Leadership

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Richard Torrenzano

Read an Interview with Richard Torrenzano on Crisis Management

Richard Torrenzano is chairman and chief executive of The Torrenzano Group, a reputation and high-stakes issues management firm specializing in building and protecting corporate reputations, enhancing shareholder value and helping clients grow their businesses.

The Torrenzano Group helps organizations take control of how they are perceived™.

Game Changing Book

The best selling, game changing book: Digital Assassination: Protecting your Reputation, Brand or Business Against Online Attacks, co- authored by Richard Torrenzano  was published by St. Martin’s Press, visit:  www.digitalassassinationbook.com

Digital Assassination reveals how the Internet is used to destroy brands, reputations, even lives. It exposes strategies digital assassins use to attack victims and shares specific actions to turn the tables on this skullduggery…to protect your family, job, business and good name. It is the preeminent work on Reputation Management in the Internet age.

Background

Rich has counseled chief executives and boards of international corporations in the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia, as well as several heads of state.

He has extensive hands on experience in the world’s financial markets.  Throughout a period of rapidly developing public policy issues, historic levels of market activity, unprecedented change in world affairs and intense media coverage, Rich planned and directed the New York Stock Exchange’s worldwide activities and programs.

For nearly a decade, he was a member of the Big Board’s management (policy) and executive (operations) committees. On the firing line as the NYSE’s chief spokesman, he has a unique vantage point on corporate America.

Global Crisis Expert

He managed some of the most visible global corporate crisis in our lifetime including the October 1987 market crash, and the 1998 Federal Reserve Bank’s billion recapitalization of Long-Term Capital Management, financed by a consortium of 14 of the world’s largest financial institutions.  His counsel and work helped restore confidence in U.S. capital markets.

Following the September 11^th terrorist attacks, he provided counsel to top executives at Merrill Lynch, Lloyd’s of London, Nasdaq Stock Market, National Association of Securities Dealers, American Stock Exchange and Security Traders Association – all significantly affected by the attacks.

In the current global economic downturn, he has been visible advising corporations on an array of market, reputation and corporate branding issues.

Rich developed and implemented public strategies to deal with other significant market moments including insider trading scandals, corporate mergers, acquisitions and IPOs, corporate governance and shareholder activism issues, bankruptcies, regulatory and disciplinary actions and digital trading.

As a top corporate officer, he has made a specialty of identifying emerging issues and managing responses for digital attacks, large scale computer system buildups or breakdowns, product tampering and liability, planned or unexpected management and board changes, fires, bomb threats, special interest protests, terrorism, as well as local, regional, federal and international government oversight committees, commissions, studies, testimony and rulings.

International Scope

At the request of the President of the United States – following the Bush-Gorbachev Malta Summit - Rich was instrumental in negotiating and planning the landmark NYSE USSR-US Moscow seminar on financial markets.  It was attended by several hundred academic, business, financial, and government leaders in the Soviet Union.  The program served as a catalyst for the opening of new exchanges in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Rich was also part of the delegation that advised key political and business leaders of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland on their transition to capitalism and opening of the financial markets in those countries.

He negotiated and planned the historic China-US symposium on financial markets in Beijing.  Those meetings with key government and business galvanized the opening of the stock exchange in Shanghai, moving China towards a new economic system.

Concurrent with those activities, Rich coordinated White House-related activities for the NYSE CEO in his capacity as chairman of President Reagan’s Board of Advisors on Private Sector Initiatives.

Corporate Positions

Rich was director and senior vice president, corporate affairs and a member of the Executive Management Committee for SmithKline Beecham, Plc (SB). SB, was one of the world’s leading healthcare companies with more than 300 products marketed in 130 countries and revenues exceeding billion. SB merged with Glaxo in 2000.

Based in London, he had worldwide responsibility for government affairs and public policy, investor relations and financial communications, issues and industry relations, communications and philanthropic activities. 

Under his leadership, during an intense political climate in healthcare, corporate affairs was re-energized through management changes, deployment of technology and integration of strategic business plans – all of which strengthened and enhanced SB’s global policy reach.

Honors and Awards

Rich was awarded The Ellis Island Medal of Honor and has been recognized by several distinguished international organizations.  He is a Knight of Malta; Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Holy Sepulchre; Knight Commander Jus Patronato of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George, and Knight Grand Cross, Royal Order of Francis I, both Royal House of Borbone; Knight, Order of Merit, Republic of Italy; Knight Commander, Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, and Knight Commander, Order of Merit, both Royal House of Savoy.

He is the recipient of several significant professional awards, including two Public Relations Society of America’s Silver Anvil awards for institutional and investor relations programs. 

In the United States, Rich serves on the board of the New York State Trooper Foundation, a member of the Economic Club of New York and National Press Club, Washington, D.C.   He also served as a member of the Private Sector Advisory Committee to the United States Information Agency, US State Department, Washington, DC.

He received a bachelor’s degree in behavioral sciences from the New York Institute of Technology.  He served on the university’s board of trustees and its executive committee for more than twenty years.  Rich holds NYIT’s two highest honors: the president’s medal for outstanding service to the community and an honorary Doctor of Letters.  He completed the executive program of the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, California.

An avid sailor, he is a trustee of the Whaling Museum, Cold Spring Harbor, New York.

Frequent Speaker

Rich is a frequent speaker and author on digital and computer attacks and issues, crisis management, social media, and conducting business with cross cultural barriers. He helps businesses understand how to survive the fish bowl of global competition in an era of intense public scrutiny, media proliferation and hype. 

He is often quoted in business periodicals and makes numerous appearances on network news programs.

To book him as a conference speaker or review some of his appearances visit:  www.torrenzanotalks.com or the news section of www.torrenzano.com  

 

Contact:

Elizabeth McAleer

emcaleer@torrenzano.com

212-681-1700