Board I’m still getting my head around who everyone is and their roles, but I have already had some follow-up sessions with my peers and wider key stakeholders of Huddersfield Business School. For example, we’ve started to explore all the incredible case studies that Huddersfield Business School could write, whether the focus is something that stemmed from a Knowledge Transfer Partnership or a special project, for instance. Huddersfield Business School has so many great stories to tell that would be of interest to more mainstream media as well as academic publications. Also, regarding Professional Development courses, I’ve passed details to fellow business owners and contacts – and of my colleagues is even in the process of signing up for a higher-level apprenticeship!

At every Advisory Board meeting, I go in with an open mind and offer my expertise where needed; thinking beyond just the communications guidance that I could offer and making sure that we each open up our own networks and experiences. I think it is important that we all bring that, actively participate in the meetings, and continue to think about what we learn when the meetings are over. I think that is what being an effective Advisory Board member should be about. 

How do you think the Advisory Board can influence Huddersfield Business School’s curriculum and the student experience?

I hope that Advisory Board members can continue to bring both anecdotal and data-driven insights to meetings and share all our learned experiences. By sharing the challenges and opportunities we encounter in our own daily lives – from our own business environments – we are helping to ensure Huddersfield Business School becomes truly integrated into – and relevant within – the business environment. I know this is a University that wants to lead the way.

It’s also important and encouraging that the Advisory Board members are diverse, coming from a range of industries and backgrounds. We all have very different roles in different industries, which means an exciting array of conversations around the table that Huddersfield Business School can hopefully use to further support their strategic planning.