Ramsey Poston, Litigation & Crisis Communications
Ramsey Poston is the strategic counsel, crisis management, and litigation communications partner to SM2 CEO, Carrie Cecil. Mr. Poston and Ms. Cecil have worked together for over a decade and share a culture of respect and collaboration to deliver maximum results for their clients. Mr. Poston is also president of the communications firm, Tuckahoe Strategies.
Mr. Poston develops comprehensive strategies to ensure that every client’s image remains intact and that their client’s position gets a full and public hearing. His varied and comprehensive media contacts allow him to present a strong case for his clients and his media savvy and connections help him to promote a positive position.
Since launching Tuckahoe Strategies, Mr. Poston’s clients have included businesses and executives from a broad spectrum of industries including sports, energy, entertainment, consumer and healthcare.
In 2001, Mr. Poston worked with NASCAR to manage the crisis around the death of Dale Earnhardt, who was killed on the final lap of the Daytona 500 that year. Three years later, Mr. Poston took over NASCAR’s Communications Department, leading a team of 30 public relations professionals covering all aspects of the sport’s communications, which included working closely with the legal team.
Mr. Poston served as NASCAR chief communications strategist and spokesperson for all litigation and crisis situations. During his tenure at NASCAR, Mr. Poston successfully led the litigation communications efforts in a number of high profile cases. He has been the on-record spokesperson for NASCAR’s most sensitive issues often conducting full press conferences with broadcast and print media in concert with legal strategy. As NASCAR’s spokesman, Mr. Poston has conducted close to 1,500 interviews.
Mr. Poston developed close working relationships with some of America’s top law firms to communicate NASCAR’s defense in concert with the legal strategy. Some the recent cases include, AT&T Mobility v. NASCAR (contract dispute); Maricia Grant v. NASCAR (racial and sexual harassment); Jeremy Mayfield v. NASCAR (substance abuse policy extending to claims of negligence, breach of contract, and defamation); and, Kentucky Speedway v. NASCAR ($1.2 billion Anti-Trust lawsuit).
Prior to joining NASCAR, Mr. Poston served as a senior vice president at the Washington, D.C. public affairs firm Powell Tate. While at Powell Tate, he specialized in crisis communications. He led the firm’s Labor & Employment practice, providing strategic communications counsel to companies in a number of employee-management scenarios including litigation, contract negotiations, plant closings, unionization campaigns and corporate campaigns.
Mr. Poston has worked with chief executives and their legal counselors to prepare for and respond to citations and fines proposed by government regulators including actions taken by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Safety Transportation Board (NTSB).