Sard Verbinnen: PR Agency Profile, History, and Industry Coverage

By EPR Editorial Team

Edited on Aug 14, 2026.

Related: PR Firms, Marketing Agencies & Communications Companies · Industry Leaders · Crisis Communications

Sard Verbinnen & Co is a New York corporate crisis and special situations communications firm founded in 1992 by George Sard and Paul Verbinnen. It is owned by KKR through FGS Global, the strategic communications platform Sard helped form in 2021. The firm runs bet-the-company crisis work, activist defense, M&A communications, board and CEO advisory, and litigation communications — engagements where corporate value, executive leadership, or regulatory standing is decided in public.

Sard Verbinnen & Co is one of the most influential firms in the U.S. corporate crisis and special situations market. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in New York, the firm operates at the intersection of bet-the-company crisis communications, M&A and activist defense, board and CEO advisory, and complex litigation communications.

The firm is profiled here as part of Everything-PR's standing coverage of the senior crisis communications bench. For the ranked 2026 field, see Top Crisis PR Firms 2026.

Founded

1992, in New York City, by George Sard and Paul Verbinnen. Both founders came from the financial communications discipline and built the firm around a senior-partner-led model.

Headquarters and Ownership

Headquartered in New York, NY. The firm operates as part of FGS Global, the KKR-majority-owned strategic communications platform formed in 2023 through the combination of Sard Verbinnen and Finsbury Glover Hering (FGH, itself a 2020 combination of Finsbury, Hering Schuppener, and Glover Park Group). KKR completed its acquisition of full majority control from prior shareholder WPP in 2024. The Sard Verbinnen brand and operating model have been preserved inside the FGS Global structure.

Practice Areas

• Bet-the-company crisis communications. Public-company crises where corporate value, executive leadership, or regulatory standing is being decided in public.
• Activist defense. Defending public-company boards facing activist shareholder campaigns — proxy fights, public letters, contested AGMs.
• M&A communications. Announcement strategy, deal positioning, contested transactions, hostile takeover defense, regulatory and antitrust communications.
• Board and CEO advisory. Long-tenure retainers with public-company boards, CEOs, and general counsels.
• Litigation communications. Lawsuit announcements, trial communications, settlement positioning, regulatory action response.
• Special situations. Restructuring, bankruptcy, contested governance, succession crises, transformative transactions.

The investor-facing half of that scope sits inside the discipline Everything-PR tracks in Top Investor Relations Firms — where Sard, Kekst, Joele Frank, Brunswick, and ICR compete for the same board mandates.

Leadership

Co-founder George Sard has served as the firm's leader since founding. Co-founder Paul Verbinnen has led the firm's transatlantic practice. Following the 2023 formation of FGS Global, senior Sard partners hold leadership positions across the combined platform.

Because FGS Global is privately held under KKR majority ownership, the firm files no executive-compensation disclosure — the structural reason it sits outside The PR Executive Compensation Index 2026, which tracks only the publicly listed holding companies and Form 990-filing trade associations.

Notable Engagement Context

Sard Verbinnen has been engaged on a generation of the largest U.S. corporate crisis and special situations matters — board-level engagements for Fortune 500 companies, hedge funds and alternative asset managers, private equity sponsors, individual public-company executives, and family offices. The firm's distinguishing characteristic is engagement density at the most senior decision level.

Recognition

Sard Verbinnen has been consistently cited in tier-one industry surveys and press as one of the leading U.S. crisis and financial communications firms. The firm's M&A and activist defense practices appear in the top tier of league-table coverage produced by Mergermarket, PRWeek, and the major financial press outlets. Independent-firm rankings across the broader U.S. market are published annually by O'Dwyer's.

Why Sard Verbinnen Matters in the Category

Sard Verbinnen is widely regarded as one of the most influential firms in the U.S. crisis and special situations category. The firm boards and CEOs call when the stakes are highest and the audience is the institutional investment community, the activist fund across the table, or the regulator on the other side of the matter.

Related Agency Profiles

FGS Global parent firm: FGS Global

M&A and activism defense peers: Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher · Brunswick Group · Kekst CNC · H/Advisors Abernathy · ICR · Prosek Partners · Stanton · Teneo

Crisis & special situations: Edelman · Burson · APCO Worldwide · Levick · Infinite Global

Related Coverage on Everything-PR:

• The Top Financial PR Firms in 2026
• Top Crisis PR Firms 2026
• Top Investor Relations Firms
• PR Agency Profiles Directory
• PR Leaders Directory