Matthew Hiltzik: Publicist for Bieber, Baldwin, Couric

Matthew Hiltzik is the founder and CEO of Hiltzik Strategies, an independent crisis and strategic communications firm whose client list has included Justin Bieber, Alec Baldwin, Katie Couric, Kelly Ripa and Hillary Clinton. He was appointed to the board of the New York City Economic Development Corporation in 2015 and remains on it in 2026, a governance seat rarely given to a communications professional.

Originally published May 30, 2018. Updated October 6, 2026.

Matthew Hiltzik at a Glance

Who Is Matthew Hiltzik?

Matthew Hiltzik founded Hiltzik Strategies in 2008 after building a career that moved between politics, entertainment and independent PR. He holds an undergraduate degree from Cornell and a JD from Fordham Law School, and he is a member of the New York State Bar Association. He began as Press Secretary and Deputy Executive Director of the New York State Democratic Committee, then took senior communications roles on campaigns for Senator Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton.

From politics he moved to entertainment, joining Miramax Films as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Government Relations. In 2005 he left to launch the US operations of UK-based Freud Communications as President and CEO. He founded Hiltzik Strategies in 2008 and has run it as an independent firm ever since.

What Does Hiltzik Strategies Do?

Hiltzik Strategies is a New York and Los Angeles based strategic communications firm built around corporate communications, crisis management, litigation support, media relations and digital strategy. The firm serves executives, entrepreneurs, athletes, ownership groups and entertainment talent across media, sports, finance, technology and philanthropy.

Business Insider has ranked Hiltzik Strategies among the top crisis management practices in the United States. The client roster over the firm's history has included Katie Couric, Kelly Ripa, Hillary Clinton, Ivanka Trump, Alec Baldwin, Justin Bieber, Glenn Beck, Brad Pitt, Eric Schmidt and Nicole Shanahan. The firm also coordinated publicity for the 80th Golden Globe Awards in 2023.

Most of that roster shares one trait. The work is bounded and high sensitivity, the kind of assignment where success looks like an absence of headlines rather than a surge of coverage. That posture is rare at scale, and it is the reason Hiltzik has stayed a senior-led boutique rather than joining a holding company or expanding into a high-volume network model.

Why Was Hiltzik Named to the NYCEDC Board?

Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Hiltzik to the board of the New York City Economic Development Corporation in 2015, the first time a public relations professional had held that governance seat. The NYCEDC is the city's official economic development corporation, deploying city assets toward growth across real estate, infrastructure, life sciences, advanced manufacturing and emerging technology.

Eleven years later, Hiltzik remains on the board, including its Legal Committee. What was framed at the time as a symbolic appointment has aged into a working precedent. Communications counsel now sits alongside legal and financial counsel when a city like New York decides how to compete with Boston, Austin and Miami for capital and talent.

What Sets Hiltzik's Firm Apart From Larger PR Networks?

Hiltzik Strategies has stayed independent and bounded in scale since 2008. It has not been acquired by a holding company, and it has not expanded into the dozens-of-offices model that defines the global networks. That decision is also what qualified its founder for a governance seat: boards recruiting communications counsel increasingly value demonstrated crisis discipline and operating tenure over network scale.

Hiltzik's practice sits in the same tier as other senior-led boutiques covered in EPR's agency profiles directory, and alongside founder-publicists such as Leslee Dart of 42West and Amanda Silverman of The Lede Company, who built comparable client-first practices.

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