Dr.
Fruzsina M. Harsanyi is senior advisor for the Public Affairs Council. As a
consultant on the role public affairs plays in global business strategy,
Harsanyi advises Council members on domestic and international public affairs
challenges. She is a guest speaker and facilitator at Council events, develops
print and online publications and serves as a resource for the Council's
growing International Network.
Dr.
Harsanyi also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University's Foreign
Service School in Washington, D.C. and is a Visiting
Scholar, School of International Service, American University.
She has 30
years experience managing the public affairs function for several U.S. and
non-U.S. multinational corporations. She has been on the faculty of the
Corporate Public Affairs Institute in Melbourne, Australia for 14 years and
lectures widely in the U.S. and abroad including at Leeds University Business
School in the United Kingdom.
From
2003-2008, Dr. Harsanyi was Vice President, Global Public Affairs for Tyco
International Inc., a diversified global company operating in more than 60 countries
with 118,000 employees. Prior to 2007 when the company split into three
separate, publicly-traded companies, it had total revenues of $40 billion.
Working
closely with senior management and with Tyco divisions around the world, Dr.
Harsanyi was responsible for managing the company's public affairs programs at
the state, federal and international levels. She created Tyco's first
company-wide public affairs function and its first public affairs practice in
China and Mexico. She designed and implemented a multi-year campaign to respond
to the legislative, political and reputational challenges the company faced
after a scandal that almost destroyed the company. She has been recognized for building Tyco's
reputation with government decision-makers and other stakeholders and
protecting shareholder value against punitive legislation.
In
preparation for the Tyco split in 2007, she created the organizational design
for the public affairs function of the three new companies. Importantly, all of them play a strategic
role in supporting the business objectives of their respective companies with
proactive issues management and reputation management programs.
Prior
to joining Tyco, Dr. Harsanyi served for 13 years as Senior Vice President of Public
Affairs and Corporate Communications for ABB Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the
ABB Group, a Swiss-Swedish global company. Earlier, she worked for Combustion
Engineering and the Continental Group and in the U.S. Government where she
served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD), which she joined as a Presidential Executive.
Dr.
Harsanyi serves on several boards in Washington, D.C., including: Arena Stage,
the Executive Council on Diplomacy, the Bryce Harlow Foundation, and the
National Archives Foundation. She is on
the Dean's Advisory Council, School of International Service, and American University.
Formerly, she was on the board of Meridian International, the National Foreign
trade Council, the Public Affairs Council, the European-American Business
Council, the Georgetown University Landegger Program on International
Diplomacy, Vectra Technologies, and the Council for Excellence in Government.
She served on the U.S. State Department's Advisory Council on International
Economic Policy.
Dr.
Harsanyi is a member of the Business-Government Relations Council, the Carlton
Club, and the International Women's Forum.
She received her BA and MA in international relations and a Ph.D. in
government from the American University.
View Harsanyi's June 2010 keynote address at the 2010 Centre for Corporate
Public Affairs Oration in Melbourne.