Emma Kane
Profile Verified by The Marque
Last Updated: 22 Sep 2026
Global Deputy CEO, Head of Western EMEA
London, GB
Profile Verified by The Marque
Last Updated: 22 Sep 2026
THE MARQUE
In Their Own Right
Biography
Emma Kane OBE is a corporate affairs expert specialising in crisis management and corporate and financial communications. With a career spanning more than 30 years, she is Chief Executive of SEC Newgate UK and Global Deputy CEO and Head of Western EMEA at SEC Newgate. The international communications and advocacy group operates across five continents, employs more than 1,300 people and is the world's 18th largest communications group.
Emma began her career in corporate communications in 1986 and held in-house roles at organisations including ProShare and Charles Schwab. In 2000, she founded Redleaf Communications, a corporate and financial communications consultancy. Following its sale in 2018, she became Joint CEO of the enlarged business. In 2019, Redleaf merged with SEC Spa to become SEC Newgate. The group delisted from AIM in 2022 when Three Hills became a minority investor, and in 2023 Investcorp acquired a majority stake through a $100 million investment.
Alongside her executive responsibilities, Emma is Deputy Chair of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Senior Independent Member of the Arts & Humanities Research Council (UKRI), Deputy Chair of the Green Finance Institute and an Advisory Board member for Help for Heroes' No One Left Behind campaign. She stepped down as Chair of The Barbican Centre Trust in 2021 after nine years and completed a nine-year term as trustee and Chair of Target Ovarian Cancer, becoming Director Emeritus. She is also Patron of The Wiener Holocaust Library.
An avid sculptor, Emma holds a Diploma in Jazz and Popular Music and began life as a tenor saxophonist trained by Bobby Wellins. She received the Freedom of the City of London in 2017 for her contribution to the communications sector and was appointed OBE in the King's Honours for services to communications and philanthropy. She is a Liveryman and Senior Court Assistant of the Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights and appears in the PRWeek UK Power Book each year.
The Record
Background
-
2019 — Present
Global Deputy CEO, Head of Western EMEA
SEC Newgate S.p.A.
SEC Newgate SpA is a global strategic communications and advocacy group. The company offers clients expert advice and support around the clock, delivered by more than 1300 employees from across five continents.
-
2018 — Present
Chief Executive
SEC Newgate UK
SEC Newgate UK works at the nexus of business, politics, communities, markets and media to deliver positive outcomes… the people you come to with an opportunity to seize, or a problem to solve. The Agency is a top 25 consultancy (PR Week), and 4th largest in Public Affairs.
-
2018 — 2019
Joint Chief Executive
Porta Communications
Porta Communications was an international communications group that merged with SEC in September 2019 to form SEC Newgate S.p.A.
-
2000 — 2018
Founder & Chief Executive
Redleaf Communications
Redleaf was established by Emma Kane in 2000 as a communications firm that specialised in media and investor relations. In 2018 the business rebranded as Newgate Communications and is currently still headed by Emma as Chief Executive.
-
1994 — 1997
Head of Investor Services
Charles Schwab Corporation
The Charles Schwab Corporation is a global firm that provides a range of financial services including investment consulting, products & services as well as online trading.
-
1991 — 1994
Head of Marketing & Communications
ProShare
ProShare is an independent organisation in the United Kingdom that promotes employee share ownership. It is an authority on employee share plan ownership and is privately funded by its members.
-
1986 — 1991
Account Manager
Citigate Dewe Rogerson (CDR)
Citigate Dewe Rogerson is a communications agency that serves over 500 clients globally including start-ups and some of the largest listed companies worldwide. Citigate’s experts specialise in banking, fund management, in-house investor relations, journalism, and creative communications professions as well as sector and transaction specialists.
In The News
Newsfeed
-
16 September 2026 · City AM
The Debate: Should the City drop its ban on tower logos?
Read more -
12 June 2026 · The Sunday Times
Trailblazing Citi boss and central bank stalwart receive honours
Read more -
14 January 2026 · The Energyst
SEC Newgate UK’s 2025 Impact Monitor reveals the UK public wants to see business embrace localism
Read more -
7 November 2023 · PRovoke Media
SEC Newgate Shifts To New Organisational Structure
Read more -
11 October 2023 · City AM
More Brits believe in aliens than understand ESG: new polling
Read more -
13 September 2023 · Raconteur
Why chief communications officers can become effective CEOs
Read more -
3 July 2023 · City AM
City PR firm sells majority stake to global investment house as M&A boom continues
Read more -
16 March 2023 · PR Week
PR Week: UK Power Book 2023
Read more -
19 October 2022 · Investment Week
UK public places climate change concerns on backseat amid cost-of-living crisis
Read more -
30 March 2022 · PR Week
SEC Newgate appoints board as it enters 'new stage'
Read more -
21 October 2021 · City AM
UK consumers are more worried about climate change than Covid, as COP26 nears
Read more -
21 October 2021 · The Sun
Climate change ‘number one concern for Brits’ for the first time, landmark research reveals
Read more -
1 September 2021 · PR Week
SEC Newgate reports ‘solid’ H1 as industry ‘returns to pre-COVID-19 levels’
Read more
Areas Of Focus