About Burt Peretsky

Burt Peretsky is an accomplished, award-winning strategy communications and marketing executive with extensive experience in representing and advising high-visibility public and private organizations. A former newspaper journalist with an additional 10 years in major-market TV, he is considered an expert in risk and crisis communication, media training, specialized writing, publicity, social media, and marketing/branding techniques.

As Principal of Peretsky Strategy Communications, he serves government and industry clients in a variety of fields, including lodging and tourism, legal services, technology, financial services, the environment, and higher education.

In Las Vegas in the early 1980s, Peretsky was Director of Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations for the legendary Sands Hotel & Resort and, before that, Director of Corporate Public Relations for Del Webb Hotels, owners of Nevada’s three Sahara hotel/casino properties and the Mint Hotel in downtown Las Vegas.

As a senior associate of FOCUS GROUP Consulting, one of the nation’s leading crisis and risk communication consulting firms, he is active in strategy communication and community relations activities for NASA environmental cleanup programs at three of its Centers – the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, the Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Simi Valley, CA, and the Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, OH. Peretsky was also the principal writer of a 116-page “risk communication manual” used by NASA engineers and scientists who must communicate with the public and other stakeholders on sensitive environmental subjects.

In his work as a risk communicator, Peretsky has conducted media training in recent years for clients that include NASA, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Boston Public Health Commission, the Rhode Island Department of Health, Textron, Inc., General Motors, and Osram Sylvania. In September 2008, he conducted a day-long media training session for the Chief Justices of the seven trial courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Also included in his “class” were two Associate Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and several administrative managers from throughout the state’s court system.

Peretsky served from 2000 to 2001 as Senior Counsel, Editorial Services & Marketing for Miller/Shandwick Technologies, creating and directing the global public relations agency’s Editorial Services Department. He also directed the agency’s own marketing efforts.

Earlier, he served four years as Director of College Communications for Emerson College, three years as Director of the News Bureau/Assistant Director of Public Affairs for Brandeis University, and ten years as Director of Public Relations for WCVB-TV, Channel 5, in Boston. For eight years, he was the President of Immedia, Inc., a full-service Boston public relations agency serving such clients as the Sheraton Boston Hotel, the Sheraton Corporation, the South Shore Music Circus summer theatre, the New England Council of Optometrists, and the large trade association, the Northeast Retail Lumbermen’s Association.

Peretsky is a former newspaper reporter and rewrite specialist, having served dailies in Boston and Miami. He served honorably for six years in the Massachusetts National Guard and was discharged with the rank of Specialist 5th Class.

He is a Past President of the Publicity Club of New England and a former, long-time Board member of the Boston chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Peretsky has won four Gold Key Public Relations Awards from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, three Bell Ringer Awards from the Publicity Club of New England, and a 2001 national SABRE Award in marketing.

Peretsky was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame (www.massbroadcasters.HOF).  In the community, Peretsky served for 16 years on the Board of Big Brothers of Massachusetts Bay (known today as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay) and for five years on the Board of the Greater Boston Association for Retarded Citizens (today known as the Greater Boston ARC). He has also been active on behalf of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay.

Peretsky is the author of the novel Slim Chance - A Las Vegas Adventure^© and has written a screenplay for a television mini-series entitled Nevada Easy^©

Services Offered 

Peretsky Strategy Communications offers consultation and services in the following areas:

• Risk and Crisis Communication Planning and Implementation,
• Message Development and Delivery,
• Public Involvement and Stakeholder Outreach,
• Media/Spokesperson Training,
• Specialized Writing,
• Web Site Development,
• Reputation Management and
• Public Relations.

Client organizations served by Burt Peretsky include:

• NASA-- Ongoing Risk Communication Work
  • NASA Environmental Management Division -- Principal Writer for & Co-Author of 116-Page Risk Communication Manual in Wide Use by NASA Environmental Scientists and Engineers.
  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory -- Day-to-Day Risk Communication and Community Relations Support for NASA Environmental Cleanup of Groundwater Beneath Pasadena and Altadena, CA.
  • Glenn Research Center, Plum Brook Station -- Risk Communication and Community Relations Support for NASA’s “Decommissioning” of a Nuclear Reactor Facility.
  • Santa Susana Field Laboratory -- Risk Communication Support for NASA’s Portion of an Environmental Cleanup of a Once-Active Rocket Engine Test Site.
• WCVB-TV, Channel 5, Boston, ABC-TV Affiliate -- Burt was the Director of Public Relations for WCVB-TV for ten years.  WCVB was then, and continues today, the top-rated television station in New England.
• Emerson College, Boston -- Burt was the Director of College Communications for Emerson, itself a renowned communications and performing arts school.  Burt won two Publicity Club of New England Bell Ringer Awards for his work for Emerson, in the categories of Media Relations and Writing for Publication.
• Del Webb Hotels, Las Vegas -- Burt was Corporate Director of Public Relations for the owners at the time of the three Sahara hotel-casino properties in Nevada and the Mint Hotel-Casino in Downtown Las Vegas.
• Sands Hotel & Resort, Las Vegas -- Burt was Director of Advertising, Public Relations, and Marketing for the legendary Sands, one of the original Las Vegas “Strip” hotels and the one-time home of the Frank Sinatra-Sammy Davis-Dean Martin “Rat Pack.”
• Miller/Shandwick Technologies -- Burt was the Senior Counsel for Editorial Services and Marketing for this global technology public relations agency, and his marketing team won a 2001 national SABRE Award for Excellence.
• The Sheraton Boston Hotel and its parent company, the Sheraton Corporation-- Burt served his PR agency client Sheraton for eight years, winning four consecutive annual Gold Key PR Awards from the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
• Houston, Effler and Partners -- Burt was this advertising agency’s Senior Vice President for Public Relations and was honored by the Bell Ringer Awards in the Crisis Communications category for his work for Papa Gino’s Restaurants.