Aprio Credence is the specialist issue and crisis management division within the Aprio Group. Having acted as trusted advisers to the boards, senior executives and legal representatives of some of the world’s most successful companies and institutions, Aprio Credence helps build, sustain and protect organisations’ most valuable strategic asset – their reputation.

Esme is a seasoned reputation and communication strategist, with almost 25 years’ experience in corporate communications, the management of reputation risk and stakeholder engagement in large and complex multinational enterprises. She specialises in advising executive teams on reputation risk and has leads expert professional teams on major, confidential reputation-risk issues. She has acted as lead reputation advisor for one of South Africa’s biggest corporate governance rehabilitation programmes, working alongside the client Exco, leading law firms, corporate finance and audit teams.

Julian Gwillim, CEO of Aprio Strategic Communications, said of the appointment: “The components of what is now Aprio Credence have previously provided counsel on some of South Africa’s largest reputational crises. Now combined, we believe they offer the pre-eminent service of their kind in the country – and one of the foremost worldwide. We’re proud to see them forging ahead and look forward to seeing the calibre of projects they will take on.”

Esme joins Alan Arguile, director and principal consultant at Aprio Credence. One of South Africa’s most experienced executive trainers, Alan has personally presented more than 1 400 media and crisis training sessions across the continent. He has provided counsel on more than 250 real-world crises across industries and sectors, and facilitated the reputation management elements of around 100 large-scale crisis simulations.

Esme said: “It is a privilege to work with someone of Alan’s stature. Aprio Credence has an exceptional, loyal client base and room to grow. Using insights I built up in my time in the corporate sector and at One Reputation, and those Alan built up at Credence Consulting Group, now under the umbrella of the Aprio Group, we’re well positioned to expand our offering and provide expert, unvarnished counsel where it’s most critically needed.”