Ruder Finn launches global reputation management practice

HONG KONG - Ruder Finn today announced it has created a global reputation and risk management team, to be headed by Charles Lankester.

Hong Kong-based Lankester has been promoted to executive vice president, global reputation and risk management, while Christine Dusek, executive vice president, and Robin Grainger, director of connected communications, will respectively lead Ruder Finn’s US and European offerings.

“Reputation risk is a primary issue for all our clients and is accelerated by their increasingly international operations and instant social circulation of news, images and data,” said Kathy Bloomgarden, Ruder Finn CEO. “Our new practice will disrupt those outdated models to provide our clients with an enriched, forward-looking digital resource that will help them mitigate and manage reputational risk.”

The practice will focus on four business areas in risk and reputation management: predictive analytics, intelligence, preparedness and precision response. 

Lankester said: “With zero divide between new and traditional media, private and public sector organisations need to ensure they fully understand the evolving threats and opportunities. With a badly managed corporate crises causing irreparable financial and reputational damage, we have identified the themes, behaviors and approaches that will work in 2017, and also those that will fail.”