Michael MacLennan

A Rare Combination of Practical Skills and Leadership Experience

Most communications leaders talk about AI. Few can actually implement it.

I completed Imperial College London’s rigorous Professional Certificate in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in October 2025, receiving an Exemplary Award for my final technical project. This was hands-on postgraduate training in Python, statistics, model design, and deployment. I can design, build, and evaluate AI systems that solve real communications challenges.

I’ve since added Anthropic’s Claude Code in Action certification, focused on practical AI-assisted development workflows and agentic coding systems, the tools I use daily to build products and deliver for clients.

But technical capability means nothing without strategic context. That’s where two decades of leadership experience comes in.

At Brunswick, I spent five years as Director of Digital and Communications, helping reshape how one of the world’s leading advisory firms told its own story and upskilled its workforce. The firm achieved double-digit revenue growth throughout my tenure as I transformed client digital strategies and launched internal platforms that became invaluable for global operations.

At Red Bull, I led global content strategy reaching 100+ million fans and launched their pioneering VR channel, managing a cross-departmental team of 70+ people. At Barclaycard, I architected a digital operating model that transformed how millions of customers engaged with the brand.

This combination, practical AI capability plus proven strategic leadership, is what I bring to everything I do.

CURRENT WORK

Grayling

Since mid-2025, I’ve been freelance Digital and Social Director at Grayling, brought in following a national restructure to provide senior strategic leadership across complex, high-profile programmes.

I work directly with Grayling’s leadership on some of the agency’s most reputationally sensitive accounts, spanning multi-billion pound regeneration developments, executive communications for a global financial services leader, and digital strategy around major global moments for a senior minister in a G20 country.

My work includes leading full digital and social strategies for major infrastructure programmes, chairing cross-stakeholder steering groups, developing governance frameworks including social media playbooks and crisis communications guidelines, and providing executive communications counsel to C-suite and ministerial-level stakeholders. I’ve secured six-figure retained client work and delivered flagship campaigns generating millions of views and sustained engagement rates above 40% on LinkedIn.

The role combines hands-on strategic delivery with senior oversight, helping Grayling evolve into a more digitally native, insight-driven communications consultancy.

Faur

In 2024, I founded Faur, a communications consultancy built differently. Rather than a traditional agency model, we assemble the right specialists for each challenge, blending strategic insight with technical sophistication.

Our clients have ranged from ParalympicsGB (digital platform evaluation for their Athlete Community) to multinational lottery operator Allwyn (corporate content strategy) to national membership bodies like ACOSVO (strategic communications for a five-year strategy launch). We deliver what traditional consultancies often can’t: strategies that account for AI capability, digital audits that map transformation pathways, and content workshops that drive real implementation.

Faur is now the anchor of a broader ecosystem I’m building, connecting consultancy with thought leadership and practical AI tools for communications professionals.

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THE FAUR ECOSYSTEM

Applied Comms AI

Applied Comms AI bridges the gap between AI hype and AI reality for communications professionals. Launched in 2025, it’s a platform for honest, practical content about what actually works when you apply AI to communications.

Through articles, experiments, interviews with industry leaders, and hands-on tool testing, I share what I’m learning as I build and deploy AI systems in real communications contexts. The approach is practical over theoretical, honest over promotional, and focused on strategic communications rather than generic AI content with a comms angle bolted on.

Applied Comms AI also offers training, including the Comms Agents course, helping communications professionals move from AI curiosity to confident implementation.

Comms With AI

Comms With AI is the product platform: a growing library of practitioner-built AI templates and tools designed specifically for external communications professionals.

Where most AI tools serve marketing broadly or internal comms specifically, Comms With AI targets the gap: strategic communications tasks like crisis response planning, stakeholder mapping, campaign evaluation, and narrative development. Every template is built from real consulting experience, tested in practice, and designed to be deployed in 15 to 30 minutes.

The platform is in active development, with new tools shipping regularly and a roadmap toward interactive workflows and team collaboration features.

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PROVEN EXECUTIVE DELIVERY

As interim CEO of Cancer Support Scotland (January to October 2023), I navigated severe financial challenges, restructured operations, and delivered more than 50% of annual projected income within the first quarter. I managed legacy issues, produced recovery plans for the board, and developed proposals for transformational digital services.

At Victim Support Scotland (November 2024 to April 2025), I served as Service Delivery and Efficiency Lead, conducting process evaluations across the organisation’s locality-based support functions, leading data-driven business cases, and implementing workflow improvements that reduced administrative burden on frontline staff supporting victims and witnesses of crime across Scotland.

These are hands-on leadership roles requiring immediate impact. I’ve walked into complex situations, diagnosed core issues, and delivered measurable improvements under pressure. That’s what boards need: leaders who can provide strategic oversight and roll up their sleeves when required.

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BUILDING FOR IMPACT

When I founded Covid Aid in 2021, we used digital innovation to create an online community that supported 385,000+ people and raised over £250,000. The platform earned Rising Chief Executive nominations at the Third Sector Awards and won at the CMX Community Industry Awards.

We built partnerships with the NHS, Scottish Government, Asthma & Lung UK, and Marie Curie. We created a members’ community of 2,000+ people. We deployed counselling services, expert Q&As, courses, and a dedicated mobile app.

Then we closed it down. Not because it failed, but because the acute need had passed. The best organisations know when their mission is complete.

This blend of commercial innovation and social purpose defines my approach. Technology should amplify human impact, not replace it. Whether advising major consultancies or national charities, the best solutions emerge when technological possibility meets human empathy.

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GOVERNANCE & LEADERSHIP

As a board member of ScotlandIS since September 2024, I help shape Scotland’s digital technology sector, with specific governance responsibility for marketing and communications, and being part of the oversight group for a pivotal CEO transition.

Previously, as a trustee of international water charity Just a Drop (2018 to 2021), I helped guide the organisation through digital transformation and a severe financial crisis during COVID-19. The charity didn’t just survive; it thrived, growing income substantially to reach over £1 million by 2024. I took this experience into my role as Chair while launching and running Covid Aid.

Board service is about bringing strategic insight when it matters, asking difficult questions with empathy, and stepping in with hands-on support when the organisation needs it.

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THE FOUNDATIONS

My formal education combines:

• Imperial College London (2025): Professional Certificate in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. A rigorous six-month postgraduate programme combining mathematics, programming, and applied AI. Top-quartile capstone performance and Exemplary Award for the final project.

• Anthropic (2026): Claude Code in Action certification. Practical AI-assisted development workflows and agentic coding systems.

• University of Oxford (2020): Executive Leadership Programme at Said Business School. Intensive programme on strategic leadership, organisational change, and adaptive leadership.

• Chartered Institute of Marketing (2016 to 2017): Diploma in Digital Strategy (Distinction). 150-hour programme covering marketing strategy, digital channels, analytics, and campaign optimisation.

• University of Strathclyde (2003 to 2004): MLitt in Journalism.

• University of Aberdeen (1998 to 2002): MA (Hons) in Philosophy. Upper Second Class, joint highest in year group.

But education is foundation. Two decades of hands-on leadership, from launching Scotland’s first digital platforms for The Herald and STV to pioneering Red Bull’s VR strategy, is where real expertise develops.

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LET’S TALK

I’m always interested in conversations with organisations and leaders navigating the intersection of communications, technology, and change.

Whether you’re looking for a strategic advisor who understands AI implementation, a consultancy partner through Faur, practical AI tools for your communications team through Comms With AI, or simply want to exchange ideas about where this industry is heading, I’d welcome the conversation.

Find me on LinkedIn or get in touch through Faur.