Greg Dunn

D. Gregory Dunn is a seasoned crisis communications counselor with deep experience in major international, as well as boutique, public relations firms. Dunn began working with Kurth Lampe in 2015 to effectively leverage his diverse background in helping corporate clients, non-profits and faith-based groups tell their stories, build their reputations, increase sales and manage through crisis situations.

Prior to working with Kurth Lampe, Dunn’s work included establishing a Chicago office for a national public relations agency. Before joining that firm, he spent more than a decade with one of the world’s largest public relations agencies. While there, Dunn became head of the corporate reputation offering within the U.S. Corporate Practice, working with large blue-chip and smaller niche companies, as well as select non-profits. He served as client leader for several of the firm’s major clients, while also supporting other clients in the areas of executive positioning, branding, corporate social responsibility, internal communications, and crisis preparedness and issues management.

Mr. Dunn provided counsel on a range of crisis assignments during this time, including:

AIG – beginning in October 2008, he was a key part of the team engaged to support the world’s leading insurance organization as it fought for survival at the peak of the U.S. financial system crisis. The agency team provided counsel across all levels of the organization, and maintained a seat at the table with the C-Suite during the worst months of the crisis. While the team was charged with helping to triage the massive number of requests for information from all key external and internal stakeholders, they also helped focus their AIG counterparts on crafting a longer-term story that painted an optimistic picture about the company’s survival. While supporting the overall agency effort, Mr. Dunn also served as the point person partnered with senior leadership of AIG’s largest divisions, ensuring consistency of message between the divisions and parent company, while also helping the divisions achieve some degree of separation from the parent company’s positioning, where helpful. In this capacity, he helped the divisions maintain ongoing, open communication channels with employees, trade and business media and other stakeholders.

HealthMarkets – Mr. Dunn was engaged by a small Texas insurance company to help the company re-brand itself (it was known as UICI at the time). His team’s focus shifted rapidly, however, as UICI received a “cease and desist” letter from the insurance commissioner of a key state. Mr. Dunn led the agency team that counseled the CEO and his executive team in dealing with this issue … which soon turned into a full-blown crisis, as 26 state insurance commissioners eventually banded together and launched a “multi-state” investigation into the company’s marketing practices, among other areas. Media interest was intense – and included a front-page USA Today story and an array of broadcast pieces – and Mr. Dunn’s team helped lead company management through the challenging process of anticipating as much as possible, while also reacting where needed. Ultimately, the team helped blunt the inaccurate allegations, while also drawing somewhat more favorable coverage for the company in light of the corrective actions it was taking.

Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America – When the then-CEO was indicted by the Department of Justice on price-fixing charges, Mr. Dunn was brought in to help the client prepare for both media and internal queries. The agency team helped develop a message track that supported a transition to an interim CEO, while also insulating the company itself from criticism.

Dunn and his wife – a fellow Andrews University alum -- live on the south side of Chicago, where he and their children actively participate in the Hyde Park Constellations Pathfinders club.