Mark R. Weaver

Mr. Weaver is a crisis communications expert with three decades of experience advising clients in 25 states and at the highest levels of national government and major corporations. He counsels public and private sector clients on crisis communications, executive speech coaching, and news media relations. NBC News in Charlotte, North Carolina called Mr. Weaver “one of the nation’s foremost experts in crisis communications.”

Weaver is the author of the acclaimed book “A Wordsmith’s Work,” which examines the most modern and effective strategies for crisis communications and powerful persuasion.

Prior to founding Communications Counsel, Mr. Weaver was the Deputy Attorney General of Ohio, where he was responsible for crisis management, strategic counseling, and all communications for an office with 1,400 employees and a front-page legal issue nearly every week. He also served on the Attorney General’s four-member Executive Staff and acted as a senior policy advisor and chief spokesman.

His past professional assignments include serving as the Assistant Director of Public Affairs for the U.S Department of Justice, Public Information Director for a large Pennsylvania municipality, and Vice President of a national communications firm in Washington, D.C.

He has several years of experience as a criminal prosecutor, litigating felony jury trials and arguing appeals to put or keep murderers, child molesters, and violent criminals in prison. He’s served as a special prosecutor in eleven Ohio counties, including a successful death penalty prosecution of an infamous serial killer.

Mr. Weaver has lectured around the country on a wide variety of communications topics. He spent 20 years as an Adjunct Professor at The Ohio State University College of Law and the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. He is now an Adjunct Professor at the School of Government at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

He has provided media advice to thousands of government officials, CEOs, and university leaders. He’s written hundreds of PR plans and supervised countless polls and focus groups. His media production skills have earned him more than a dozen national awards. In 1993, as a young media professional, he wrote, produced, and directed the TV special “An American Story,” hosted by former President Ronald Reagan.

Several times a month, Mr. Weaver lectures for national clients such as the Jo Ann Davidson Leadership Institute, the Ann Anstine Excellence in Public Service Series, the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University, the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, the American Bar Association, the National Fraternal Order of Police, the Nevada Association of Counties, Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, and the Michigan Supreme Court.

Early in his career, Mr. Weaver was a Communications Director with the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He also ran a Philadelphia-area communications consulting firm serving more than 100 clients.

Mr. Weaver earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in Public Administration from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, where he has received more alumni awards than any other graduate of that institution. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the Delaware Law School of Widener University, where he graduated in the top 15% of his class. In 2004, the University of Akron awarded Mr. Weaver an honorary degree in Applied Politics. In 2012, Mr. Weaver was named Distinguished Chair of that university’s Bliss Institute of Applied Politics.

His op-ed writing has been featured in USA Today and several other major U.S. newspapers. He has been interviewed by every major national media outlet including 60 Minutes, Nightline, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, MSNBC, CNN, FOX News, NPR, BBC, Newsweek, Time, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the Associated Press.

He has an active Twitter presence at @MarkRWeaver.

Mr. Weaver and his wife Lori reside in Central Ohio and they are the proud parents of two children.