Mark Davis
Global Practice Leader, Issues Management & Strategic Messaging
Mark Davis is the global practice leader, issues management and strategic messaging of The Torrenzano Group, a reputation and high-stakes issues management firm specializing in building and protecting reputations, helping clients grow their business and enhance brand and shareholder value.
Expertise
Mark has years of experience advising leaders at the highest levels of government, politics, business and finance. He has helped C-Suite leaders with executive communication and message strategy in sectors ranging from biotechnology, to telecommunications, to transportation, to financial services.
Mark is adept at high-stakes messaging. He has worked with international energy companies to balance global messages against local sensitivities. He has helped manage the messaging strategy for judicial appeals and “bet-your-company” lawsuits for a leading car company and a major railroad. He advised a major transportation company on one of the largest mergers in U.S. business history.
As a White House speechwriter, Mark worked for President George H.W. Bush in drafting a prime-time Joint Session of Congress address declaring America's determination to lead a world coalition against Saddam Hussein. He also advised the president in his remarks in Europe at the end of the Cold War, including drafting the landmark “Europe Whole and Free” speech that the president gave in Mainz, then-West Germany.
Mark Davis served as a member of the senior staff of California Governor Pete Wilson, where he oversaw the Office of Public Affairs and managed the governor's speechwriting staff. Mark served Gov. Wilson through many crises, including the LA riots, the Northridge earthquake, the Oakland Hills fire, as well as a time of drought and chronic deficit.
Mark also served as the chief speechwriter of the Republican National Committee, where he wrote several political speeches for President Ronald Reagan and members of the president’s cabinet.
He taught business communication courses to MBA candidates at the Haas Graduate School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Mark earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and an M.A. in history from Stanford University.
Mark’s writings have appeared in Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and U.S. News & World Report. Mark is also the co-author, with Richard Torrenzano, of Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand, or Business Against Online Attacks, (St. Martin’s Press-Macmillan, 2011) hailed by Charlene Li, author of Groundswell, and former CIA director Michael Hayden as essential reading.
Mark is adept at high-stakes messaging. He has worked with international energy companies to balance global messages against local sensitivities. He has helped manage the messaging strategy for judicial appeals and “bet-your-company” lawsuits for a leading car company and a major railroad. He advised a major transportation company on one of the largest mergers in U.S. business history.
As a White House speechwriter, Mark worked for President George H.W. Bush in drafting a prime-time Joint Session of Congress address declaring America's determination to lead a world coalition against Saddam Hussein. He also advised the president in his remarks in Europe at the end of the Cold War, including drafting the landmark “Europe Whole and Free” speech that the president gave in Mainz, then-West Germany.
Mark Davis served as a member of the senior staff of California Governor Pete Wilson, where he oversaw the Office of Public Affairs and managed the governor's speechwriting staff. Mark served Gov. Wilson through many crises, including the LA riots, the Northridge earthquake, the Oakland Hills fire, as well as a time of drought and chronic deficit.
Mark also served as the chief speechwriter of the Republican National Committee, where he wrote several political speeches for President Ronald Reagan and members of the president’s cabinet.
He taught business communication courses to MBA candidates at the Haas Graduate School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Mark earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and an M.A. in history from Stanford University.
Mark’s writings have appeared in Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and U.S. News & World Report. Mark is also the co-author, with Richard Torrenzano, of Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand, or Business Against Online Attacks, (St. Martin’s Press-Macmillan, 2011) hailed by Charlene Li, author of Groundswell, and former CIA director Michael Hayden as essential reading.