“Hurricane Czar” and Mercury Managing Director Alan Rubin discusses the impact of Sandy-type catastrophes on municipal credit 18 to 36 months after they hit. He is known for his extensive work in south Florida when Hurricane Andrew caused $30 billion worth of damage in 1992.
To watch the interview, visit Bond Buyer.
New York, NY – National, bipartisan public strategy firm Mercury announces the addition of Erin Pelton, former diplomat and Director of Communications and Spokesperson to the United States Mission to the United Nations under Ambassadors Susan E. Rice and Samantha Power. Pelton has served in senior roles in the Obama Administration, and has lived and worked in dozens of countries across several continents. Pelton joins Mercury’s New York City office as a Managing Director, where she will serve a dual role on the public affairs and international affairs teams.
“Erin is a remarkable addition to the firm, bringing an extraordinary reputation for credibility and success in international affairs” said Kirill Goncharenko, President of Mercury. “Her diplomatic career offers incomparable expertise that will be an invaluable asset to both Mercury as a whole and our burgeoning international practice.”
“I am thrilled to be joining a firm as innovative and widely respected as Mercury,” Pelton said. “I look forward to continuing to work on a wide range of challenging international issues while also leveraging my global perspective to solve problems more local and national in nature.”
From 2012-2014, Pelton served as the lead communications and public affairs adviser for the U.S. Mission to the UN. In that role, Pelton supported Ambassador Power and, before that Ambassador Rice, to advance U.S. interests at the UN on issues as wide ranging as the ongoing conflict in Syria, the humanitarian crises in Darfur and Central African Republic, and Iran’s nuclear program.
From 2011-2012, Pelton served as Communications Director and Assistant Press Secretary at the White House National Security Council, where she advised numerous senior-level officials and cabinet secretaries on national security messaging. During her time at the NSC, Pelton was the lead communications advisor and spokesperson on issues including the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, nonproliferation, and Homeland Security-related topics. As lead communications adviser on the Middle East and North Africa, Pelton represented the communications perspective on a range of sensitive policy priorities in senior-level interagency meetings during the Arab Spring, including Syria, Egypt, and Libya.
A career Foreign Service officer until 2014, Pelton held a number of roles—both domestic and foreign—with the U.S. Department of State. From 2009-2011, Pelton served as a spokesperson in the Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, advising on issues from Middle East Peace to Iran to Bahrain. From 2005-2009, she served overseas, first as a Vice Consul at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, and later as a Press Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia.
Pelton holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University. A graduate of Drake University, Erin resides in New York with her husband, Miguel Estien, and daughter Nia.
Erin starts her new role with Mercury June 2.
About Mercury
Mercury is a high-stakes, bipartisan public strategy firm. The firm provides a comprehensive suite of services that includes federal government relations, international affairs, digital influence, public opinion research, media strategy and a bipartisan grassroots mobilization network in all 50 states. Our firm is not just led by top talent — we distinguish ourselves by having senior talent deeply engaged in each project from start to finish, a promise we keep to clients. The firm has an established national presence, with offices in Washington, DC, New York, California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and North Carolina.
Mercury is a part of Omnicom Group Inc. Omnicom is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom’s branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.