Our Staff

Larry Smith
Senior Consultant, Institute for Crisis Management

Larry L. Smith, former television news director, press secretary and newspaper editor, works with executives of organizations seeking to minimize the negative public reaction to a business crisis. He also assists in developing pro-active crisis communications plans and teaches seminars in crisis management.

He joined ICM in the mid-90s as a Senior Consultant and was named President of the company at the beginning of 1999, before turning the helm over to Erika Hayes James, Ph.D. in January of 2012.

Mr. Smith has more than 45 years experience in the news and public relations business. He began his professional career as a photographer for United Press International and two Indiana newspapers. He later worked as a newspaper editor and radio talk show host.

He worked his way up through the television news ranks to manage one of the top rated news departments in the country at WHAS TV in Louisville. Under his leadership the station earned a National Headliners' Club award for "Outstanding News Reporting" for the year. He had earlier served as news director at WSBT TV in South Bend, IN; WANE TV, Fort Wayne, IN; and WJPS Radio in Evansville, IN.

Mr. Smith was summoned to Washington, DC, in the mid-80's to serve as Press Secretary to then-Senator Dan Quayle. As the senator's press secretary, he dealt regularly with the White House Press Office and worked daily with the national media. Smith also guided Senator Quayle, a member of the Armed Services Committee, through the media onslaught following the downing of a U.S. airliner over North Korea. Mr. Smith also has experience in public relations at the local government level, serving four years as Director of Communications for Jefferson County, the largest county government in Kentucky.

Mr. Smith is a graduate of Indiana University's School of Education (BS 66) and served six years as a public information officer in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserve. He is a former adjunct professor of broadcast journalism at Indiana University Southeast and has conducted corporate media training for more than 25 years.

Smith and ICM Senior Consultant Dr. Dan Millar are co-authors of two books on crisis management. Crisis Management and Communications: How to Gain and Maintain Control is in its third edition and published by the International Association of Business Communicators. Smith and Millar also wrote Before Crisis Hits, aimed at college and university administrators and published by the American Association of Community Colleges. Smith also contributed chapters to Crisis Communications in Healthcare: A Delicate Balance, published by Washington Business Information, Inc., and his newest book, Executive Briefing on Crisis Leadership was co-authored/edited by Professor Erika James, Ph.D. and published by Darden Business Publishing, UVA.

In 2003 he was named a Batten Fellow at the Darden Graduate School of Business, University of Virginia. As part of his Fellowship, Smith lectures on campus and in executive leadership programs.

He was inducted into the Kentucky PRSA/IABC Landmarks of Excellence Communicators' Hall of Fame in 2004. And, in September 2004, PRWeek named Mr. Smith one of the nation's "top 22 crunch time counselors." In 2000 Smith and Millar earned a 2nd Place from the Hoosier Chapter PRSA for "Facing the Public," a media training program for the Indiana Department of Corrections and in 2001 they earned the Award of Honor from Hoosier PRSA for "Slaughter at the Office" in the Crisis Communication Category.