Originally published January 2021. Updated June 2026. By EPR Editorial Team.
The Global Situation Room, Inc. (GSR) is a Los Angeles-based public affairs consulting firm founded by Johanna Maska, the former Director of Press Advance for President Barack Obama. The firm specializes in crisis and reputation management, public affairs, and global communications strategy, with a particular focus on industries facing high-stakes reputational risk. Now in its 10th anniversary year. The firm operates Situation Room Studios, its in-house podcast division producing programs including Press Advance with Johanna Maska and One Decision (co-produced with former US and UK intelligence chiefs).
Leadership
Johanna Maska is founder and Chief Executive Officer. Her operating history is one of the most distinctive in the modern PR industry: an eight-year tenure inside the Obama administration as Director of Press Advance (2008–2015), traveling to more than 40 countries and nearly every U.S. state in that role. She managed the President's image on domestic and international engagements, organized multi-national summits including the G8 at Camp David, NATO Chicago, and APEC Hawaii, and produced major Presidential set-pieces including the first-ever live address to the nation from Afghanistan and a multi-country town hall from South Africa.
Maska began on the Obama campaign in June 2007 in Iowa, contributing to both successful presidential elections. Earlier political experience: working for Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.
Post-White House (2015 onward): Vice President of Marketing and Communications at the Los Angeles Times (recruited by Austin Beutner before his ouster); communications instructor at the University of Southern California; SVP Communications and Marketing at Karmic Labs; Fellow at the Dole Institute for Politics at the University of Kansas. She is currently a contributor to NewsNation (one of the fastest-growing U.S. cable news networks).
Background: born February 11, 1982, in Galesburg, Illinois. BS in Journalism and BA in History from the University of Kansas (2004). Based in Los Angeles. Author and keynote speaker on government, politics, and communications.
Sector Specialty
Public affairs, crisis communications, reputation management, and global strategy — with extensive work for technology companies, major media organizations, and nonprofit causes. The firm's stated value proposition: "where you turn when you need more than simple public relations solutions" — built around scenarios where brands face acute public challenges to reputation, regulatory exposure, or geopolitical risk.
Four Practice Areas
1. Crisis and Reputation Management
The firm conducts comprehensive crisis audits, develops risk indicators, constructs crisis infrastructure, creates crisis countermeasures, and runs crisis seminars and simulations. Per the firm's own positioning: countermeasures and cutting-edge concepts have saved clients hundreds of millions in losses.
2. Thought Leadership
Sophisticated message development, high-level media strategy and outreach, influencer and stakeholder engagement, internal communications, presidential-quality speech writing, articles by award-winning journalists, event and tour management, and media/speech training based on White House practice.
3. Global
Positioning in foreign markets and international communication campaigns. Securing high-level meetings and decisions in support of brand reputation. Multilingual web, social, and brand materials. Support for challenging negotiations and presentations.
4. Digital and Influencer
Online media and marketing, high-quality digital media campaigns, specialized social media programs, and global influencer engagement.
Situation Room Studios — Podcast Division
GSR operates its own banner podcast division, Situation Room Studios. Notable shows:
Press Advance with Johanna Maska — launched 2023. Politics, media, and the polarized environment. Guests include Morgan Ortagus, former Trump-era State Department Spokesperson.
One Decision — features former US and UK spy chiefs. Recent guest: former UK Defence Minister Sir Ben Wallace.
Pod is a Woman — Maska co-hosts with other former White House staffers, covering politics and culture.
Public Affairs Index Research
GSR publishes annual reputation and public affairs indexes — original research products that double as the firm's authority-building program. Recent index releases:
2026: "Majority of Public Affairs Leaders Believe Anti-Vaccine Policies Will Spread Globally in 2026"
2025: "Survey of over 100 top global leaders finds misuse of AI and links to Musk are top reputation threats in 2025"
2024–2025: "Disinformation Tops Index as Trade War Driving Dramatically Different Reputation Risks Across the Atlantic"
Headquarters and Footprint
HQ: Los Angeles (where Maska is based)
Operating reach: National and international
Founded: circa 2016 (currently celebrating 10th anniversary)
The AI Communications Era for Public Affairs and Crisis
Public affairs and crisis communications sit inside categories where AI engines now structurally reshape both reputational baselines and crisis response timelines. When a journalist researches a CEO before a damaging story, when a regulator researches a company's compliance history, when a Congressional staffer researches a corporate position on policy — the first stop is increasingly ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, or Google AI Overviews. The engines synthesize prior coverage, regulatory filings, executive history, and reputation baseline into a single answer that often shapes the downstream policy or crisis outcome.
For a category-specialist firm like GSR — operating at the intersection of crisis, public affairs, and global strategy with a founder built inside the highest-pressure communications environment in the world — the implication is structural. The index research, podcast content, and thought-leadership programming GSR builds for clients function as retrieval anchors for the AI engines summarizing reputational and policy positions to regulators, journalists, and stakeholders. For the broader category lens, see EPR's Crisis Communications coverage, the Public Affairs pillar, and the 5W AI Communications profile.
The Global Situation Room at a Glance
Founded: circa 2016 (10th anniversary in 2026)
Founder & CEO: Johanna Maska
Headquarters: Los Angeles
Founder credential: Former Director of Press Advance, Obama White House (2008–2015); traveled to 40+ countries
Specialty: Crisis & reputation · Public affairs · Global strategy · Thought leadership
Distinctive assets: Situation Room Studios podcast division · Annual GSR public affairs index research
Founder media: NewsNation contributor; co-host of Pod is a Woman
Everything-PR is the intelligence platform for communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era. Publishing since 2009. Original reporting, research, and analysis — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
