Kirk Petersen

Current

Independent Writer & Communications Consultant at www.kirkpetersen.net

Past

Marketing Director at Social Media Today LLC
Vice President at Robinson Lerer & Montgomery
Director of New Media at Citigroup

VP, Managing Editor of New Media at Merrill Lynch
Media Relations Manager at University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey
Night News Editor at The Home News

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Education

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-Newark
Princeton University

Recommended

2 people have recommended Kirk

Connections

310 connections

Industry

Public Relations and Communications

Websites

Kirk Petersen’s Summary

Versatile communications professional with extensive experience in consulting, speechwriting and other writing, employee and HR communications, publication management and website content development. Has built Intranets at two Fortune 40 companies, and served as speechwriter for the CEO of one of them. In addition to 15 years in financial services, has consulting experience in industries including health insurance, pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare, entertainment and retailing. Adept at clarifying complicated topics and tailoring written material to diverse audiences.

Kirk Petersen’s Specialties:

Financial services, speechwriting, internal communications, web content development

Kirk Petersen’s Experience

Independent Writer & Communications Consultant

www.kirkpetersen.net

(Public Relations and Communications industry)

June 2007 — Present (2 years 6 months)

• Provide writing, editing and consulting services for a variety of clients.
Marketing Director

Social Media Today LLC

(Public Relations and Communications industry)

March 2008 — August 2008 (6 months)

• Served as part-time Marketing Director for Social Media Today LLC, a startup that creates and manages social networking sites for business purposes; drafted business plan; organized trade show exhibit; provided editorial and user-experience support. Relationship continues on an advisory basis.
Vice President

Robinson Lerer & Montgomery

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Public Relations and Communications industry)

2002 — 2007 (5 years )

• Provided communications counsel and editorial services to a diverse group of Fortune 500 and other clients across multiple industries, including finance, pharmaceutical, insurance, technology, oil, airline, retail and others.
• Billed up to 2,350 hours annually on fast-paced teams managing strategic communications projects, including unexpected CEO transitions, bankruptcies, crises, acquisitions, litigation support, and corporate reputation initiatives.
• Defused two potentially hostile Congressional hearings through intensive witness preparation. Drafted and polished highly effective oral testimony; drafted or edited written testimony and Q&A, and participated in speaker training.
• Served as on-site HR communications manager at a financial services firm for 11 weeks prior to a merger. Supervised drafting of dozens of employee policies, and managed all employee communications for a complicated benefits transition.
Director of New Media

Citigroup

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; C; Financial Services industry)

2000 — 2002 (2 years )

• Led development of new Intranet to integrate and reorganize legacy Intranets of major subsidiaries (Citibank, Travelers, Salomon Smith Barney).
• Negotiated with internal content owners and technologists worldwide to gain acceptance of common navigational structure and "look-and-feel."
• Launched new Intranet on September 10, 2001 – then coordinated use of internal and external websites for crisis communications beginning the following day, when 15,000 employees were displaced from downtown offices.
• Developed and launched daily email newsletter to all 250,000 employees, with headlines and links to the Intranet, resulting in doubled traffic on news site.
VP, Managing Editor of New Media

Merrill Lynch

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; MER; Financial Services industry)

1988 — 2000 (12 years )

• Coordinated efforts of editors, designers, HTML producers and technologists to create, deliver and internally market new Intranet content on a daily basis.
• Developed and launched weekly email newsletter to all 70,000 employees, providing links to further information on the Intranet.

VP and Manager of Executive Communications (1993-1997)
• Served as primary speechwriter for CEO Dan Tully, drafting remarks for internal and external audiences.
• Wrote and desktop-published a quarterly, two-page report for all employees, featuring commentary from the CEO on key corporate priorities.
• Helped produce introductory communications campaigns for employees of companies acquired in London and Tokyo.

VP and Editor, Internal Communications (1990-1993)
• Wrote and desktop-published a weekly, two-page internal newsletter to 6,000 managers and senior professionals.
• Produced extensive marketing campaign explaining the 401(k) plan, leading to sharp increase in participation.
Media Relations Manager

University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey

(Educational Institution; 10,001 or more employees; Hospital & Health Care industry)

1986 — 1988 (2 years )

• Supervised staff of six media relations specialists for state medical university with six schools on three campuses.
Night News Editor

The Home News

(Public Relations and Communications industry)

1980 — 1986 (6 years )

• Various reporting and editing roles at Central Jersey daily, ending as Night News Editor supervising a staff of 14 reporters.

Kirk Petersen’s Education

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-Newark

None , MBA program , 1986 — 1988

Activities and Societies:

Accumulated one-third of credits toward MBA degree.
Princeton University

Bachelor's , Politics , 1976 — 1980

Activities and Societies:

Editorial Page Editor, The Daily Princetonian