Brunswick Group is headquartered in London, England. They have 23 offices in 14 countries, and four of the offices are in the U.S. — San Francisco, Dallas, New York, and DC. Brunswick was founded in 1987 and focuses on business, financial, investor, and mergers and acquisitions sectors, and all things related to those areas, as well as crisis management, employee communications, public affairs, and corporate campaigns. It is the top financial communications consultancy in the U.K. and has held that top spot or near it for many years.
Leadership, Clients, and Accolades
It is estimated that Brunswick represents as much as one-third of the top 100 corporations on FTSE. They are fairly quiet about the organizations they represent, but some that they have represented over the years include British Airways, Safeway, Standard Life, EMI, Marks & Spencer, and Newcastle United.
Brunswick was co-founded by Alan Parker (Executive Chairman), who at last report owns 88% of the Channel Island’s Brunswick Group holding company. Parker is the son of Sir Peter Parker the former chairman of British Rail. Parker is also friends with former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Another U.K. Prime Minister, David Cameron, attended Parker’s wedding as well sharing vacation time at least once on a trip to South Africa in 2008. Over the years, the firm has donated both money and time in benefit of Labour Party efforts.
The other co-founders are Louise Charlton, who currently serves as Group Senior Partner along with Andrew Fenwick, financial director of the group. The Group CEO is Susan Gilchrist, and the U.S. Managing Partner is Michael Buckley. The agency doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about themselves or their accomplishments on their website. Maybe that’s not unusual for a firm that deals with ultra-conservative sectors such as financial institutions, insurance companies, and the like. The news out of their company is almost all about internal promotions and new hires. For almost everything else, they fly under the publicity radar.
Getting a Job There
It looks like becoming part of their team requires creativity, financial understanding, and knowing how to be circumspect. If you are interested, check out the current openings at brunswickgroup.com/people/careers. Or you can check out their office, their culture, and a bit of their humor at brunswickgroup.com.