Premiere Speakers Bureau

James E. Lukaszewski (loo ka SHEV skee) advises, coaches, and counsels the men and women who run very large corporations and organizations. The bulk of his practice is in the Western Hemisphere, although he has clients from many parts of the world. He believes that the communications problems they face can only be resolved through superior personal leadership skills combined with positive, ethical, strategic communication.

He is an expert in managing and counteracting tough, touchy, sensitive corporate communications issues. He counsels companies facing serious internal and external problems involving: activist counteraction; community relations and grassroots campaigns; corporate relations failures; reputational threats; crisis communication management; employee relationship building; ethics/integrity/compliance; litigation visibility management; management communication strategies; media relations strategy and analysis; public affairs/exposure management; strategic Web site construction; Web-based attacks; and corporate survival strategies. His broad-based experience ranges from media-initiated investigations to product recalls and plant closings, from criminal litigation to takeovers. He is frequently retained by senior management to directly intervene and manage the resolution of corporate problems and bad news. The situations he helps resolve often involve conflict, controversy, community action or activist opposition. The fastest growing portion of his practice involves civil and criminal litigation.

His clients will tell you that he is a pragmatist and straight shooter. He is a teacher, thinker, coach, and friend with the unique ability to help executives look at problems from a variety of principled perspectives. He teaches clients how to think through and strategize in new ways and to take appropriate, highly focused, ethically appropriate action. He has personally counseled, coached, and guided thousands of executives in organizations large and small from many cultures representing government; the military and defense industry; the agriculture, banking, computer, financial, food processing, health care, insurance, paper, real estate development and telecommunications industries; cooperatives; trade and professional associations; and non-profit agencies. He is a coach to many CEOs.

He helps prepare spokespersons for crucial public appearances, local and network news interviews including 20-20, 60 Minutes, Dateline NBC, and Nightline, financial analyst meetings, legislative and congressional testimony; and personal coaching for executives in trouble or facing career-defining problems.

He is a prolific author (six books, hundreds of articles), lecturer (corporate, college and university), trainer, counselor, and public speaker. He is a member of Public Relations Review’s Board of Professionals, a contributing editor for Public Relations Quarterly, member of InfoCom’s Media Relations Insider editorial advisory board, frequent columnist and member of PR News’ editorial board, columnist for O’Dwyer’s PR Services Report, columnist for PRSA’s magazine, The Strategist, and was the first crisis columnist for PRSA's member publication, PR Tactics. His 1992 book, Influencing Public Attitudes: Strategies that Reduce the Media's Power, remains a classic work in the field of direct communication. The Public Relations Society of America released the first three volumes of his Executive Action Crisis Communication Management System in September 2000: War Stories and Crisis Communication Strategies, An Anthology; Crisis Communication Planning Strategies, A Workbook; and Media Relations During Emergencies, A Guide. The fourth volume, Crisis Communication Plan Components and Models: Crisis Communication Management Readiness, was published in May 2005. His newest book, Why Should the Boss Listen to You?, was published by Jossey-Bass in February 2008. He has published 25 monographs on critical communication subjects since 1994.

He is an internationally recognized speaker on crisis management, ethics, media relations, public affairs, and reputation preservation and restoration. He addressed the 2004 U.S. Army Worldwide Public Affairs Symposium; 2005 Worldwide Food Expo in Chicago; 2006 IABC International Conference in Vancouver; and most recently the 2007 conferences of the U.S. Air Force Public Affairs Officers, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Information Officers Association, Puerto Rico PR Association, ABERJE in São Pãulo, Brazil, ASIS International 53rd Annual Seminar in Las Vegas, CPM West, Health PR & Marketing Society, IABC Heritage Region Conference, Media Relations Summit, New York Personnel Council, PR Counsel of Alabama, and PRSA Int’l Conference in Philadelphia. He has addressed several Canadian trade and government conferences and meetings including the National Agriculture Awareness and the Government of Canada Communicators, and most recently Natural Resources Canada, Service Canada, and Transport Canada. Visiting his Web site, www.e911.com, is like attending the University of Crisis Management.

An accredited member of the International Association of Business Communicators (ABC) and the Public Relations Society of America (APR), Mr. Lukaszewski is a member of the PRSA’s College of Fellows (Fellow PRSA); Board of Ethics & Professional Standards; the Corporate and Public Affairs/Government Sections; and the New York City and Westchester/Fairfield Chapters. He is recognized by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics as a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). He is also a member of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, the International Churchill Society, and a member and speaker for ASIS International. He served as a crisis communications advisor to the International Disaster Advisory Committee, Agency for International Development, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance from 1989 to 1992, and is a civilian advisor to several other federal agencies including the United States Marine Corps. He lectures annually at the U.S. Marine Corp’s East Coast Commander’s Media Training Symposium and was the second recipient of its Drew Middleton Award. He is the recipient of Ball State University’s National Public Relations Achievement Award, Patrick Jackson Award for Distinguished Service to PRSA, PR News Lifetime Achievement Award, Lloyd B. Dennis Distinguished Leadership Award, and named 2007 Minnesota Metropolitan State University Alumnus of the Year and 2007 Practitioner of the Year by the Southern New England chapter of the PRSA.

Lukaszewski received his BA in 1974 from Metropolitan State University in Minnesota. He is a former deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Economic Development and assistant press secretary to former Minnesota Governor Wendell Anderson. He founded Minnesota-based Media Information Systems Corporation in 1978. Prior to founding The Lukaszewski Group Inc. in 1989 he was senior vice president and director of Executive Communication Programs for Georgeson & Company and a partner with Chester Burger Company, both in New York City. His biography is listed in several editions of Marquis Who’s Who in America. His name also appeared in Corporate Legal Times as one of “28 Experts to Call When All Hell Breaks Loose,” and in PR Week as one of 22 “crunch-time counselors who should be on the speed dial in a crisis.”