Fruzsina M. Harsanyi, Ph.D.
Senior AdvisorDr. 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.
