Alumni Spotlight: Paul Nathanson on Strategic Communications
Since graduating from the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University with a B.A. in international relations and a minor in economics, Paul Nathanson (Pardee ’85) has garnered more than 25 years of experience in strategic, crisis and corporate communications.
Nathanson earned an M.A. in International Affairs from the George Washington University in 1987, and put both of his degrees to use immediately as Director and then Vice President at The Center for Democracy, a bipartisan, non-profit, non-governmental organization that focused on strengthening democracy around the world.
“For seven years, I managed election monitoring delegations, technical assistance programs to legislatures and international conferences, first in Central America and then in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe,” Nathanson said.
In 1993, Nathanson joined The PBN Company as the Managing Director of its Washington, DC office. PBN was the first western public relations firm to open an office in the former Soviet Union and had offices in Moscow, Russia; Kiev, Ukraine; Chisinau, Moldova; Almaty, Kazakhstan; and, Riga, Latvia.
“I became a partner in the firm, and for 15 years represented U.S. and European companies in the former Soviet Union, and later, Russian and Ukrainian companies in the United States,” Nathanson said.
Nathanson joined the Policy Resolution Group (PRG) at Bracewell LLP in 2009 where he is now a partner and leads the strategic communications practice focusing on reputation management, crisis communications, public affairs, media relations and digital media strategy for a variety of corporations, trade associations and non-profit organizations.
“My education at Pardee helped me in so many ways — from learning about international politics and the global economy to greatly enhancing my analytical and writing skills,” Nathanson said.
Nathanson said the classes he took on Russian while at Boston University are still instrumental to his current work at the Policy Resolution Group at Bracewell LLP. He also highlighted Professor Norman Naimark as someone who motivated him to pursue a career in international relations following graduation.
“I was so pleased to see that Professor Robert Richardson is still teaching at B.U. I took several Russian classes with him. The enthusiasm that he exuded at an 8am class every morning was infectious,” Nathanson said. “He taught me not only Russian, which was obviously useful in my career, but also how to give 100 percent to anything you do – he was energetic, funny and engaged everyone in the class. Those are skills that I use every day in my job and that I learned in part from Professor Richardson. Also, Professor Norman Naimark, who is now at Stanford, taught me how to analyze issues (also skills I use today) and was responsible for enhancing my interest in the former Soviet Union and motivating me to pursue a career in international relations.”
According to Nathanson, internships are crucial for Pardee School students to gain professional experience before graduation. During his time at Boston University, Nathanson had the opportunity to intern with then-Lt. Governor John Kerry at the State House. The next year Kerry was elected to the U.S. Senate, and when Nathanson arrived in Washington after graduating from B.U. to attend GWU he was able to obtain another internship with Kerry on Capitol Hill.
“That directly led to my internship at the Center for Democracy — Senator Kerry was working with the Center at the time on a Congressional report on the Marcos-Aquino presidential elections in the Philippines and his office put a good word in for me — and the Center hired me full time when I graduated from GWU,” Nathanson said. “So two unpaid internship that started at B.U. directly led to my first job.”
Nathanson said he would also advise current Pardee School students to focus on developing writing and interpersonal skills before entering the job market.
“One of the downsides of the 280 character social media world that we live in is the de-emphasis on writing. I can teach someone how to do strategic communications writing, but they need to first have good basic writing skills,” Nathanson said. “Also, working in the consulting world, clients need to like spending time with you. Having good inter-personal skills is essential. The ability to communicate beyond texting and posting on social media is very important in the business world.”