Associate

The Role: Associate, Client Handler, Chicago  

Brunswick Group is seeking an Associate with strategic and crisis communications expertise to join our growing Chicago office. Associates are able to leverage their own specialized skills and backgrounds while operating in Brunswick’s generalist environment. 

About Brunswick 

Brunswick is a strategic advisory firm focused on critical issues. Our purpose is to help the great value-creating organizations of the world play a more successful role in society. 

We advise on critical issues at the center of business, politics and society, and help our clients – the leaders of large, complex organizations – understand and navigate these interconnected worlds. 

Brunswick is one firm globally, operating as a single profit center. This allows us to respond seamlessly and effectively to clients’ needs wherever they are in the world. 

The Americas  

In the U.S., we have offices in Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. In Brazil, we have an office in Sao Paulo. We advise clients on, among other things, domestic and cross border M&A, IPOs, activism, capital markets and investor relations, public and regulatory affairs, geopolitical issues, litigation, crisis, cyber, employee engagement, digital, opinion research and on broader reputation campaigns.  

Colleagues in the U.S. are drawn from a variety of backgrounds and consist of in-depth industry and sector experts from banking, law, accounting, politics, government, journalism and the media, consulting and elsewhere. Our U.S. CEO is Nik Deogun.  

The Chicago Office  

Chicago is home to some of the world’s most iconic and well-respected companies, many of whom play a leading role on the global stage. We recognize the vibrancy of the Midwestern business community and leverage our strong network – both in the US and internationally – to help our clients better navigate the ever-evolving corporate, civic, and political landscape. 

Our team contains wide-ranging expertise, with a particular focus on supporting clients during periods of significant change, risk, and public scrutiny. This includes domestic and cross-border M&A, IPOs, and other capital markets transactions as well as broader corporate reputation campaigns and leadership communications around critical issues including crisis, litigation and activism defense. The Chicago office also serves as the global hub for Brunswick’s Employee Engagement offer, which helps leadership teams to communicate more effectively with their employees on critical business issues including leadership, talent, culture, and strategy execution. 

Background 

Founded in London in 1987, Brunswick’s global partnership has grown organically to 27 offices in 18 countries. We began as a M&A and financial communications firm and, over time, expanded our capabilities and expertise to crisis communications and communications on other business critical issues. We invested in new offices, sectors and a wider variety of offers for clients such as public and regulatory affairs, major litigation, business and society, cyber, employee engagement and digital. Our in-house creative agency, Merchant Cantos, delivers creative, visual content for clients. 

We rank number 1 in the world over the last five years by global deal value and global deal volume and were named Band 1 advisors in the U.S. and the UK earlier this year by Chambers and Partners, the legal rankings service, as one of the very top communications firms offering legal and litigation support work. 

Our CEO is Neal Wolin, based in Washington, D.C. Our Chairman is Sir Alan Parker, based in London. 

Responsibilities may include but are not limited to: 

Client Contribution & Handling 

• Serve as an expert to clients on reputation, financial and crisis situations across multiple industries 
• Provide relevant insight, guidance and advice to clients 
• Play integral role in new business process; manage RFPs and participate in pitch preparation 

Team Management 

• Manage and mentor team members; work with Partner and Director on the day-to-day management of staff and client deliverables 
• Manage the development of key client documents by playing a vital role in drafting, editing and routing throughout the internal process and external delivery 
• Oversee research assignments; responsible for distilling a large amount of information into the most impactful and helpful points 
• Plan and execute client announcements and events, managing: 

• • Strategic communications plan development 
  • Preparation of strategic communications documents including talking points, Q&As, day-of rollouts, media backgrounders, etc. 
  • Media handling and approach 
  • Announcement or event logistics 
  • Organize media meetings and logistics 

Networking 

• Foster a network of journalist contacts and relationships 
• Develop relationships with the analyst and investor community to understand issues and priorities 
• Proactively build a network locally to identify talent referrals, new business prospects and media contacts 

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 

• 7-10+ years of relevant work experience in an advisory role for corporate reputation, financial and crisis situations 
• Deep understanding of business and finance 
• Ability to operate effectively in an entrepreneurial, fast-paced environment 
• Exceptional written and verbal communication ability 
• Energetic team player with strong self-motivation 
• Experience managing teams and passionate about mentoring junior staff 
• Ability to think strategically and creatively, with strong problem-solving skills 
• Strong attention to detail with the ability to multitask in high-pressure situations 
• Exhibit discretion with confidential client matters 
• Knowledge of the media landscape 
• Knowledge of Factiva, Bloomberg and other research resources 

Ideal Candidate: 

• A rising advisor with experience counseling clients on business-critical issues (e.g. crisis, M&A, financial situations, geopolitical, etc.) 
• Adept at navigating and succeeding within high-performance, entrepreneurial environments 
• Excellent communicator with professional polish and strong emotional intelligence 
• Entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit 
• Desire to mentor and willingness to train junior staff 
• Terrific sense of humor