Michael W. Robinson
Chairman & CEO
Michael W. Robinson draws on three decades as a trusted counselor and strategist to global C-Suite executives, Boards of Directors, marketplace leaders, two Republican Administrations, and elected officials – and his involvement in the highest-profile business, financial, and public policy issues from Wall Street to the White House to the highest levels of Corporate America – to help clients achieve the full range of their near- and long-term goals.
Michael has helped hundreds of public and private companies, trade associations, elected and appointed government officials in the U.S. and overseas, and non-profit organizations achieve their business, reputational, and legislative-regulatory goals; counseled organizations and their leaders – including Boards – through challenging crisis situations; and driven a broad array of national award-winning corporate brand campaigns.
Prior to founding Montgomery Strategies, Michael launched the Washington, D.C. office of ICR, one of the country’s leading financial communications and investor relations firms. While there, he led communications for a wide range of publicly-traded clients, of all sizes, through long-term reputational campaigns and crisis matters, including SEC enforcement actions, data breaches, and special situation engagements.
Previously, Michael was a Partner with Omnicom-owned CLS Strategies, a Washington public affairs firm – and before that spent nearly a decade at corporate and crisis communications firm LEVICK. As Executive Vice President there, Michael led the communications War Room at AIG during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, created and put in place the successful multiyear, award-winning corporate reputation campaign for CITGO, implemented the public affairs program that helped secure regulatory approval for the Borse Dubai–NASDAQ merger, and worked with a broad cross section of the nation’s leading law firms on multi-billion dollar, precedent-setting litigation.
As the SEC’s Chief Spokesman and Public Affairs and Policy Director under Chairman Harvey Pitt, Michael directed the development of policies and commentary across a wide array of issues, including post-9/11 recovery, Sarbanes-Oxley, Enron, WorldCom, and other high-profile enforcement and policy matters.
Michael subsequently led the communications initiatives in the U.S., Europe, and Asia in connection with Freddie Mac’s $6 billion accounting restatement and successfully managed its political impact. As Chief Communications Officer of Friedman Billings Ramsey Group, Inc., Michael headed all external and internal corporate communications and marketing, as well as investor and government relations – and cemented the firm’s reputation as one of the nation’s top ten investment banks and capital markets firms.
Michael also directed global communications for The NASDAQ Stock Market and FINRA/NASD. While there, he led the effort to establish NASD Regulation as a viable regulator for the securities industry and created communications and marketing campaigns that positioned NASDAQ to retain its largest listed companies during a scandal.
Michael was also a key member of the global communication team for Mobil Corporation, and helped direct the successful communications strategy in support of the $98 billion Exxon-Mobil merger. He was a senior spokesman for the Department of Justice as well as a member of President George H.W. Bush’s communications team in The White House Press Office and held policy and fundraising roles in the campaigns of George H.W. and George W. Bush.
In 2009, Michael was named Public Affairs Executive of the Year by PR News. At The New York Times in the 1980s, Michael was a member of the Business Section when it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the October 1987 stock market crash, and worked with the team that won the Pulitzer for its coverage of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.
Michael holds a B.A. from Syracuse University (Magna Cum Laude) with degrees in Newspaper Journalism and Political Science.