Good Judgment Is Built on Experience
My breadth and depth of experience shape the judgment I bring to my work today: knowing what questions to ask, recognizing what matters, understanding different perspectives, and determining what is worth saying and how best to say it.
I’ve spent my career on both sides of the news desk — first as a journalist and editor and later as a senior communications executive. I held senior leadership roles at Edelman and Ruder Finn, served as the first Head of Edelman Editorial, led marketing and communications for a prominent trial law firm, and built my own consulting practice.
My work over more than four decades has taken me across journalism, public relations, marketing, writing, editing, and strategic communications. I’ve worked with organizations of virtually every size and stage, from startups and emerging companies to established businesses and global brands — and with people ranging from CEOs and division heads to communications teams, subject-matter experts, product managers, and agency professionals.
Today, I apply that experience and judgment to original writing, AI-assisted content, and strategic communications.
Experience from Different Sides
Working in different roles and on different sides of communications has taught me to look at a problem from more than one point of view.
As a journalist, I learned to question assumptions, separate what is important from what isn’t, look for evidence, and consider what an audience actually needs to know. As a public relations and communications executive, I learned to connect communications decisions to larger business objectives and understand the realities organizations face in getting people, priorities, and messages aligned.
Working directly with executives, communications and marketing teams, agencies, and subject-matter experts added another perspective: good communications rarely come from writing alone. They depend on asking the right questions, uncovering knowledge that may not be obvious, challenging ideas when necessary, and understanding what the organization is actually trying to accomplish.
Those perspectives continue to be the foundation for how I approach the work today.
Responsibility Grows With Experience
At Edelman, I was a Senior Vice President working across the consumer and technology practices and became the firm’s first Head of Edelman Editorial. At Ruder Finn, I was a Senior Vice President in the technology practice. Those roles put me in a position to counsel clients, develop communications strategies, lead programs, work with senior executives, and take responsibility for the quality and effectiveness of the work.
My experience continued to broaden after the large-agency world. I built my own consulting practice over more than 20 years, which included 10 years as a fractional CMO leading marketing and public relations for Silver Golub & Teitell LLP, a prominent Connecticut trial law firm. That experience put me directly on the client side — responsible not simply for recommending what should be done, but for helping an organization make communications and marketing decisions over time.
Throughout all of those roles, I also continued to write. Writing has rarely been separate from the strategic and advisory work.
Across those roles, the titles and organizations changed, but the responsibility did not: understand the situation, make sound decisions, and stand behind the work.
Experience Means Doing the Work
One thing has remained consistent throughout my career: I believe the people responsible for the thinking should stay close to the work.
When I work with a client, I remain directly involved. I ask the questions, develop the thinking, provide the counsel, and do the writing and editing when those are part of the assignment. There isn’t a handoff from senior counsel to someone less experienced once the direction has been established.
That doesn’t mean working alone. Some of my best work has come from collaborating with executives, communications and marketing teams, agencies, subject-matter experts, designers, and other specialists. My role is to bring experience and judgment to that collaboration and remain accountable for the work I have been asked to do.
For clients, that means the experience they hire is the experience they get.
Three Viewpoints That Shape My Judgment
01
Journalist & Editor
I began my career as a journalist and editor, where I learned to question assumptions, find the point, separate what matters from what doesn’t, and write for an audience rather than an organization. Those disciplines have stayed with me throughout my career.
02
Public Relations & Communications
At Edelman and Ruder Finn and my own firm, I worked with companies ranging from emerging businesses to global brands, developing communications strategies, counseling executives, leading programs, and writing across a wide range of assignments.
03
Client-Side & Independent Counsel
For more than 20 years, I have run my own consulting practice, working directly with organizations and their communications partners. That included 10 years as a fractional CMO leading the marketing and public relations program for Silver Golub & Teitell LLP.
Experience At a Glance
Leadership Experience
- Senior Vice President, Edelman — Technology & Consumer Practices
- First Head of Edelman Editorial
- Senior Vice President, Ruder Finn — Technology Practice
- Founder, Strategy+Communications
- Fractional CMO, Silver Golub & Teitell LLP
- Executive Vice President, ACS Communications
Selected Client Experience
- Apple
- AT&T
- Ford
- Fujifilm
- IBM
- Microsoft
- Novartis
- Quantum
- RSM McGladrey
- Sony
- UBS
Plus startups, emerging companies, and professional-services organizations
Journalism, Editorial & Recognition
- Computerworld Honors Program Laureate Award
- Webby Award
- PRNEWS Platinum Awards Judge
- Editor-in-Chief, Pro Sound News and Audio Engineering Society Daily
- Editor, Surgical Rounds
- Associate Editor, Pharmacy Times
- Contributor to DownBeat, PRNEWS, and other publications
What Clients and Colleagues Say
“His past experience as a reporter and editor served us well in supporting effective external communications and media relations. His integrity was always on display, and produced results.”
— Mark Haviland, Client, Fujifilm
“He gave me invaluable insights and guidance and provided our clients with excellent strategic counsel.”
— Lawrence Greenberg, Public Relations Professional & Media Entrepreneur; Former Edelman colleague
“Randy was an excellent collaborator and always provided our firm with focused direction, helping us get good work approved by the senior partners — no easy task.”
— Daniel Taylor, President, Creative Director at Taylor Design
Let’s Talk
Have a communications challenge that could benefit from experienced judgment?
Tell me what you’re working on and what you need to accomplish.