Rich Klein

Rich Klein, president of Rich Klein Crisis Management, is a media relations/crisis communications consultant with more than 35 years of experience in public relations and journalism. 

In recent years, he has advised companies and organizations about how to best communicate on all issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the early 1990’s he has advised companies, colleges, law firms and non-profits on media relations, crisis/litigation communications, reputation management and social media strategies. He has also been quoted in articles about high profile crises. 

He has spoken before local and state bar associations on these subjects and has written articles for the National Law Journal, PRWeek, The Mann Report, the New Jersey Law Journal, The Crisis Management Guidebook (PRNews) and Strategies, the magazine of the Legal Marketing Association. In addition, Klein participated in a global podcast regarding online reputation and was the guest speaker for a Legal Marketing Association webinar on crisis communications and Web 2.0. 

In early 2013, he served as a guest lecturer for graduate students at the New York Institute for Technology as well as undergraduate students of strategic communications at the University of Louisville. 

In June 2012, Klein launched The Crisis Show, a weekly Internet broadcast using Google Hangouts On Air that was seen simultaneously on YouTube. The show, seen in more than 100 countries, ran through 2017.

Klein’s ability to uncover hidden news for and about his clients, write sharp press materials that get noticed by busy reporters, and shape a story that clearly conveys his clients’ key messages, have contributed greatly to his clients’ business success. His experience as an award-winning (Best of Gannett, 1985) journalist and the opportunity to cover New York State Government in the early 1980s for The Legislative Gazette gives him additional insights into how to best represent his clients with the media.

Over the years, he has secured media coverage for his clients in top-tier business and trade publications, in daily and weekly newspapers, on the major wire services, on television/radio and on influential websites and blogs. He has also developed extensive media contacts across industries including legal, accounting, technology, real estate, healthcare, sports and entertainment for more than a quarter century.

Klein has been involved in media relations connected to many high profile issues, including the Crown Heights riots of 1991 (while head of media relations for the Anti-Defamation League), the first “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” case (while manager of communications at law firm Proskauer) and the first federal lawsuit against the gun industry (Hamilton v Accu-Tek) in which a client (while at Rubenstein Associates) was representing the plaintiffs.

More recently, he helped a company in Australia reverse damaging information about its staffing services.

For more than two decades, Klein has been tapped regularly to help clients navigate their internal and external communications and to conduct video media training for executives facing a wide variety of crisis situations.

To schedule a free consultation on phone or video, kindly email rich@richkleincrisis.com or call/text: 917-470-3073.