• Jerry Lawrence •

Jerry Lawrence serves as Senior Media Counselor and leads the company’s media relations practice. Lawrence has more than a decade of experience in journalism and public relations. His expertise is in media relations, reputation and issues management, crisis communications, and speechwriting.

Having previously worked as a newspaper reporter covering local government, transportation and criminal justice issues, Lawrence has extensive experience as a writer along with strong, established contacts with national and local print and broadcast media. His relationships have helped clients secure placements in broadcast, print and digital media across the country.

Previously, Lawrence worked as a Vice President for Fleishman-Hillard where he provided strategic media and public affairs counsel to clients such as AT&T; served as Midwest lead for communications during the merger of AT&T and SBC Communications; coordinated media activities throughout the Midwest for the subsequent re-branding of the company as AT&T; coordinated media activities throughout the Midwest for the close of the merger between AT&T and BellSouth; provided strategic media planning to corporate clients such as Ernst & Young, Gatorade, Fair Isaac, and Egon Zehnder International; served as strategic media counsel on labor issues for Hilton Hotels, AT&T and the University of Chicago Hospitals; and helped create the Society of Professional Journalists Campaign for Ethical Journalism.

Lawrence served as Deputy Press Secretary to the Cook County State’s Attorney, the Illinois elected official in charge of the second largest prosecutor’s office in the United States. While acting as primary spokesman for the office, Lawrence organized communications programs in support of major legislative efforts, wrote speeches and managed media relations around high-profile cases that garnered national media attention.

Lawrence earned a Master of Arts degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.