Our Team

Founded by award-winning public relations specialist Deanna Nott, Wings is focused on extending your reach and helping you achieve your business goals.

With more than three decades of experience, our Director and her experienced team can help your business or organisation soar to new heights. We have proven success in developing and delivering innovative marketing communications campaigns. We understand how to build and protect your reputation.

Wings can add value by extending your reach to audiences that you never dreamed possible.

Deanna Nott

Managing Director & Founder

Our multi award winning team is led by industry veteran – and military veteran – Deanna Nott. Deanna has been working in the public relations and journalism industry for almost three decades.

Having started her career as a journalist on the Gold Coast, she moved into public relations in the mid 90s. She has held senior private and public sector roles across Australia and overseas, including several executive level positions in the Department of Defence and local government. Deanna launched her firm Wings Public Relations in 2016 and specialises in communication strategy development and implementation for a wide range of private and public sector clients, as well as Not for Profit organisations.

Deanna has extensive experience in developing multi-year engagement and communications frameworks to support Government campaigns designed to influence behaviour change. She has been responsible for developing and implementing significant education and awareness campaigns for organisations including the Department of Defence, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Australian Navy, Logan City Council and Scenic Rim Regional Council. Prior to launching Wings PR, Deanna gained a high profile in south-east Queensland and beyond as Logan City Council’s head of media and communication by developing award-winning campaigns designed to change perceptions of the city located between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. In fact, Deanna and her team were awarded the Public Relations Institute of Australia In-House PR Team Award for 2014.

Deanna spent 20 years working as a senior communications specialist within the Department of Defence before her move into local government.

In 2022, Deanna was named the Women Chiefs of Enterprises International Entrepreneur of the Year, won the Australian Defence Industry Awards Marketing/Communications Professional of the Year, was a Finalist in the Women in Business Awards and a Finalist in the Women in Defence Industry Awards.

Deanna is renowned for her passion, love of crafting the perfect communication campaign, nurturing young talent and devotion to excellence. Deanna proudly serves the nation as a Royal Australian Air Force Reservist, joining in 1994. She was promoted to Wing Commander in June 2021. In November 2020 she was awarded a Chief of the Defence Force Commendation. Deanna’s energy and expertise in the communication field has led to key roles in the public sector, including appointment as Aide-De-Camp to the Governor of South Australia. In November 2021 she was appointed to the National Board of the Air Force Association as Director Communications and Reputation Management and until recently served on the Board of Common Ground Queensland – helping end homelessness.

Annemarie Mayes

Senior Marketing Consultant

Annemarie Mayes is a Senior Marketing Consultant with over 20 years of experience crafting and executing marketing and communications strategies for some of Australia’s top brands. Her career began as a journalist at Channel Nine’s A Current Affair, where she honed her skills in scriptwriting and story production—an experience that laid a strong foundation for her subsequent success in marketing and communications.

Before joining Wings, Annemarie led the marketing and communications efforts for one of Australia’s largest general insurance brokers. Under her leadership, the brand transformed from a low-profile entity to a market leader. In addition, Annemarie played a crucial role during the company’s acquisition, ensuring smooth communication with clients and staff throughout the transition. She also developed and executed a comprehensive strategy for digital communications and social media, resulting in significant increases in website traffic and social media engagement.

One of Annemarie’s standout achievements was her five-year tenure overseeing the marketing and communications for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) awards. She managed and ran regional and national events, crafted scripts for presenters and the CEO, produced an annual EOY magazine, and facilitated media interviews for nominees.

With her extensive background and expertise, Annemarie is well-equipped to help businesses elevate their brands and achieve their marketing and communications goals.

Marie Howarth

Principal Consultant

Marie Howarth is an award-winning corporate communications specialist with a proven track record in all facets of public relations practice, including complex stakeholder management and in-depth understanding of reputation management across audiences. She is a trained journalist and skilled corporate writer with proven messaging and media acumen. Marie has extensive government and private sector experience with a focus on defence, information technology, infrastructure, resources, health and property, where she has honed her skills in strategy development and community engagement. She has developed and implemented large-scale communication and engagement strategies, particularly for complex and high-profile public initiatives. Marie is based in our Brisbane office.
Qualifications: GradCertBus (Change Mgmt), AGSM, University of NSW, GradCertBus (Public Relations), QUT
Professional memberships: PRIA Fellow; Immediate Past President PRIA Queensland, Founding Member International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) WA, Past Co-President Women in Technology (Qld)

Heather Hunt

Senior Public Relations Consultant

Heather Hunt is a qualified journalist and corporate communications professional with 20+ years’ experience in public relations throughout Australia and internationally, working with corporate, government, non-profit and tertiary institutions.

Her extensive portfolio in communications strategy includes insurance, disability and aged care, small business, transport, native title, digital health, lands and ICT.

Heather led communications and PR for Australia’s largest digital health peak body whose members are SMEs, micro businesses, health start-ups, as well as hospital services transitioning to delivering digital healthcare.

Heather has US stakeholder liaison and contemporary change management experience and also worked in the UK and Hong Kong prior to 2000. While based in New York, she was the PR lead for a $1billion intermediary insurance broker undergoing significant market positioning and change, ensuring client brokers were engaged and committed to the business. In Sydney, Heather was head of public affairs for the copyright agency as it supported and educated its publisher and author members on navigating the new world of digital copyright.

A media advisor and spokesperson, Heather brings a wealth of experience in contentious media relations and the provision of strategic PR support for government ministers, boards and executive teams.

Tom Vergotis

Content Creator

Tom Vergotis has worked with the Wings PR team since 2018. An avid content creator, Tom is an award winning journalist and film-maker, who learnt his trade in broadcast television at the ABC, WIN Television and Channel 9. Since leaving journalism, Tom has held roles leading content creation for Gold Coast City Council, Suncorp Insurance and Origin Energy. Tom holds a Bachelor of Journalism and a Bachelor of Business, with distinction, from Queensland University of Technology.

Kate Ames

Senior Public Relations Advisor

Dr Kate Ames is a Professor in Learning Design and Innovation at Central Queensland University with qualifications in education and training as well as a PhD and Masters of Letters in Cultural Studies. Kate has more than 20 years experience in communication and education, including continuous service as an Australian Army Reservist since 1997. She currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel as a senior military public affairs officer.

As a cultural sociologist, she is an experienced and active qualitative researcher in a wide range of methods, including nominal and focus groups, interviews, surveys, forms of discourse analysis, and also linguistic analysis supporting ethnomethodological approaches.

Brad Yee

Graphic Designer

With a career journey spanning continents and diverse industries, Brad brings a wealth of experience and a passion for creativity to our public relations team.

Starting in the insurance industry in Sydney in 1997, Brad has held various roles across Australia and internationally. He has lived and worked in Canada, California, USA and Japan, gaining valuable experience in hospitality, education and office administration. His global perspective and adaptability have shaped his approach to problem-solving and communication.

In 2013, Brad transitioned from the insurance sector to pursue studies in Graphic Design. This was followed by courses in Photography and a Certificate III in Animal Studies in 2014, blending his artistic skills with a love for visual storytelling.

Since then, Brad has thrived as a freelance Graphic Designer, turning his true passion into a successful career. As a key contractor to Wings PR, Brad leverages his unique blend of creative and analytical skills to craft compelling visual content that enhances our public relations efforts in the defence, government, industry and medical research sectors. His international experience and diverse background enable him to bring our clients fresh perspectives and innovative solutions.

Brad’s expertise in graphic design plays a pivotal role in our team, helping to communicate complex ideas through visually engaging materials and supporting our mission to deliver exceptional public relations services.

Libby-Jane Charleston

Senior Writer

Libby-Jane Charleston is an award-winning writer, journalist, online content producer and podcaster who has worked at a senior level across radio, TV and newspapers. As one of the most prolific writers for Australia’s number 1 ranking online newspaper, news.com.au LJ has a huge portfolio of health, business and history features – her article about smallpox reached more than 2 million readers. Her podcast for news.com.au “Ghosted” ranked in the top ten podcasts for Australia, Canada and the US. Several of LJ’s articles have gone viral in Australia and overseas, as she has a unique talent in being able to take complex issues and make them entertaining and readable for the general population. Most recently she has ‘ghost-written’ for several high profile CEOs and produced online content for a range of clients including SalesForce, Docusign and SAP Success Factors.

Kristen Zotti

Public Relations Consultant

Kristen Zotti is a PR and communications professional with more than 14 years experience under her belt.

Throughout her career she has been lucky to work on high-profile national campaigns including Harmony Day, promoting the skills of Defence personnel to help them transition into civilian life, raising the profile of early learning educators and launching Canberra’s very first light rail.

She has provided communications and media advice to CEOs, embassies, ACT and federal ministers and politicians, including working with the Prime Minister’s Office, to build and manage their reputation and profile.

Kristen is passionate about using her expertise to work on projects that make a difference and that benefit from a strategic and story-telling approach. She specialises in running strategic campaigns, publicity, creating content and coming up with creative concepts to achieve cut-through for clients.

Kristen holds a Bachelor of Communications (Public Relations) from the University of Canberra and has been serving on the PRIA ACT Board for two years. In 2021, she was named President of the ACT Chapter.

Darren Harrison

Senior Consultant

Darren Harrison has an extensive background forged in both the commercial and government sectors, and brings experience gained from spending 15 years living and working in the UK and the Arabian Gulf.

With diverse exposure across Australia’s priority industry sectors, Darren has worked with and for local, state and federal agencies engaging with industry and community to develop strategies and plans that enhance economic opportunities, attract investment and directly assist businesses in their journey from inception to expansion.

Darren holds an MBA from the University of Southern Queensland. Leveraging his experience in strategy development, understanding of wider economic drivers and his ability to turn vision into words, he brings a balanced resource to the team that adds to our stakeholder engagement and growth consulting capacity.