Gary Grates

Gary Grates leads Corporate and Strategy practices as he is informed by over 25 years of corporate, marketing/brand, labor, and strategic communications experience. He is considered a thought leader in organizational change, and management/employee internal communications, frequently holding lectures that coincide with more than 200 of his published articles and white papers on these topics.

Grates has counseled more than 100 organizations and CEOs, including PepsiCo, Caterpillar, Shell, Kraft, Nissan, GE, Carrier/United Technologies, Novartis, Mellon Bank, Exxon/Mobil, Shell, Global Foundries, AMD, Visa, Yum! Brands, eBay, Wyeth, British Airways, United Airlines, BASF, Pfizer, Coca-Cola, Denny’s/TW Services, ABInBev, Kimberly Clark, The McGraw-Hill Companies, ITT, Vale, and Dell.

From 2006 to 2011, Grates established the Global Change and Employee Engagement Practice at Edelman, the world’s largest public relations firm, which involved creating a network of specialists and developing a distinct portfolio around change management, internal communications, social media, and employee engagement for organizations around the world.

Prior to Edelman, he served as Vice President-Corporate Communications of North America at General Motors Corporation, where he was responsible for brand, product, media, internal, financial, and public policy communications for the company’s largest region of operations.

He is an Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications; a Teaching Professor at ABERJE, the Brazilian Public Relations Association; and a Trustee of Utica College of Syracuse University. Grates is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, PRSA, IABC, National Corporate Directors Association (NACD), and the Institute for PR Research (IPR). He was named one of Newhouse School’s “Top 40” graduates.

Gary and his wife Laurene reside in Carmel, New York. The couple has three children.