PR’s Moment to Shine: How Communicators Responded in “The Year to Remember”

Eliot Hoff is the Executive Director and Global Crisis Practice lead at APCO Worldwide. He's a recognized expert in crisis management and preparedness. He works with his clients on their most challenging issues and has experience in all industries. He has specific expertise in product recalls and has managed some of the largest and most complex recalls in the food and consumer products sector. Prior to APCO, he was a vice president in Ruder Finn’s corporate reputation practice, also focusing on crisis management. Before Ruder Finn, he was the director of Connors Communications. While there, he launched several companies in the technology sector, including Vonage and Schema Ltd. He went to Connors from Hill and Knowlton, where he was part of the litigation group of the corporate practice. He is an attorney who began his career as associate director at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), where he implemented and expanded media relations and grassroots community outreach program in the New York region and served as spokesperson in the national and local media.

Amanda Minto is the director of HR communications for Technology, Product, Xperience at Comcast, where she uses strategic communications to drive the employee experience and support the employee value proposition. Believing that transparency is best, Amanda has extensive experience with crisis and issues management dealing with more than 100 reductions in force and reorgs, site closures/moves, product sunsets, employee accidents and facility incident preparedness, and most recently COVID-19 response and Return to Office planning. In her current role, she leads employee communications related to all things HR including organization culture, talent and career programs, People Leader strategy and executive communications. Amanda lives outside of Philadelphia with her wife, two kids and two dogs.

Phil Caruso is a senior manager of issues management for Walgreens. In this role, he serves as a spokesperson among top tier business and general media on a wide scope of issues and proactive opportunities. He's an experienced communications practitioner skilled at advancing and protecting reputations through rapid response, issues management, crisis communications and public affairs advocacy across retail, health care and commercial trucking sectors.

Christian Bove is a lead communications director at USAA in San Antonio, TX working on the media and public relations team. He began his career at USAA helping to build its crisis communications and issues management program. Prior to USAA, he served nearly four years as the public information officer and public relations manager for the San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD), where he was responsible for managing crisis communications response, media relations and social media for the department. Before that, he worked in radio as a news director, anchor and reporter.

Jenna Reck is the director of communications at Target, where she is responsible for leading the retailer’s crisis communications team and efforts. In this role, she helps enhance and protect Target’s reputation by leading integrated communications around incident response, issues and reputation management. Reck has a passion for telling great stories and working collaboratively to manage public and enterprise communications strategies.

Jesse Lewin is the director of field brand reputation at McDonald's, where he leads its U.S. grassroots communications team. He's a senior communications leader specializing in grassroots and national efforts for political campaigns, the White House and Fortune 10 companies. Before McDonald's, he worked in the health care practice at Burson-Marsteller, managed consumer media and stakeholder relationships on behalf of Ford Motor Co., and worked in the White House office of communications and the White House press office.