CYNTHIA E. HARDIE

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND SENIOR PARTNER

GENERAL MANAGER

FLEISHMAN-HILLARD CHICAGO

 

Cynthia Hardie is a senior vice president, senior partner and the general manager of the Chicago office of Fleishman Hillard. She has more than 25 years of wide-ranging experience in public relations, marketing communications, corporate reputation, crisis communications, and labor communications.

 

Ms. Hardie’s background includes corporate reputation counseling, executive positioning, issues management, labor communications, employee relations, and community relations for major corporations and leading brands, including PepsiCo, AT&T, USF Corporation, Career Education Corporation, True Value, Abbott Laboratories, Motorola, Northfield Laboratories, Office Depot, Bridgestone/Firestone, Sara Lee, UPS, United Airlines, Diamond Walnut, and Procter & Gamble.

 

Experienced with a variety of crisis issues, Ms. Hardie has handled communications and reputation issues involving airline crashes, labor disputes, product recalls, censorship, hostile takeovers, environmental issues, and consumer boycotts.

 

Work for corporate clients has included programs to enhance rankings on Fortune’s Most Admired list, establishing thought leadership in an industry segment, developing change management programs, and crisis preparation and management. She also has managed a number of labor communications programs around work stoppages, corporate campaigns, picket line violence, organizing attempts, decertification votes, and facilities closings.

 

Before joining Fleishman-Hillard in 1997, Ms. Hardie was with Northlich in Cincinnati where she was responsible for strategic communications planning, trade relations, and crisis and issues management for clients including Procter & Gamble, Heinz Starkist Foods, Fifth Third Bancorp, and Iams Pet Food.

 

Ms. Hardie began her career in the news media and worked for newspapers in Chicago, Cincinnati, and Kansas City. She served as both an editor and reporter for the Daily Herald, the Kansas City Star and the Cincinnati Post. She began her public relations career with Hallmark Cards.

 

Ms. Hardie holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Indiana University.

 

She can be reached at (312) 751-8878.