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By Alexei Oreskovic
Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO – At a conference six months ago, Facebook’s 26-year-old chief executive was literally dripping in sweat as he fielded tough questions about his company’s privacy practices and a forthcoming movie portraying him as manipulative and arrogant.

On Wednesday, a poised, perspiration-free portrait of Mark Zuckerberg graced the cover of Time magazine, which crowned him its Person of the Year, capping what may be one of corporate America’s most remarkable transformations.

The make-over of Zuckerberg’s public image has been hard to miss, with a high-profile donation to New Jersey public schools in September and appearances on television programs like “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “60 Minutes.” It has occurred as Facebook, the world’s No. 1 Internet social network, sees its audience of “friends” and its influence swell.

…

“One of the things he’s done is he’s made a conscious move to not let somebody else define who he is, but to go out and sort of let people know who he is,” said Jim Bates, of the crisis communications firm Sitrick and Company, which has helped rehabilitate the images of such clients as R&B singer Chris Brown and celebrity socialite Paris Hilton.

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Sitrick and Company’s Michael Sitrick is spokesperson for IMG Worldwide chairman Ted Forstmann, target of a lawsuit that claims he bet more than $600K from 2004-07 on NCAA basketball tournament games that were coached by clients of the big agent/sports programming shop.

The crisis PR pro told the Dec. 1 New York Times that the list of the alleged bets cited in the fraud complaint lodged by Jim Agate, head of Agate Printing, is inaccurate. He’s confident Forstmann will prevail, if the suit ever goes to trial.

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The Portuguese cork industry, backed by the Portuguese government, is undertaking an American-style campaign with a green twist.

Actually, “twist” might be the wrong word, because the campaign seeks to encourage wineries to use cork stoppers rather than aluminum twist-off caps or stoppers made of plastic and other synthetic materials. The campaign includes advertising, public relations, a Web site, events and a presence in social media like Facebook and Twitter.

The campaign promotes cork by playing up what are proclaimed as its significant advantages over alternatives on environmental and sustainability grounds. That separates it from other efforts that have sold the use of cork for bottles on the issue of taste.

To underline that message, the campaign refers to cork as “natural cork” and carries the theme “Approved by nature.”

There are also some unconventional elements to the campaign like coasters made of cork that will proclaim “Put a cork in climate change.”

The campaign is being handled by the Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco offices of Sitrick & Company, the public relations and communications agency, which has brought in the Citizen Group in San Francisco, a shop that specializes in what its founder, Robin Raj, calls pro-social marketing and “building citizen brands.”

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Deposed H-P CEO Mark Hurd has hired Sitrick & Co. for PR counsel as he navigates the aftermath of his forced resignation from the Silicon Valley giant.

Hurd’s departure was announced by H-P on Aug. 6 following an investigation of a claim of sexual harassment against him by a former company contractor and ex-reality show contestant, Jodie Fisher.

Sitrick partner Glenn Bunting, a crisis and media specialist who heads the firm’s San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Miami offices, is representing Hurd. Bunting is a 22-year veteran of the Los Angeles Times.

The firm repped former H-P board chair Patricia Dunn when she resigned in 2006 during the company’s “pretexting” scandal.

H-P said the 53-year-old Hurd, mostly lauded for his term guiding the tech giant, did not violate the company’s sexual harassment policy but broke its standards of business conduct.

Hurd has not issued any public comments himself since he was quoted in the resignation announcement from HP .

Fisher released a statement on Sunday through high-profile Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred.

“I have resolved my claim with Mark privately, without litigation, and I do not intend to comment on it further,” said an Aug. 8 statement from Fisher via Allred.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that APCO Worldwide counseled H-P’s board that it would likely “endure a devastating PR hit” if Hurd remained at the helm.

Lieutenant General H Steven Blum (US Army, Ret.), one of the world’s leading experts on Homeland Security, has joined Sitrick Brincko Group as Managing Director and Group Practice Leader.

Sitrick Brincko, a management consulting firm specializing in strategic, crisis and corporate communications and corporate advisory and turnaround work, is a unit of Resources Connection, Inc. (Nasdaq: RECN). Sitrick Brincko is the parent company of Sitrick And Company and Brincko Associates.

General Blum, who retired on June 1, 2010, after a 41-year career in the United States Army and National Guard, will lead the firm’s crisis practice in the areas of Homeland Security issues advising clients in preparing for and dealing with natural and man-made disasters. He will also lead the firm’s practice areas in Defense, Government Relations and Public Affairs.

As Deputy Commander, United States Northern Command and before that Chief of the National Guard Bureau, General Blum was one of the highest ranked military officers in the United States dealing with Homeland Security issues for the United States, Mexico and Canada. He also oversaw the mobilization of the National Guard for such domestic emergencies as 9-11, National Special Security Events, Hurricane Katrina, the California wildfires, as well as the two-year deployment of the National Guard to provide military support to the US Border Patrol along our nation’s southwest border. As Commanding General for Multinational Division (North) Stabilization Force 10, Operation Joint Forge, Bosnia Herzegovina, he commanded a multi-national joint force, consisting of US soldiers from Active, National Guard and Reserve forces from over 23 states and armed forces contributed from nine different countries. The force successfully maintained a safe and secure environment in this war torn region in the complex and uncertain post 9-11 environment.

“Our firm is known for dealing with all kinds of crises, from plant explosions to toxic waste issues, from oil spills to product recalls, from patent litigation to criminal investigations, from financial restructurings and turnarounds to bankruptcies,” said Michael Sitrick, Chairman and CEO of Sitrick Brincko. “General Blum brings a critical new element of what we can offer our clients.

“Over the past decade, he has managed the aftermath of nearly every kind of major crisis imaginable from terrorist attacks to natural disasters – for cities, states and an entire region of the world. His experience and expertise will be invaluable to helping clients prepare for a whole variety of events, including these and other worst case scenarios. We are very excited about the value he will bring to our clients and are extremely flattered that he chose to join our firm,” he said.

General Blum added, “The results that Mike Sitrick and John Brincko have achieved for their clients have demonstrated time and again that they are one of the best, if not the best strategic consulting firm in the nation – especially for high stakes situations When Mike and John came to me with this opportunity, we all immediately saw the fit. I have spent my life protecting and serving. I am pleased to be able to make this same contribution going forward through Sitrick Brincko and Resources Connection.”

During his career, General Blum commanded at every level, including a Special Forces Operational Detachment-A, a Light Infantry Battalion, an Infantry Brigade, a Division Support Command, and twice as the Commanding General of the 29th Infantry Division (Light).

In his years of service, General Blum received more than two dozen major awards and decorations, including being twice awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Service medal, the Army Distinguished Service medal, two awards of the Defense Superior Service Medal and three awards of the Legion of Merit.

About Sitrick Brincko Group

Sitrick Brincko Group is the parent company of Sitrick And Company, Inc. (www.sitrick.com), one of the nation’s leading strategic communications firms and Brincko Associates, Inc. (www.brincko.com), a widely respected corporate advisory and restructuring firm. Sitrick And Company, with headquarters in Los Angeles and offices in New York, San Francisco, Baltimore and Miami, specializes in corporate, financial, transactional and crisis communications. It was founded in 1989. Headquartered in Southern California, Brincko Associates is an international management consulting firm established in 1979. Sitrick And Company and Brincko Associates merged in November 2009 and were immediately acquired by and became an operating subsidiary of Resources Connection, Inc. (Nasdaq: RECN).

General Blum retired from his role in the United States Army in June this year after 41 years of service. He is an internationally renowned expert on homeland security and will accordingly take charge of the firm’s dealings in that area.

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Mike Sitrick was never supposed to work in public relations. As a young man he wanted to be a journalist and worked briefly as a reporter when, in 1969, he found himself in talks with the Chicago Tribune about a job paying $125 a week.

He also received an offer worth $160 a week working in PR at the University of Maryland, where he had studied. “I said to my wife: ‘I love journalism but I’d rather eat,’ ” he recalls.

The companies, celebrities and other clients that have relied on Mr Sitrick’s skills since he founded his own firm in 1989 after working at various businesses in-house, will be glad he chose the career he did. From his headquarters in the heart of Los Angeles, Sitrick and Company has carved out a lucrative niche offering crisis advice for embattled companies and celebrities who have found themselves in the media’s cross-hairs.

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As the economy continues to throttle more and more
financially borderline corporations, troubled companies
and their advisers are increasingly turning to what is
known as the “363 sale” to engineer their way out of
bankruptcy and liquidation. General Motors did it;
Chrysler did it; the Chicago Cubs did. Companies as
diverse as publisher Freedom Communications and
government information technology contractor
BearingPoint are turning to 363 sales to secure a future
for their businesses.

Often negotiated as part of a pre-negotiated or prepackaged
Chapter 11, the 363 sale, named after the section of
the Bankruptcy Code in which it is found, allows debtors
to sell assets “free and clear” of all liens, claims and
encumbrances. It also provides a controlled process for
entertaining and evaluating bids and completing the sale
process expeditiously.

But while the 363 process may be straight forward and
relatively swift, the potential for disrupting the business
is not. From the time the possibility of a sale process is
announced to the time it is completed may mean
serious distraction to the debtor’s ongoing business, as
employees, customers and vendors, in particular,
ponder the future of their jobs, their business relationships
and the products they purchase. And those
imponderables surely impact a business’ performance
during this time and have a direct impact on how it is
valued during the process.

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