Richard Hyde

Executive Vice President, Hill & Knowlton
Consultant, Center for Risk Communication
New York, New York

Mr. Hyde has more than 40 years of experience in corporate public relations, threat management and risk communication.  He began his professional career with Hill and Knowlton in New York and advanced through positions of increasing responsibility.  He managed major corporate accounts; headed up a field office at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; helped establish the firm’s Chicago office; managed H&K’s Midwest division composed of three offices; lead the corporate practice upon returning to New York, and launched the firm’s first crisis communication asset group.  He was named a Fellow at the Center for Risk Communication in 2000.

His interest in threat management and risk communication stems from direct involvement with the Three Mile Island nuclear accident when H&K was retained one week after that accident started in March 1979.  He led response teams for such high profile crises as Union Carbide Corporation at Bhopal, India, the crash of Swissair Flight 111 and the International Olympic Committee’s controversial selection of Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Games.

In addition to serving as team leader for scores of H&K clients’ actual crisis events, Mr. Hyde created the firm’s unique simulation exercises.  These training sessions adapt the military’s forceful war-gaming techniques to the worlds of business, government and other organizations.  He has conducted workshops throughout the United Sates and in 14 other countries.