Peter Hirsch

Peter Hirsch is a strategic communications counselor with more than 25 years experience in corporate image, financial communications and crisis management. His clients have included a diverse group of global multinationals including AstraZeneca, Bank of Tokyo, FTSE, Fujitsu, GlaxoSmithKline, HP, Macquarie Bank, Penske, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Wyeth. He has also worked for trade associations such as the National Tooling and Machining Association and the Securities Industry Association. In addition to his consulting work, he is currently teaching a course in corporate communications and Web 2.0 at Baruch University.

Hirsch has a broad range of experience in crisis and issues management. He represented the Greek government during the TWA hostage-taking at Athens airport and counseled the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico after the DuPont Plaza Hotel fire. Other governments he has advised include the Philippines during debt re-negotiations under President Aquino, Colombia and Cyprus. He is an expert in litigation public relations and has counseled many companies in product liability lawsuits and other crisis situations, including C.R. Bard, CBS-TV, Collagen Corporation, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals (now Novartis), G.D. Searle and U.S. Surgical. 

Hirsch regularly consults with clients on web-related issues such as breaches of privacy, denial of service attacks and consumer boycotts. He has made presentations on managing corporate reputations online to The Conference Board, the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and at the Stern School of Business at New York University. In addition to Columbia University, he has also taught crisis communications as an associate professor at  Fordham University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. He has published articles and been cited on the subject of global public relations strategies in numerous publications, including The Financial Times, Corporate Communications International, Investors Business Daily, IR Magazine and PR Week.