James Beech - editor-in-chief
James Beech joined IR Media Group as Editor-in-Chief in January 2022. He was a multimedia journalist, editor, client relationship manager, awards host and public speaker at Campden Wealth, for and about the global ultra-wealthy multigenerational family business and office community, in 2016-21.
The Englishman reported and photographed news and features for daily and weekly regional newspapers and websites, in New Zealand and Australia, including the Otago Daily Times and Canterbury-Bankstown Express, in 2006-15.
He wrote and edited market-leading consumer magazines and websites in Bournemouth then worked in public relations and media communications in London, in 1999-2006.
He graduated from Bournemouth University with a BA (Hons) in Multimedia Journalism in 1999.
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Kathleen Hennessy – managing editor & chief copy editor
Kathleen Hennessy has been a journalist for the past 32 years. During that time she has commissioned, written and edited for the Financial Times, Sunday Times, Independent on Sunday, Observer, MoneyUnlimited.com (a Guardian website), FTYourMoney.com and a host of personal finance, consumer rights and property magazines.
She is a former deputy editor of Moneywise, the UK’s biggest-selling personal finance magazine, where she worked for seven years, and former editor of consumer finance magazine Save Money! She has also been a regular guest on BBC Radio 4’s You & Yours and Channel 5’s Serious Money.
Kathleen has been at IR Media Group for 18 years, originally as chief copy editor and more recently also as managing editor, working across the company’s range of publications and online output.
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Tim Human – senior reporter
Tim Human is senior reporter at IR Magazine. He rejoined the publication in 2019 after two years working as a freelance journalist for a range of international publications. Previously, Tim was editor of IR Magazine between 2013-2017. He has also written for Corporate Secretary, IR Magazine’s sister publication, and CorpComms, the UK-based magazine for corporate communications professionals.
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Noemi Distefano – reporter
Noemi Distefano joined IR Media Group as a reporter for IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary in October 2022. Before that, she worked for three years in B2B. She was a multimedia journalist, podcast host and producer at Shephard Media, covering the defense sector with a focus on military procurement and military technology on a global scale, in 2019-22.
Noemi then joined Newtrade Media in March 2022, working as a reporter and writing for the company's print weekly and fortnightly publications RN and Retail Express.
She graduated from Edinburgh Napier University with an MA in Journalism in 2017 and interned as a trainee journalist in Scotland at STV News in Glasgow and Bauer Media's Radio Forth in Edinburgh. She also worked as a freelance journalist and video content producer both in Italy and the UK.
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Hemma Visavadia – reporter
Hemma Visavadia joined IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary as a reporter in December 2022. She previously worked as a reported at COVER Magazine, writing for the protection and health insurance sectors. She also worked as an editorial assistant at Mulberry Media, writing for a number of B2B magazines including Insurance Wire, Retail Sector and Accountancy Today. Prior to that, Hemma studied journalism and English at De Montfort University.
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Janet Dignan – founding editor
Janet Dignan is a graduate of Otago University in New Zealand, where she read philosophy.
From 1979 to1982 she was head of information at Linklaters, with responsibility for internal and external information resources for its offices in London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and Brussels.
From 1982 to 1990 Janet was with the Economist Group in London in a range of roles, initially as managing editor of Economist directories, then as commissioning editor of special financial reports. In 1995 she launched and edited City Changes, a newsletter about London’s Big Bang; and in 1997 she launched IR Magazine, which she continued to edit for more than 20 years.
In 1993 Janet and Ian Richman founded Cross Border Publishing (now IR Media Group), to continue publishing IR Magazine and to launch other publications, events, websites and other digital properties.
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