Allison+Partners announced that Barbara Laidlaw has joined as managing director of global reputation risk + advisory. In her new role, Laidlaw will be responsible for overseeing the growth of the agency’s global issues management, crisis and risk mitigation capability. Laidlaw will report to Matthew Della Croce, partner and global president, Europe + Corporate.
“Building and protecting corporate reputation has never been more critical,” said Della Croce. “As we continue to expand our corporate practice globally, Barbara’s broad expertise in corporate reputation and risk management, as well as her proven success managing high-profile crises, gives me great confidence in the immediate value she’ll add for our clients.”
Laidlaw brings more than 20 years of domestic and international experience leading reputation management, change management, risk and crisis communications campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. Her expertise spans multiple highly regulated sectors including financial services, professional services, food and beverage, healthcare, corporate and public affairs.
“This is a tremendous opportunity,” said Laidlaw. “Allison+Partners is doing some of the best work in our industry and continues to grow. I am looking forward to building on what the team is already doing—and most importantly, to deliver the most impactful solutions for our clients.”
Most recently, she served as managing director at Burson-Marsteller. There, she oversaw global clients streamlining and growing activity worldwide, providing strategic communications advice and change management. Prior to that, she was the president and owner of BEL Communications, providing strategic crisis communications counsel, corporate strategy and positioning, media training and internal communications to international and local clients.
Formerly, she was an executive vice president and head of the crisis and issues, digital corporate and public affairs groups at Edelman. She was also a partner and senior vice president at Fleishman Hillard in their corporate financial and corporate affairs practices.
