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| Brooke Buchanan |
Brooke Buchanan, who as VP-communications at blood-testing company Theranos handled the crisis surrounding the criminal fraud scandal of founder/CEO Elizabeth Holmes in 2015/2016, is now chief corporate affairs officer at Panera Bread.
The St. Louis-based company, which is part of JAB Holding Inc., faces wrongful death lawsuits connected to its high caffeine Charged Lemonade beverage, which it stopped selling in May.
At Theranos, Buchanan handled probes by the Justice Dept., Securities and Exchange Commission and Medicare/Medicaid.
She was recruited by Theranos from Williams-Sonoma, where Buchanan was VP-communications.
Buchanan also served as press secretary to Sen. John McCain, and did PR stints at Walmart, Whole Foods and JC Penney.
Most recently, she was at Edelman in the US lead for crisis & risk post.
There are more than 2,100 Panera bakery/cafes (company-owned and franchised) in the US and Canada. The company filed paperwork for an IPO in December 2023.
Tricia McLaughlin, the combative spokesperson for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, is leaving her post.
While finding the right solution to a problem is still important, the work that differentiates effective communications leaders is problem-finding—identifying the real risk before it becomes visible, reputational or irreversible.
Orchestra has recruited Deepika Sandhu for the senior VP-legal & crisis communications slot.
Apologies are often seen as a weakness or as proof that a leader has lost control of the narrative. But Donald Trump's failure to apologize after he posted—and then deleted—a video with a racist clip of Barack and Michelle Obama shows how flawed this mindset is.
Tim Allan, communications director for embattled British prime minister Keir Starmer, has quit as the Jeffrey Epstein scandal has engulfed Ten Downing Street.
