The Department of Communication Studies

Peter has been active in corporate communications and marketing for nearly 30 years, first as principal and executive director of marketing and business development for Coopers & Lybrand (Canada), then as principal and director of worldwide marketing and communications for Booz, Allen & Hamilton. He joined Price Waterhouse in 1992 as head of firm-wide communications and led the communications function through the Price Waterhouse/Coopers & Lybrand merger in 1998. In 1998, he was appointed Global Public Relations Leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers, a position he held from 1998-2002 and from 2003-2007. In 2002, Peter left PricewaterhouseCoopers to help Deloitte Consulting transition through a spin-off from its parent company as Global Director of Public and Analyst Relations. The spin-off was cancelled because of poor economic conditions in the consulting sector, and Peter returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers. He retired from PwC in 2007 and is now Chief Marketing Officer for Shearman & Sterling, the international law firm.

In all these roles, reputation management has been a central focus of Peter's professional life. He has been responsible for developing and executing crisis communications strategies encompassing internal and external communications, as well as public relations. Peter has advised on highly sensitive issues in connection with mergers, deal collapse, CEO transitions, high-profile leadership changes, civil litigation, sexual harassment and other HR-related issues, criminal matters involving corporate executives, protests by activist organizations, and regulatory issues and sanctions. While many of these have focused on the U.S., others have had significant cross-border and international dimensions.
His principal areas of expertise include global corporate communications, communications strategy development, public and media relations, analyst relations, internal communications, media measurement and crisis management.

Peter is a frequent speaker at U.S. and international communications conferences and symposia and has been a guest lecturer at several schools of journalism and corporate communications. He is well-known to business journalists and, over the years, has worked closely with The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and Business Week on major initiatives. He currently teaches Communications Studies at Baruch College in Manhattan.

Peter is a member of the Global Communications Forum, the Arthur Page Society, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Commerce and Manufacturers. He holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of St. Andrews.

Selected Publications and Speeches

“The Challenge of Communicating Complexity,” Communicon ’89, convocation sponsored by the University of Georgia (May 1989).

“Communicating a Merger,” Conference Board Annual Corporate Communications Seminar (October 1998).

"The Global Employee Volunteer: A Corporate Program for Giving Back," Journal of Business Strategy, Volume 27, No. 3 (2006). With Peter Hirsch.

“Hook, Line and Sinker: Marketing as Standard Equipment for Tomorrow’s Professional Firm,” Association of Accounting Marketing Executives Annual Conference (May 1991).

“Information Technology and Business Development: A Critical Interface for Law Firms in the ‘90s,” 1992 Law Firm Technology Conference (May 1992).

"Managing Reputation," Corporate Communications Institute (December 2006).

“Information Technology as a Marketing Enabler,” Legal Tech ’93 (January 1993).

“The New Openness: Transparency and the Rebuilding of Public Trust,” Fairleigh Dickinson University, June 2002.

“The Next Wave: Integrating Marketing in the Professional Services Firm,” American Marketing Association Miami Chapter (February 1993).

“Power Marketing: The Fusion of Institutional Promotion and Personal Relationship Building,” Arthur Andersen Annual Sales Conference (September 1991).

“Rethinking Professional Services Marketing: Say Goodbye to the Capabilities Brochure,” Professional Services Marketing Association (September 1989).

“Successful Communications Strategies for Professional Firms,” Public Relations Society of America (November 1989).

“Using Media Measurement and Analysis in the Creation of a World Class Brand,” PRSA International Conference, Atlanta, October 2001.

"What If: How to Prepare and Respond to a Corporate Crisis," View Magazine, Number 3 (December 2005).

“When Law Firms Make the Headlines: Taking the Bite out of Media Scrutiny,” Marketing for Lawyers (June 1992).

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Related Areas of Study

• Business Communication