Crisis Communications
I have extensive experience dealing with a variety of business/corporate situations including:
- product recalls with the FTC – exploding batteries
- product quality issues with field corrective actions
- supplier disruptions with fires at manufacturing facilities
- allegations of sub-standard conditions for factory workers
- JIRA ticketing system breach by hackers
Superfish
The Superfish software crisis hit Lenovo at an inopportune time – during the start of the Mobile World Congress, an important tradeshow and product launch for the company. I triaged corporate communications strategy and support from Barcelona along with leadership in RTP so our message on the ground was consistent with response at our headquarters. Our response to what was being conveyed as “third party spyware” software loaded onto Lenovo PCs consisted of several media statements with immediate action to remove the preinstalled software with automatic fixes/free McAfee virus monitoring and long term development of a security review board within the company to scrutinize any third party applications. We monitored media coverage and social sentiment online. Our apology, humility, and “taking it on the chin” was the right response, and our commitment to doubling down on security going forward helped shorten the media cycle and the depth of criticism. We made sure our customer letter from our SVPs echoed the same key messages in our media statements.
Wayne County Schools
During my time as Public Information Officer (PIO) for Wayne County Schools, NC, I encountered so many crisis and issues management situations. At the time, advanced text message deployment services were expensive and out of reach for many school districts, so I relied on email and printed letters sent home in student backpacks. I served as spokesperson for the local media, providing written statements and giving interviews. I managed many acute situations including:
- Teacher misconduct
- Student contagious illness in the classroom
- Threats of gang violence at a high school football game
- A hit list found at a middle school and copycat situation at the neighboring high school
- Student drowning on a field trip
- Racial imbalance of student population
Kristy Fair 