Jeff Gaunt is a managing director in Lambert’s Grand Rapids, Michigan, office and leads the firm’s Crisis & Reputation Management group. With two decades of experience in media and strategic communications, Jeff has supported Lambert clients through a wide range of crises and issues, including bankruptcies, product recalls, civil and criminal cases, government investigations, cyberattacks, environmental disasters, and more. He has led account teams across a wide variety of industries, including health care, private equity, energy, manufacturing, and public policy. Jeff also manages the firm’s media and crisis training services, and he is currently coordinating the firm’s review and integration of artificial intelligence tools to support business operations and client growth.
Jeff began his career as a reporter with a daily newspaper in the Chicago area, and then served as a policy analyst, communications advisor and speechwriter in the Illinois State Senate. In 2010, he moved to Thailand to work as a foreign media advisor for the Thai prime minister. After returning to the United States, he oversaw internal and external communications for an urban school district in central Illinois. Most recently, he served as an advisor and trainer to Fortune 500 executives, business owners and leaders around the world for a strategic communications and crisis management firm before joining the Lambert team in 2018.
Jeff earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in Evanston, Illinois.