Our People

Simone heads up Havas PR Australia, responsible for PR, social, brand experience and influencer agencies Red Havas, One Green Bean, Havas BLVD and Co-maker.

Simone believes in driving a culture of trust and accountability where people can be authentic and reach their true potential. A long time champion of women in leadership through leadership coaching and mentoring, Simone drives continuous improvement in the DE&I program in the Havas Village and has recently been recognised by the industry winning B&T Women in Media award for PR Leader of the Year 2021.

Previously, Simone sat on leadership teams at London agencies, Edelman and Ogilvy PR, led WPP global integrated Team Red for Vodafone and was Managing Director of Mango, DDB Sydney.

Over her career Simone has partnered with, brands, businesses and organisations to promote and protect their brands and reputations through insight led creative campaigns and has developed integrated communication strategies for Amazon, Vodafone, Telstra, Google, Volkswagen and Tourism Australia.

As Managing Director, Steve leads the PR, social, brand experience and content teams, across Red Havas Australia.

With over 18 years in the industry, he’s a leading voice in the creation of insight-led communication campaigns, which blend earned, shared and owned media.

Steve’s resume includes founding Chieftain Communications (acquired in 2014), leading Making Waves Australia and driving DDB Australia’s PR, experiential and sponsorship division, Mango.

Steve frequently speaks at government and industry events and has been a judge at numerous industry awards…he’s also won a bunch of them along the way (Spikes, D&AD, AdNews, CommsCon, PRIA, B&T, SABRE, Clios, PR Awards Asia, AGDA, Mumbrella).

Steve has had the privilege of having worked with many leading brands, including Toyota, Lexus, Nestlé, Samsung, Telstra, Tigerair, Coca-Cola, and eBay, to name (brag!) a few.

Lynn Chinnock leads the Melbourne office, as Managing Partner.

With over 16 years’ experience, Lynn brings a unique blend of experience across a number of marketing disciplines as part of a diverse group of marketing services and geographies. Lynn has served in leadership roles in PR networks (H+K Strategies London, Publicis’ MSL Singapore) and more recently in digital and creative agencies (Wunderman Singapore, Y&R Sydney and McCann Melbourne).

Throughout her career, she has led award-winning work and brand-building campaigns for a broad range of global and local businesses, including Procter & Gamble, Colgate Palmolive, L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline New York, Danone, Bakers Delight, Emirates, Life-Space and NSW Government departments.

Lynn is passionate about developing creative ideas that truly connect to people’s lives, leveraging the full spectrum of communications to create impact. With a focus on creativity, Lynn’s ambition is to continuously innovate within the communications landscape, enabling brands to cut through culture, and stay relevant during these unpredictable times.

Kate joined Red Agency in early 2017 when her previous agency merged with Red.

She has over 15 years’ experience in the industry, starting in Experiential Marketing before moving to PR and Events.

She leads The Blvd, a Brand Experience agency with creative services in house, including Photographers, Designers, Video Producers, Event Managers, Digital services as well as traditional PR account service and speciality writers.

Kate’s passion lies in events, leading strategy and creative concepts to implement meaningful and successful National Media launches, Award Ceremonies, Roadshows, Sponsorship Activation, Conferences and Incentive Programs.

Kate believes that events are where brand communications should seamlessly combine to say something memorable and meaningful about the client’s product. Creativity, focus and exacting attention to detail are only the start. She goes further, with a holistic approach to event production, ensuring that everything your guests see, hear and experience contributes to the brand story you wish to tell.

Kate has created campaigns for leading brands including, Toyota, Lexus, Veritas, Symantec, Hino and the FCAI.

Reema Babakhan is an award winning consumer PR professional with over 16 years’ experience in communications. Having led multiple award-winning integrated campaigns for some of the world’s top brands, she is now Practice Head at Red Havas.

With a passion for creativity, publicity and getting to the heart of a brand problem, Reema is expert at developing strategies that not only answer client objectives, but lead teams to achieve results that exceed expectation. She is able to solve client briefs of all sizes due to her experience in management of local markets from a global hub perspective for clients including Bacardi.

Her prolific career has seen her work on everything from chocolate bars to international cricket stars, from cereal to credit cards. With an approach that hones in on ideas that resonate with both consumers and media, Reema has been able to deliver campaigns that make real business impact. Having held senior roles at noted agencies like Ogilvy and Frank PR, Reema has mentored some of the most lauded PR talent and is now doing the same for the ambitious team at Red Havas.

With a passion for sport, Reema has been lucky enough to lead innovative communication strategies for brands and governing bodies including RBS, The FA Cup, Mastercard’s Sponsorship of the Champions League and Rugby World Cup, Williams MARTINI Racing and ICC Cricket World Cup. She has also worked with international talent ranging from Andy Murray to Dan Carter, Frank Lampard to Anthony Joshua.

In her role at Red Havas, she oversees clients including South Australia Tourism, Menulog, Plaza Premium Lounge, The FFA, Sydney Zoo and the Steve Waugh Foundation.

With more than 25 years’ experience counselling clients in Europe, Australia and across Asia Pacific, Sue has extensive expertise in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food and nutrition, corporate communications and crisis and issues management.

She has led communications programs to support health promotion; health policy change, market preparation, product launches and rescheduling for prescription and OTC pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health devices; product withdrawals and liability issues; crisis and issues management; and has provided stakeholder and health issues counsel for the food sector.  Recent consulting work for the pharma/ health sector has included a carers policy audit; communications and issues support for a leading fertility services group; and corporate communications for a leading pharmaceutical company on research partnerships and health system change.Previously Sue led the healthcare practice for an Australian/NZ consultancy working with clients including AbbVie, Amgen, Association for Safe Biologic Medicines, AstraZeneca, Creso Pharma, GSK, Hearing Care Industry Association, the Immunisation Coalition, Lilly and Seqirus.  Prior she was Managing Director, Healthcare at Hill+Knowlton Strategies London for more than two years providing senior counsel to clients such as Amgen, Shire, Gilead, Novartis, Lundbeck, Pfizer and Roche.  Previously she was H+K’s Asia Pacific Health Practice Director, providing strategic direction for health work in the region, overseeing pan Asian programs and leading on award winning pharma and biotechnology clients in Australia.

She served on the organising committee for the Australian Pharmaceutical Research, Innovation & Marketing Excellence Awards, and has been a judge for the Asia Pacific SABRE Awards and the local B&T Awards.

Sue began her career in journalism, and was the national medical writer on The Australian for four years and founding Vice President of the Australian Medical Writers’ Association. She is a graduate of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology’s Diploma of Arts (Journalism).

With over 40 years in the industry, Patrick has extensive experience in public relations, marketing and journalism.

A media relations specialist and an accomplished writer, he develops, integrates and implements a broad range of corporate communication strategies designed to support the growth of client brand reputation and market position.

His mobility roles have included general manager of PR for Hyundai, Chrysler, Jeep, Audi, and senior agency responsibilities for Toyota Motor Corporation.

For many years, Patrick reported federal and state politics and was central to the delivery of projects for prominent entities such as Visy Industries, Colliers Jardine, Business SA and the United Nations Environment Program.

His research, analytic and writing skills have contributed to the attainment of post-graduate qualifications in management and in teaching English to speakers of other languages.