Chris Nelson: Crisis Management

Last Thursday I attended a speaker hosted by Ohio Northern’s Public Relations Student Society of

America (PRSSA) and the DCBA Dean’s Advisory Council. The speaker, Chris Nelson, presented on

crisis management. Even though I am a graphic design major, I found the talk very interesting. 

He started out at The Ohio State University. After college he worked in the communications

department of the university medical center and Ashland Chemical. After working at the university,

he moved to New York to work at Burson-Marsteller New York as a crisis management consultant for

clients like Colgate and Phillip Morris and Kraft. 

Nelson now works as a freelance crisis management consultant in New York City, New York. He

works with his clients to prepare for, manage and and manage crisis situations. He has worked in a

range of industries with product contaminations, data breaches, product recalls, chemical spills,

workplace violence, corporate espionage, activists attacks and labor issues. He has also planned

crisis management plans and training for clients.  He advised the chief executive officer of one of the

first nine banks to receive TARP funds during the financial crisis to help avoid criticism most banks

were facing. 

Even though I am not a public relations or communications major, I still found Chris Nelson’s talk

very informative. He his a lot of points that I felt were really important for business owners and public

relations and communication specialised should know. It was interesting how he thought threw

issues and how many important clients he has worked with.