Ed James, VP of PR for iconic guitar maker Gibson, has left the company and returned to the PR agency he co-founded as Gibson navigates an ongoing PR and political crisis over its use of rare wood.
Federal agents raided Gibson’s headquarters and factories last year after tracing what they say was illegal Indian hardwood used to make guitars.
The company says it complies with foreign laws and has fought the charges on the PR front while lobbying to loosen restrictions of importing wood under the federal Lacey Act.
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James, 42, led PR for the company for the past 11 months before this month returning to Conerstone, the New York-based firm he co-founded with Rob Stone and Jon Cohen in 2006. He was previously a senior VP with New York PR firm The Morris + King Company.
Cornerstone, with additional offices in Los Angeles and London, has worked for Converse, Guitar Center, Diageo and HBO. James is based in Nashville.
Gibson told O’Dwyer’s a replacement has not yet been named for James. The company shows an opening for an executive VP, global PR, on its corporate website.
Gibson, which has worked to rally supporters to its cause criticizing the Justice Dept., in October hired Crowell & Moring to handle lobbying in D.C.
The New Yorker reported in this week’s edition that several high-profile artists have signed a petition against efforts to weaken the Lacey Act and quoted singer and environmental activist Sting as saying, “I would never play a Gibson.”
CEO Henry Jusziewicz has become a regular on the conservative media circuit railing against the Justice Dept. “It’s been three years, they’ve confiscated millions of dollars of our materials, and there have been no charges and no day in court,” he told the magazine.