Rob Kelly

Rob Kelly is a creative communicator, with more than 15 years’ experience working in public, not-for-profit, and private sector organisations, where he has built and developed communications teams to deliver impactful and high-profile external engagement activity. He has in-depth experience in international development and global health, having served in senior external communications positions in the UK, Switzerland, and Singapore.

As Head of External Relations, Rob leads MedAccess’ media and external communications activities. He is responsible for increasing understanding and awareness of MedAccess and its unique position within the global health ecosystem, building its visibility as a strategic partner through media and external platforms and working with partner organisations to showcase the impact of the products MedAccess supports.

Throughout his career, Rob has honed news and issues management skills and has secured high profile media coverage on traditional and social channels. Starting out as a journalist before working in the Government News Network and Department for Education press office, Rob went on to hold senior communications positions in the international development sector, most notably for the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and then at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance in Geneva, Switzerland.

As Senior Press Officer, Rob led DFID’s Africa, health and education press desk, providing strategic media briefings and advice to Ministers and senior civil servants and managing ongoing relationships with international development journalists in the UK and in Africa. During that time, Rob led strategic media campaigns around the 2010 Millennium Development Goals Summit, the 2011 Gavi replenishment conference and the 2012 Family Planning Summit.

At Gavi, Rob was Head of Media and Social Media Engagement, responsible for raising the organisation’s profile and increasing engagement in donor and implementing countries. This included the strategic planning and delivery of a comprehensive media relations campaign ahead of and during the 2015 Gavi Replenishment Conference, which raised US$ 7.5 billion.

Immediately prior to MedAccess, Rob led the communications team at leading HIV civil society organisation Frontline AIDS, where he was responsible for developing and strengthening the communications team to increase the organisation’s profile among donors and technical partners, and securing high-profile engagements for the Executive Director at key events such as AIDS 2018 and Women Deliver.

Before Frontline AIDS, Rob served as Regional Senior Manager in the Communication and Public Affairs division at Janssen Asia Pacific, part of Johnson & Johnson, where he led the regional product communications for three therapeutic areas and coordinated media engagement with operating companies in key markets across the Asia Pacific region.

Rob holds a BA (Hons) Journalism degree from Staffordshire University and a Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing from the Digital Marketing Institute.

Email Rob: [email protected]