Jennifer Baker Reid, President, brings 20 years of experience in government and public affairs to the clients of The Laurin Baker Group, LLC. She represents a variety of industries before the Administration, Congress, and regulatory bodies in such issue areas as the environment, taxation, defense, international trade and natural resources.
Ms. Reid has successfully developed and implemented complex legislative and communications strategies for a variety of corporate and government interests, both as an employee and a consultant, resulting in significant savings for her employers and clients.
She also has broad experience in crisis communications and as a media spokesperson and trainer. Ms. Reid has worked on federal legislation providing a manufacturing client with a national approach to product content laws. She has worked with other manufacturing clients to secure changes in decades-old procurement laws and export control regimes.
From 2002-2004, Ms. Reid served as Legislative Affairs Liaison for the United States Marine Corps’ Personal and Family Readiness Division, based in Quantico, Virginia.
Her responsibilities included representing the Division before Congress, including identifying pertinent legislative issues and developing strategies to address them; assisting in the preparation of congressional testimony on Division matters for the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Deputy Commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps; and coordinating legislative matters with other Military Services and senior members of the Department of Defense.
From 2000-2002, Ms. Reid was a member of the corporate public relations team at MCI WorldCom, Inc., one of the world’s largest providers of telephone and Internet backbone services.
In this capacity, she managed and implemented communications strategies for the company’s Internet division, which included providing crisis communications counseling to senior executives during a prolonged period of corporate scandal and bankruptcy proceedings.
At MCI WorldCom, she served as a media spokesperson, and arranged and managed executive interviews with key media outlets, including national publications and wire services (The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Business Week, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Reuters, Dow Jones), as well as other major regional and local media outlets and trade press.
She successfully managed the media coverage of the effect of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on MCI WorldCom’s businesses, which included such customers as the FAA, NASDAQ, and Department of Defense entities.
Following September 11, 2001 she was a member of the new corporate business continuity team, and was responsible for public affairs related to Homeland Security issues and their effect on the telecommunications industry. She was also responsible for providing media and crisis communications trainings to MCI WorldCom senior executives.
Prior to joining MCI WorldCom, Ms. Reid spent five years in increasingly responsible positions at Environmental Issues Management, Inc. (EIM), a multi-disciplined public affairs consulting firm in Washington, DC. During those five years, she developed and implemented strategic public affairs and government relations efforts for Fortune 500 clients, primarily in the area of environmental cleanups, product recalls and corporate litigation.
As an example, she successfully garnered legislative and community support for a Midwestern engine manufacturing client’s preferred environmental remediation alternative, thereby reducing the overall cost of government actions by at least $20 million. She has directed the public affairs strategies for several Superfund sites involving residential drinking water and residential vapor intrustion. She also provided the firm’s clients with media and crisis communications training.
Ms. Reid has served in a variety of capacities in the offices of several elected officials, including U.S. Congressman Jim McCrery (R-LA), the late former South Carolina Governor Carroll Campbell, and former South Carolina Secretary of State Jim Miles.
Ms. Reid graduated magna cum laude from the Honors College of the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Business French.