Larry Walsh

Larry Walsh is a senior advisor to corporate management and boards on a broad range of issues related to crisis preparedness and reputation management. As Vice Chairman of the Hawthorn Group, he works with companies and trade groups to develop and implement issues management programs and to provide real-time crisis management support. He also serves as a Senior Consultant to Marsh, the world’s leading risk advisor, on crisis planning and response.

Walsh has more than 25 years experience in public affairs and issues management, including: disaster recovery, shareholder litigation, management turnover, government and regulatory inquiries and data breach. And, he has advised companies—from electric and gas utilities, to financial services, to healthcare—on the development and implementation of crisis preparedness programs, on crisis communications and on training and exercising.

He is the author of several benchmarking studies, including an analysis of Communications Alignment and Integration at Ten Leading Companies; an outgrowth of his work with several large companies to restructure corporate affairs functions to improve their effectiveness and efficiency.

A political consultant by background, Larry worked on more than 30 races for the U.S. House and Senate, on presidential races in the U.S. and Latin America and he served as Special Assistant to the President during the Carter Administration.

He is a former Managing Director at Hill and Knowlton, Inc., where he ran the Corporate Group in the firm’s offices in New York and London. Walsh serves on the board of Youth I.N.C., an organization dedicated to improving the lives of young people in New York City, as well as the Connecticut Audubon Society.

He is a long-time member of the Lotos Club, one of America’s oldest literary clubs.