MC CEO Shortlisted for Forty under 40

Marriott Communications’ Founder and CEO, Samuel Marriott-Dowding, has been shortlisted for the 2026 Forty Under 40 Awards, recognising emerging leaders making a significant impact across business and professional life.

Samuel has been nominated in the Communications category, joining a national cohort of entrepreneurs, executives and professionals recognised by Forty Under 40 for their leadership, professional achievement, innovation and contribution to their respective fields.

The recognition comes at an important point in the evolution of Marriott Communications. Samuel has built our firm from an independent PR consultancy into a strategic communications and advisory firm working across strategy, influence, and reputation.

That evolution has been accompanied by an increasingly international outlook, with Marriott Communications having undertaken work and developed relationships across the UK, Europe, North America and Asia.

For Samuel, the nomination represents recognition of a broader ambition: building a globally minded strategic communications and advisory firm from the North East, with an ambition to operate wherever strategy, influence and reputation matter most.

“Building Marriott Communications has always been about creating a firm with the quality of thinking, judgement and ambition to advise organisations facing consequential challenges, wherever they are in the world.

To be recognised alongside other emerging leaders from across the UK is a meaningful moment. I am truly proud that the business we are building continues to have its foundations in Sunderland, while our ambitions and our work increasingly extend far beyond it.”

The Forty Under 40 Awards are designed to recognise 40 emerging leaders under the age of 40 who demonstrate exceptional leadership and impact, with the programme highlighting achievements, innovation, business growth and contribution to communities and industries.