Healy Corporate Communications LLC is a boutique public relations firm that specializes in crafting corporate positioning and publicity strategies for clients operating in an array of industries, including health care, financial services, talent development, and technology. The firm’s founder and principal, Sean Healy, is a specialist in financial media relations and publicity strategy execution. He founded Healy Corporate Communications in 2008 to advance the communications, branding and PR strategies for a roster of anchor corporate clients, including The Coca-Cola Company and Cardinal Health. His client list now includes Avaya; CareFusion, a spinoff of Cardinal Health; and Korn/Ferry International, among others.
For three years, as his firm took root, Mr. Healy also was a senior consultant to Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, a large PR agency that’s owned by the Omnicom Group. As a senior consultant through 2011, he supported the publicity efforts of major corporate clients, including ADP, AkzoNobel, Columbia Business School and AlixPartners.
Before establishing his own communications consultancy some four years ago, Mr. Healy, 48, was a senior vice president and partner in Fleishman-Hillard’s corporate group in New York.
Before joining the PR firm in 2004, his first stint at an agency, Mr. Healy spent some 20 years as an in-house corporate communications practitioner. From 2004-2008, he was the corporate public relations director at EDS, the $20 billion technology services company (since acquired by HP). There, he managed the national and financial media relations functions, responsible for the working relationships with major business media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, USA Today, and the news wire services. He also served as company spokesman.
Mr. Healy managed EDS’ external communications, including media strategy on corporate financial performance and M&A activity. His work included oversight of the media relations effort in support of EDS’ CEO and CFO transitions in 2003, which brought former CBS Chairman Mike Jordan to the company. He also designed the messaging and media strategy launching EDS’ transformation effort under Mr. Jordan.
Mr. Healy’s EDS work ranged from coordinating post-September 11 media activity on client disaster-recovery efforts to generating national publicity on EDS’ renowned Super Bowl ads.
Before joining EDS, Mr. Healy was vice president of media relations at Visa USA. Based in New York as Visa’s primary financial media contact, he crafted PR strategies to increase the use of Visa payment products and served as print and broadcast spokesperson on a host of topics, including online security, holiday shopping spending expectations and debt levels.
Mr. Healy’s 25-year career in public relations and corporate communications has also included a senior PR role at AlliedSignal (now Honeywell), where he oversaw publicity strategy to boost the company’s reputation for manufacturing excellence, Six Sigma quality and management savvy under CEO Larry Bossidy.
Mr. Healy began his corporate communications career at the NYNEX Yellow Pages unit in Lynn, Mass., where he crafted publicity strategy, including an ongoing program to use shifts in yellow pages headings as a prism on societal and business trends.
In 1989, the telecommunications company, now known as Verizon, promoted Mr. Healy and relocated him to corporate headquarters in White Plains, N.Y., where he managed financial communications, including shareholder reports and quarterly earnings.
Mr. Healy has a B.S. degree in public relations from Boston University’s College of Communication and an M.B.A. in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He is an adjunct professor at NYU, where he sometimes teaches a graduate course in media relations.
From 1981-1985, while attending Boston University, Mr. Healy worked for the Boston Red Sox ticket office, where he calculated the attendance for all home games at Fenway Park.
Mr. Healy lives with his wife and two daughters in Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J., a small Bergen County town located some 15 miles northwest of New York City. He also serves as a volunteer firefighter in the town.
January 2012