2. Bio/Profile
AJ Goodman is a strategic communications professional with more than 10 years’ experience
supporting clients in in designing and implementing communications programs that help build brand
awareness, enhance executive positioning, and reach new audiences to drive market leadership
opportunities.
Most recently, Mr. Goodman was a Director in the Strategic Communications practice for FTI
Consulting, a global business advisory firm with nearly 4,000 employees in 24 countries. After
working for FTI for three years in its New York office, Mr. Goodman relocated to the Toronto office to
help develop the Strategic Communications practice in Canada. His client worked included HMV
Canada, PepsiCo, The Canadian American Business Council, The City of Vancouver, MGM Resorts
International, the GE Foundation, GE Healthcare and Life Sciences, Novartis, Lumber Liquidators
and Shire Pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Goodman also helped lead the development of FTI's North American Corporate Social
Responsibility and Sustainability practice, working closely with companies to enhance their
reputation as responsible and sustainable organizations. As part of this work, he was a speaker and
published author on topics relating to sustainability communications and stakeholder engagement.
Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Mr. Goodman worked at Brainerd Communicators and managed the
PR and Media Relations for clients spanning across the financial services, media and entertainment,
and tech and telecom sectors.
He began his career at The Dilenschneider Group, managing the PR and publicity for CNBC’s Maria
Bartiromo. During his time there, he served as a two-time outside event participant at the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Mr. Goodman also served on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Public Relations Society,
Toronto Chapter. He graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and holds his B.A.,
Honors Degree in Philosophy. He also has a Master's of Science in Sports Management from
Columbia University in New York, New York.
AJ Goodman
Director
Strategic Communications
25 Grenville Street, Unit 1206
Toronto, ON M4Y 2X5
202-494-0938
Goodman_AJ@hotmail.com
Education
B.A., Honors – Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
MsC Sports Management – Columbia University, New York, NY
Professional Affiliations
Member, Canadian Club of Toronto
Member, EthicsCentre
Social/Athletic Affiliations
Member, Toronto Triathlon Club
Member, Running Rats run club
4. Overview
• Strategic communications professional with experience helping leading international companies
design and implement communications programs that build brand awareness, enhance executive
positioning, engage new audiences, and drive market leadership.
• Bring both expertise in leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to enhance enterprise value,
and experience in public advocacy, crisis management, profile enhancement, fundraising, and team
building.
• Created specific practice offerings for communications services, including sustainability
communications that led to client wins (MGM Resorts International, The Carbon War Room, The City
of Vancouver, Shire Pharmaceuticals, and others). Used these insights to also create a proposal for
implementing sustainability at FTI.
• Relocated to the Toronto office in October 2011 to help develop the Strategic Communications
practice. During that time, I:
• Built an infrastructure in the Canadian office that enabled us to effectively pursue new
business while servicing existing accounts; and
• Provided Canadian support for FTI’s global clients that helped promote cross border
collaboration, and support the firm’s go-to market approach by combining global expertise with
local market insights. Client highlights include:
• PepsiCo
• The GE Foundation
• Novartis
• Lumber Liquidators
• Allstate
• Tata Sons
• HMV Canada
• Able to leverage community interest to support athletic and charitable endeavors.
5. Building Relationships, Developing a Communications Practice
SITUATION
Transactional Communications Advisory services are a key focus area for FTI’s Strategic
Communications practice. As a whole, the practice derived approximately 60% of its business from
these events, and then leverages them to stay on as trusted counselors for the long-term. For this work,
building and developing meaningful relationships with lawyers and investment bankers, who then act as
referral sources, is critical.
STRATEGY
For my assignment in Toronto, I was charged with developing this offering and introducing it to Canada’s
leading law firms. Because Toronto is a tight-knit business community, I understood the importance of
carefully developing these relationships, and strategically set out to make connections with key firms.
The offering was built around leveraging FTI’s global expertise and applying it to a Canadian setting, as
the importance of recognizing the nuances of the Canadian market cannot be understated. To effectively
build the visibility of FTI, I:
• Conducted market research to understand competitor offerings, where available, and identify points of
differentiation;
• Created tiered targets, based on an analysis of deal size and transaction flow, to prioritize and focus
marketing opportunities;
• Engaged in one-on-one discussions with key law firm contacts to socialize the offering and understand
how it can best add value to their client files; and
• Arranged introductory networking meetings for FTI’s practice leads.
IMPACT
With his system firmly in place, I successfully introduced FTI to nearly all of the largest law firms in
Canada, creating a community through which FTI’s services were known and established. Where the
offering previously had little to no brand awareness, we became a known entity amongst this community
and were regularly referred into transactional assignments.
7. hmv Canada: Re-Shaping Perception, Restoring Consumer Faith
SITUATION
In July 2011, Hilco UK, a retail restructuring firm, acquired hmv Canada, Canada’s premier music and
entertainment retailer. At the time, hmv Canada’s parent company, hmv Group, was suffering from
declining financial performance in its other trading markets and divested the Canadian arm to help
extend its financing. Hilco’s acquisition helped to stabilize the business by providing hmv Canada with
financial resources to support capital expenditures in new revenue streams for hmv Canada and helped
management design revised marketing and promotional plans. Afterwards, the company sought a
communications strategy that would drive increased awareness about the strength of the company’s
business model in a market that still supports the physical consumption of music and entertainment.
STRATEGY
Effective strategic communications were essential to re-shaping perceptions around, and restoring faith
in, the hmv Canada brand. While digital music consumption accounted for at least 50% of all music
consumed in the US and the UK, it represented only 33% in Canada, making hmv Canada’s business a
viable model for the Canadian market. Further, it was critical that hmv Canada be given its own voice to
distance itself from the news coming out of the UK, which was overwhelmingly negative.
I led the account team responsible for the following work streams:
• Consumer and Market Research
• Corporate Narrative and Messaging Development
• Ongoing Communications Support
IMPACT
Under my leadership, the account team for hmv Canada quickly provided hmv Canada with the
infrastructure it needed to meaningfully communicate across key audiences in Canada. In turn, this
helped the company disassociate itself with the UK brand and drive positive visibility across Canada via
top-tier national, regional and trade media. Through this coverage especially, hmv Canada made great
progress in reaffirming its place as Canada’s most trusted music and entertainment retailer.
8. hmv Canada: Re-Shaping Perception, Restoring Consumer Faith
“However, HMV Canada’s 113 stores are not
affected…Same store sales for HMV Canada for
the holiday period in 2012 were up 1.1 per cent
over the 2011 season. Full year sales in 2012
exceeded $270 million. As well, [CEO, Nick
Williams] added Canadians still prefer to buy
items in stores and are less likely than those in
the UK or the U.S. to make online purchases.” –
Toronto Star
9. Vancouver is Open for (Green) Business
SITUATION:
After helping to strengthen Diageo’s environmental and social responsibility communications programs, I shifted
my focus to helping FTI develop, more broadly, a sustainability communications offering. Among the clients I
worked with, the City of Vancouver was a particular highlight, as its focus on creating a sustainable city
intersected directly with the hosting of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
At a time when global governments were making little to no progress on enacting meaningful climate change
policies, Vancouver was among a growing list of cities focused on sustainable development and had a unique
opportunity to leverage the Olympics and make its global business pitch for investment.
STRATEGY
I was brought in to guide the City of Vancouver in its efforts to leverage the international media attention of the
Games. The objectives of this work were to:
• Position the City of Vancouver as a progressive city with civic leadership whose vision for Vancouver will serve
as the best-practices model for the sustainable development of cities around the world;
• Generate awareness about the City’s economic development and pioneering sustainability plans; and
• Help drive positive coverage for Vancouver that will attract new investments and create social and economic
development opportunities.
IMPACT
Working in close concert with the City’s Director of Media Relations (Kevin Quinn), I uncovered valuable
opportunities with leading international broadcast and print media including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC,
Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Times of London. In addition, these pieces
helped position the 2010 Winter Olympics as a model example for how to host and run a sustainable Olympics,
lessons that would be passed on to London for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
11. Driving Improved Visibility and Brand Engagement
SITUATION:
FTI has been working with Diageo North America, the world’s leading beverage alcohol company, since 2001
and currently serves as the company’s Agency of Record in North America. When I joined the firm in 2008, I did
so as an in-house communications consultant for Diageo, helping to execute the company’s external
communications strategies in support of its corporate reputation, public policy and public affairs agendas.
STRATEGY:
During my time working on the account, I:
• Helped the company build and sustain communications programs around its commitment to social and
environmental responsibility;
• Helped create a program that enabled the company to build grassroots support against proposed legislation to
increase taxes on beverage alcohol products through an integrated digital and PR-drive campaign; and
• Provided counsel on how to tell a corporate growth story during the peak of the recession, while reinforcing the
company’s position as a responsible industry leader.
IMPACT:
As a key member of the team, I worked to drive enhanced coverage for Diageo across top-tier national, regional
local and trade media to expand its media universe and broaden its reach across target audiences. Through this
work, Diageo saw a nearly 75% increase in proactive and positive media impressions over a 12 month-period.
In addition, I oversaw the development of the company’s social media properties that would be leveraged as
forums for educating consumers about the impact of alcohol taxes on small businesses and their employees.
Across Facebook and Twitter, our campaign attracted more than 2,500 followers in less than 14 weeks, and built
a meaningful two-way dialogue with them to increase engagement and interest in the campaign.
12. Driving Improved Visibility and Brand Engagement
DATE OUTLET ARTICLE
Environmental/CSR Stories
December 2008 Packaging World Economic concerns battle convenience for supremacy
3/18/2009 Stamford Advocate Diageo’s waste feeds power plants, farm animals
4/18/2009 Packaging Digest Diageo's Fully Recyclable Gift Set Recognized by Institute of
− 12 −
Packaging Professionals
5/14/2009 GreenerDesign.com Feature on Crown Royal VAP Packaging – How to make
award winning sustainable packaging
March 2009 Packaging World VAP packaging in Field Guide to Sustainable Packaging
12/11/2008 The Plainfield Enterprise Diageo employees recognized at women of color
conference
Corporate Stories
10/9/2008 The Oklahoman Letter to the Editor – ‘Not the problem’ by Guy Smith
12/3/2008 Gazette – Maryland Community
Newspapers
Open Forum: Keeping alcohol out of our children’s hands
by Pietro DiPilato
12/28/2008 Miami Herald Forget about the clubs – entertaining at home thrives during
a recession
1/10/2009 Sacramento Bee Taxes don’t deter drinkers – LTE by Guy Smith
2/1/2009 Cleveland Plain Dealer Underage drinking must stop as parents, lawmakers team
up, by Tom Jackson, President & CEO of the Ohio Grocer’s
Association
3/8/2009 The New York Times Reaching For the Bottom Shelf
4/2/2009 Wall Street Journal Spirits Makers Replace Bartender with Convenience – As
More Americans Entertain at Home to Save Money, Liquor
Companies Offer News Lines of Pre-Made Cocktails
13. THANK YOU
AJ Goodman
202-494-0938
Goodman_AJ@hotmail.com
