Eric Dezenhall

Eric B. Dezenhall (born September 9, 1962; pronounced DEHZ-in-hall) is an American crisis management consultant, author, and founder of Washington D.C.-based public relations firm Dezenhall Resources. His aggressive tactics on behalf of his clients have made him both a target of criticism and a quoted pundit on crisis communications.[2][3]

Eric Dezenhall
Born
Eric B. Dezenhall

(1962-09-09) September 9, 1962[1]
Camden, New Jersey
Nationality United States of America
Alma materDartmouth College
OccupationCrisis management, public relations
EmployerDezenhall Resources
TitleFounder and CEO
WebsiteDezenhall.com

Career

Born to a Jewish family in Camden, New Jersey, Dezenhall grew up in nearby Cherry Hill and Pennsauken Township.[4] He graduated from Cherry Hill High School West[5] and studied news media and political science at Dartmouth College.[6] Dezenhall worked briefly in President Ronald Reagan's White House communications office.[7] After a four-year stint at Porter Novelli, Dezenhall and boss Nick Nichols left to form Nichols-Dezenhall Communications Management Company in 1987.[8] The company's name was shortened to Dezenhall Resources Ltd. in 2004 after Nichols retired in 2003.[9]

Dezenhall Resources

Dezenhall is founder and CEO[7] of public relations firm Dezenhall Resources,[6] which represents high-profile clients facing "crisis, conflict, and controversy."[10] Dezenhall's published writing on public relations focuses on how a celebrity or corporation can successfully defend their reputation in the face of "a lawsuit, a sex scandal, a defective product, or allegations of insider trading," among other crises.[11]

Kevin McCauley, from O’Dwyer's PR Report, regards Dezenhall "as one of the most effective in his specialty, calling him ‘the pit bull of public relations.'"[7]

Clients

Although Dezenhall does not comment on clients and contracts, Business Week reported that Dezenhall had been hired by ExxonMobil/Public Interest Watch, lawyers representing former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, O'Melveny & Myers, Mark Geragos (attorney for Michael Jackson), and Eli Lilly and Company;[7] TIME identified Procter & Gamble and General Electric;[12] and The Hill cited Community Financial Services Association of America as clients of Dezenhall.[13]

He was contracted by the Association of American Publishers to run an up to half million dollar campaign against the open access movement.[14] In a series of emails that were leaked to the journal Nature, Dezenhall concedes that "it's hard to fight an adversary that manages to be both elusive and in possession of a better message: Free information," and suggests joining forces with think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute in an attempt to persuade key players of the potential risks of unfiltered access. "Paint a picture of what the world would look like without peer-reviewed articles," he added.[15] AAP CEO Patricia Schroeder praised Dezenhall and told The Washington Post that the association hired Dezenhall's firm when members realized they needed help. "We thought we were angels for a long time and we didn't need PR firms."[16]

Writing

Dezenhall has written extensively, in news publications and through several fiction and nonfiction books. His subjects often deal with difficult and complex hidden underworlds, including organized crime and spies. He first chronicled the diaries of the late mobster Meyer Lansky in The Baltimore Sun in 2001; two years later he published Money Wanders, a fictional account of organized crime in Atlantic City, where Dezenhall spent his summers growing up.[17][18] In 2011, Lansky was the main character in Dezenhall's historical fictional novel, The Devil Himself, about Lansky's work with Naval Intelligence during World War II to secure the ports in New York City against Nazi sabotage. His 2018 non-fiction book (coauthored with Gus Russo) Best of Enemies: The Last Great Spy Story of the Cold War chronicles the friendship between the KGB's Gennady Vasilenko and the CIA's Jack Platt. The book details for the first time Platt's critical role in identifying the FBI's Robert Hanssen as the mole inside the US intelligence community.[19]

As a leading expert about crisis communications, Dezenhall wrote Nail 'em: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities and Business and Glass Jaw; he coauthored Damage Control: Why Everything You Know About Crisis Management is Wrong.[20][21]

Dezenhall's other novels include Turnpike Flameout, Shakedown Beach, Jackie Disaster, and Spinning Dixie.[22]

Criticism

In 2001, Dezenhall reportedly tangled with Bill Moyers while representing the chemical industry based on Moyers’ documentary Trade Secrets.[7] Dezenhall has been criticized for being a "spin doctor" who lowers the quality of public debate for the sake of protecting business interests.[23] His effort on behalf of Exxon to pressure the Internal Revenue Service to revoke Greenpeace's tax exempt status was condemned by environmental advocates.[24] His efforts on behalf of traditional publishers to combat open access to scientific research have been an ongoing source of controversy in the academic community.[25]

Published works

Nonfiction
  • Nail 'em: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities and Business. Prometheus. 2003. ISBN 978-1-59102-047-9.
  • Damage Control: Why Everything You Know About Crisis Management is Wrong. Coauthored with John Weber. Portfolio Hardcover. 2007. ISBN 1-59184-154-2.CS1 maint: others (link)
  • Glass Jaw. Twelve. 2014. ISBN 978-1455582976.
  • Best of Enemies: The Last Great Spy Story of the Cold War. Coauthored with Gus Russo: Twelve. 2018. ISBN 978-1538761311.

Fiction

References
  1. Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2002
  2. "Where Do All the Disgraced C.E.O.s Go?," By John Schwartz, The New York Times, Oct. 13, 2017, accessed October 28, 2018
  3. "Controlling a Political Crisis," online transcript, the Washington Post, March 17, 2008, accessed October 28, 2018
  4. "In Person; The Suburban Mobster as Genre", The New York Times, June 8, 2003. Accessed January 1, 2018.
  5. "Acclaimed author returning to Cherry Hill to discuss Devil Himself," Jewish Community Voice, July 13, 2011. Accessed January 1, 2018.
  6. "About Eric". Eric Dezenhall. 2006. Archived from the original on January 24, 2007. Retrieved January 30, 2007.
  7. Javers, Eamon (April 17, 2006). "The pit bull of public relations". BusinessWeek online. McGraw-Hill. Retrieved January 30, 2007.
  8. Salmans, Sandra (June 8, 2003). "IN PERSON; The Suburban Mobster as Genre". The New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
  9. PR Watch, Volume 11, Number 4, Fourth Quarter 2004, p.11, accessed October 28, 2018
  10. "About - Dezenhall Resources". Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  11. Damage Control - Eric Dezenhall - Penguin Group (USA)
  12. Sachs, Andrea (April 19, 2007). "The new world of crisis management". TIME. Retrieved December 30, 2007.
  13. Schor, Elana (September 6, 2006). "Consumer groups team with Pentagon on interest rate caps". The Hill. Retrieved December 30, 2007.
  14. Giles, Jim (January 25, 2007). "PR's 'pit bull' takes on open access. Journal publishers lock horns with free-information movement". news @ nature.com. Nature Publishing Group. Archived from the original on September 6, 2007. Retrieved November 22, 2008.
  15. David Biello (January 26, 2007). "Open Access to Science Under Attack". Scientific American. Retrieved February 2, 2007.
  16. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012501705_pf.html. Washington Post. January 25, 2007
  17. Fictionalizing a Career in Damage Control, by Eric Dezenhall, Beatrice.com, accessed October 28, 2018
  18. "A Bitter Mobster's Foreboding Diaries by [[Eric Dezenhall, The Baltimore Sun, July 29, 2001]
  19. Dezenhall books, access date: October 28, 2018
  20. "Eric Dezenhall". Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  21. "Author Takes New Approach to 'Damage Control'". NPR.org. May 10, 2007. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  22. "Fiction by Eric Dezenhall". Eric Dezenhall. Retrieved December 30, 2007.
  23. The perils of PR pitbulling - Information World Review Archived 2012-08-04 at Archive.today
  24. Spinwatch - "The Pit Bull Of Public Relations" Archived 2007-12-17 at the Wayback Machine
  25. David Biello. "Open Access to Science Under Attack". Scientific American. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
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