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Ed Harnaga is Executive Vice President and Practice Head of Ruder Finn’s Corporate Reputation Group where he is responsible for developing and managing strategic internal & external communications programs that enhance our client’s reputations across all stakeholder groups including investors, consumers, employees, NGOs, and public officials.  Mr. Harnaga has advised numerous Fortune 500 CEOs and corporations on a variety of communications issues ranging from corporate branding and social responsibility programs to communications strategy for mergers, acquisitions, restructurings and CEO positioning.   

In his years at Ruder Finn, Mr. Harnaga has worked on numerous award winning programs for a broad spectrum of clients including, Gerber, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Novartis Consumer Health, Starbucks, International Power, Schering Plough, Trinity Industries, Deutsche Bank, Pfizer, Human Genome Sciences, The Governors Island Group and The State of California Department of Finance.  Mr. Harnaga has also been responsible for several high profile issues management programs in the pharmaceutical and consumer products industries.  His experience ranges from product tamperings, defects and class action suits to FDA recalls.

Mr. Harnaga has an extensive 14-year corporate communications background.  Prior to joining Ruder Finn, Mr. Harnaga was an Executive Vice President and co-founder of Strategic Research Institute, where he was responsible for the research, development, marketing and communications strategy for hundreds of corporate and institutional investor conferences and conventions.  In this role, Mr. Harnaga worked closely with numerous CEOs, CFOs and Corporate Finance Executives to develop presentations to improve the positioning of their organizations with key stakeholder groups including the investor and analyst communities.

Mr. Harnaga has taken part in numerous global communications task forces in the public affairs arena including the Council on Foreign Relations’ Task Force on Improving U.S. Public Diplomacy and the East-West Institute’s US-Russian Task Force Against HIV/AIDS.   Mr. Harnaga also serves on the Corporate Advisory Board of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  Mr. Harnaga holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the State University of New York at Albany and has also studied international organization and European integration in Paris, France.