AMSTERDAM – BANGKOK – BRUSSELS – HONG KONG – LILLE – LONDON – LOS ANGELES – MILAN – MONTREAL – PARIS – SINGAPORE – TORONTO – WASHINGTON
CS&A International supports global clients by assessing their internal crisis management protocols, training leadership and crisis management teams, and providing ad-hoc tools and solutions to continuously enhance crisis resilience.
We offer a tailored approach to each of our clients’ particular situations and requirements.
Our team of experts conducts an in-depth analysis and evaluation of clients’ crisis management capabilities and then develops bespoke sustainable practical solutions enabling your management team to be better prepared to deal with a crisis.
“According to a 2019 survey conducted by CS&A International and PR News, about 62% of companies had crisis plans though it was uncertain how many updated them on a regular basis. Almost 60% of the middle and senior managers surveyed said they never conducted a crisis exercise or were not sure how often their companies’ held exercises.”
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INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF RISK AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT
Ernst den Hartigh is an Associate with CS&A based in Louisiana, USA, providing clients world-wide with crisis management and emergency response advice. Prior to joining CS&A, Ernst had a distinguished career in the oil and gas business as senior business leader in a variety of global locations.
Through extensive operational line-leadership experience, he has had significant hands-on exposure to emergency and crisis management and will be able to provide clients with fit-for-purpose advice and guidance.
For the first twenty-seven years of his career, Ernst worked in various operational and management roles for Shell in the North Sea, Middle East, Far East and Gulf of Mexico. His experience covers both onshore and offshore operations, and he possesses deep expertise in managing technical and business risk, operations management, process safety and safety leadership. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina (2005) he was the crisis manager for recovery efforts of the Shell upstream organisation in Louisiana.
He also initiated the global direction for Asset Integrity Management in Shell Upstream following BP’s Texas City incident, including the development of standards for all Shell operated assets.
The last six years, he worked for BG Group in the US and North Sea, most recently as Managing Director for BG Europe E&P, being ultimately responsible for business results, safety performance and reputation.
He holds a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Twente in the Netherlands.
Alan Morrison is an Associate of CS&A based in the Governor's
office in Montserrat with a focus on hurricane and volcano preparation and response, providing clients worldwide with expert counsel on all types of business continuity, crisis management and emergency response issues.
Alan has 20 years of experience in the British Diplomatic Service and has worked in London, Bangladesh, Islamabad, Ottawa and Hong Kong.
With extensive experience in writing emergency and business continuity plans for British diplomatic missions, Alan is an expert in maintaining organisations core functions throughout a crisis or business continuity event.
Specifically, Alan has drafted contingency plans that deal with real threats to the operation of British missions including such diverse threats as terrorism and pandemics. In addition to this, Alan set up, trained and led the British Rapid Deployment Team based in Hong Kong. This is a team of highly trained officers ready to deploy to any crisis in the South East Asia region.
His current duties in Dhaka include planning the rescue of forced marriage victims in Bangladesh and increasing the resilience of the British network across the South Asian region to respond to crises like the Mumbai attacks and the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny, amongst others.
His responsibilities in these areas have given Alan first-hand experience in responding to real crises, like the Asian tsunami and the Bali bombings of Oct 05, and more recently the Mumbai Attacks, but also gave him extensive experience in training and testing emergency response mechanisms. This includes running real-time practice deployments and other emergency and business continuity scenarios.
Frontline response to crises, as part of the British Government, has exposed Alan to dealing with victims and their families in highly charged atmospheres as well as dealing with an often hostile media. His skills honed in this area, Alan, recognises that good customer care and coordinated media handling is one of the keys to good reputation management and protection. Having operated from secure buildings and worked in classified environments, physical security and information protection come as second nature to him and he is experienced in good security techniques and in assessing security situations.
This is a key asset when he has had to operate in potentially dangerous arenas, like responding to a terrorist event or rescuing a victim of forced marriage.
Alan is a member of the Business Continuity Institute and is currently studying a Master's degree in Business Administration through the Open University.
Carl is an Associate with CS&A based in Toronto, Canada. He is an Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) with 20 years of experience in communications, media relations, and stakeholder engagement.
Carl has held both client-side and consulting roles that included crisis communications and issues management in the non-profit, government and corporate sectors, including experience in the aviation industry managing crisis response communications following aircraft incidents.
Carl is a leading authority on the use of Virtual Town Halls during disaster response situations. He assisted the Government of Alberta during the evacuation of Fort McMurray in 2016 due to a wildfire – the largest insurable disaster and second- largest mass evacuation in Canadian history.
He has an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Guelph (Canada), a Post-Graduate Certificate in Public Relations from Ryerson University (Toronto) and has received additional training in crisis communications.
Thomas Helmer is a Senior Director with CS&A based in Hong Kong.
Prior to joining CS&A, Thomas had a wide-ranging career in Shell, which included assessing the effectiveness of risk management, business contingency planning and continuity, crisis management and emergency response. Subsequently, he worked for Nord Stream AG as senior consultant, for TAQA as lead auditor and for two years as Senior Director QMHSE with Maersk Drilling, the leader in offshore drilling technology.
Through his experience in Senior Leadership positions in the oil and gas industry across the globe ranging from on- and offshore operations, defining policies, strategies and processes, setting standards, auditing and benchmarking, Thomas provides CS&A’s clients with bestpractice in crisis management, business contingency, continuity planning and emergency response. He is instrumental in the design and delivery of CS&A’s assignments in high-risk industries internationally.
He has staged numerous emergency response and crisis simulation drills involving all parts of the response process, from operations, logistics, and communications to issues and reputation management.
At the beginning of his career, Thomas Helmer worked for Shell Tankers B.V. for 3 years. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (FIMarST), the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE) and the Energy Institute (FEI). He is also a Corporate Member of Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (MIOSH) and International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (MIIRSM).
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Engineering, as well as Marine Engineering qualifications.
Cathy is a former Brussels-based correspondent for both the BBC and GMTV and was a main presenter of Channel Four News in the UK.
She has worked as a reporter for RTHK in Hong Kong and for Radio New Zealand in Auckland. Cathy specialises in media and crisis training as well as conference moderating for a wide range of international clients. She also presents European Journal, a weekly magazine program for the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle TV.
As CS&A’s Business Manager, Barbara Helmer supports the CS&A team in all aspects of business administration and liaison with international clients leads including contracts and finances. Barbara also supports and participates in the facilitation and delivery of client projects.
Prior to joining CS&A, Barbara’s 30 year career has covered Human Resources and Facility and Office Management across a number of industries and countries for companies such as Merrill Lynch, Carre Orban & Partners and Schering-Plough.
In the USA, where she lived for over a year, she managed the Financial and Purchasing Department of a shipyard in Louisiana, which produced Crane Barges for the Offshore Industry.
More recently Barbara worked in the hospitality industry in Italy, where she managed several luxurious Tuscan villas catering to international guests interested in high-end holidays including hands-on cooking classes with noted professional chefs.
Fluent in Dutch, English and German, Barbara is an accomplished Italian speaker and possesses the basics of French conversation. She is based in Amsterdam but works across the globe.
Ann Morris is a Washington, DC-based CS&A Associate.
Ann has more than 20 years of experience in national news media, corporate, and nonprofit communications.
Her expertise is in crisis communications, public relations, strategic communications, and media relations. Ann began her career as a journalist, starting in national network television news at ABC News while she was still at university.
Upon graduation, she worked for the network full time as researcher for “This Week with David Brinkley” and as a production assistant. From there, she became a reporter at the weekly national news magazine U.S. News and World Report where she covered international and domestic news for four years.
At the national headquarters of the American Red Cross, crisis preparedness and response were her daily focus. Ann helped manage the communication response for dozens of crises including the 1999 Oklahoma tornadoes, the earthquake in Turkey and the Kosovo crisis for which she planned and managed a relief mission and media tour to Macedonia. She worked hand in glove with communicators and local leadership at the more than 700 local Red Cross chapters about communications efforts prior to, during and after a crisis.
This included sharing with them the national communications strategy, making sure they understood all its elements and how best to translate it to their local communities.
As vice president of external communications at United Way of America, one of the nation’s leading charities, Ann helped ensure that the more than 1,300 locally governed organisations had in place and knew how to use the organisation’s crisis preparedness and response materials. And Ann was at United Way of America during the events of September 11th 2001. She helped coordinate the charity’s response efforts and served as one of the main spokespeople.
Additionally, Ann worked closely with the New York branch of the organisation to help manage communications for and about the September 11th Fund, one of the most successful charitable efforts to help people who had been affected by the events. Ann also has been a vice president at Ogilvy Public Relations where she supervised media relations efforts for a major pharmaceutical company within Ogilvy’s award-winning Health and Medical Practice.
Most recently, Ann was director of communications at Global Rights, the international human rights organisation. While there, she and her team earned seven creative awards in three years.
Ann holds a Bachelor of Arts from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Arati is an Associate with CS&A International based in the national capital region of New Delhi. She is a seasoned professional with 32 years extensive experience in leadership roles managing global communications, brand, public affairs and sustainability. Arati specialises in crisis communications and corporate reputation management, brand transformations and turnarounds.
Arati has experience across varied sectors – telecom, IT, automotive, manufacturing, media & entertainment, financial services, FMCG, aviation, to name a few. She has managed communications during several issues and crises ranging from community and labour issues, product recall/faults to natural disaster, business continuity during geopolitical issues, economic downturn to cybersecurity.
She has served as Board Member for Corporate Social Responsibility to monitor, govern and scale programs enabling communities become economically independent; closely collaborated with international bodies and managed projects of global significance for economic development of communities, sustainable mobility and environment.
Arati is also driving a startup for building an AI SaaS platform and consulting on global projects pertaining to communications and brand strategy. She has been a contributor to the book titled 'Advertising at the Crossroads' written by world-renowned advertising guru Prof John Philip Jones.
Arati has a Master’s degree in English Literature from Delhi University, a MBA from IGNOU and a certificate in Disruptive Strategy from Harvard Business School. With mastery in English and Hindi, she is proficient in French. She writes poetry, listens to music, loves driving and is an avid motorsports enthusiast.
Suzanne Druce is an Executive Consultant with CS&A based in Singapore representing the firm’s interests in the Asia region.
With 25 years in financial and general management for a range of service companies in Europe and Asia, Suzanne’s role comprises strategic development, providing support and maximizing synergy on specific client projects, and support to the growing number of associates in Asia.
Suzanne’s area of expertise and personal interest is in enabling companies, and the individuals driving them, to grow their businesses to the next level.
Suzanne brings definition and clarity to business models, eliminating what doesn’t work or isn’t practical. Suzanne’s consulting practice in Singapore nurtures entrepreneurs in start-ups at various phases; and also consults more established companies on the systems, processes and funding to step them up to growth.
If you ask Suzanne what she enjoys most in business, she will tell you that by translating corporate/ finance jargon and legalese into common-sense language and everyday situations, she helps clients consolidate their profits and sustain core values as they grow.
As part of the CS&A team, Suzanne helps our clients to map crisis and risk management tools and programs to their organisation and to evaluate and mobilise their resources.
A long-term resident of Asia, Suzanne has spent many years in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and is now at home in Singapore.
Semmy Huang is an Associate of CS&A International based in Hong Kong looking after clients in the Greater China Region.
A seasoned consultant in crisis communication, media and corporate communication, Semmy has counselled many companies across industry sectors over the past 25 years.
Over the years, Semmy has worked with a number of communications consultancies as well as De Beers Diamond. She has supported organisations in the area of issues and crisis management as well as media relations and strategic reputation plans. She has been a reporter and an editor with various news publications in Taiwan.
A native of Taiwan, Semmy holds a BA in Journalism and is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese and English.
Whitney Foard Small is a Senior Associate of CS&A International. With extensive experience in crisis communication and management across industry sectors, Whitney is ideally suited to work with CS&A’s clients at the executive level.
A veteran in the field of communications, Whitney’s career has spanned the full spectrum of public affairs – from crisis communications, corporate and product communications to CSR, technology, digital and marketing communications. She is an accomplished Media/ Spokesperson Trainer, having worked with many Fortune 500 executives globally.
Over the years, Whitney has held a range of senior positions with multinational organisations in various global locations, including most recently as Communications Consultant for IBM, in New York. Prior to this, Whitney was a Group Director of Corporate Communications & Public Affairs at Thai Union, the world’s leading seafood company. During these three years she was responsible for leading their strategic communications efforts, crisis communications, brand reputation management including internal communications, media relations as well as CSR initiatives.
Before that, Whitney served as Regional Director of Communications for Ford Motor Company’s Asia Pacific and Africa’s business unit, leading a team of 42 communicators in the research, planning and execution of product and corporate communications programs in 11 markets across the region. In this role, Whitney has transformed Ford’s APA Communications function into an extremely nimble regional team sharing centralised resources to tell the Ford story to every audience and for every product.
Whitney has also headed the Asia Pacific marketing and communications team at the Walt Disney Theme Parks and Resorts division. Furthermore, she has extensive experience working at public relations and communications firms, serving as the Asia-Pacific Managing Director for The Hoffman Agency, and as a Managing Director for Burson-Marsteller’s Thailand operations.
A Chinese and occasional Thai speaker, Whitney is an Associate Member of the Foreign Correspondents Clubs of Hong Kong and Thailand, where she has been elected to the Board of Executives three times, and a Corporate Member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and the US-China Business Council. Originally from Maine in the U.S., Whitney is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. Additionally, she also studied at Nankai University in Tianjin, China.
Caroline Sapriel is the founder and Managing Partner of CS&A, a specialist risk and crisis and business continuity management consulting firm with offices in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Belgium, The Netherlands, Singapore, and the United States. With over 25 years of experience in risk and crisis management, Caroline is recognised as a leader in her profession and acknowledged for her ability to provide customised, results-driven counsel at the highest level.
Over the years, Caroline has advised senior corporate executives in high-risk industries internationally. Her multi-disciplinary background and experience have enabled her to provide clients with an in-depth analysis of their crisis management capability as well as help them develop effective risk and crisis response organisations and stakeholder and reputation management strategies. She has been directly involved in helping clients manage crises in the oil and gas, chemical, transport, shipping, aviation, pharmaceutical and consumer product sectors.
Caroline is an accomplished trainer, facilitator and coach in risk, issues and crisis management as well as in communication skills. As such, she has coached many senior executives at leading multinational corporations internationally. Caroline regularly speaks at international conferences and seminars on risk and crisis management. She is a guest lecturer on corporate crisis management at the University of Antwerp and at the graduate school of public administration of Leiden University.
Caroline is a member of the Business Continuity Institute, of the International Association of Business Communicators and serves on its global ethics committee, and of the European Association of Communications Directors. In 2011, she received a Gold Quill Award from IABC for her firm’s 10 Commandments of Crisis Management. She has authored many articles on the subject of crisis management and co-authored two books – Crisis Management – Tales from the Front Line and 25 years of Crises in Review: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – with CS&A Senior Partner Dirk Lenaerts. Prior to establishing her own consulting firm, Caroline held various senior management positions with international communications consultancies where she helped clients respond to crises and enhance their crisis communication capabilities.
Caroline is fluent in French, English, Spanish, Hebrew and Mandarin, and holds a BA degree in Chinese Studies and a BSc degree in International Relations.
Dirk Lenaerts is Joint Managing Director of CS&A. Dirk works with clients internationally to assess risk, evaluate their crisis management capabilities and designs response structures and processes specifically suited to their organisation, environment, culture, and the risks and issues they face.
Dirk is particularly involved in the development of products and tools, such as Crisiscom© and CrisisScan©, that help clients enhance their risk and crisis management capability. He leads the research and planning of risk and crisis scenarios as well as the organisation, management and debriefing of crisis simulation exercises. He has developed and established integrated risk and crisis management systems for many of CS&A's long-term clients.
His extensive experience in international business and his in-depth understanding of different management styles coupled with his analytical and problem-solving skills provide clients with the right combination of talents and expertise to help define and implement robust yet flexible crisis management strategies.
Prior to joining CS&A, Dirk worked for Western and Asian companies in Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and China, where he spent a total of eighteen years. He has also acted as a consultant to various manufacturers. Over the years, he has handled a variety of assignments including joint-venture and agency contract negotiations, and the establishment, transfer and restructuring of manufacturing facilities.
Fluent in Dutch, English, French, German and Mandarin, Dirk is able to counsel multinationals in diverse markets. He holds an undergraduate degree in Sinology from the University of Ghent, Belgium.
Emanuele Capra is an Associate with CS&A based in Milan, Italy, with extensive experience in operational crisis & risk management, business continuity, information security, GDPR, operational improvement and related services.
He has an IT and technical background as well as financial skills and strong operational experience. Thanks to his multidisciplinary background and his professional network, Emanuele helps clients to identify and solve complex business and organisational issues, to implement effective business continuity and IT disaster recovery plans and to improve their overall enterprise resilience.
When not working on client projects, he serves as third party auditor on ISO 9001 (Quality& Control), ISO 27001 (IT security) and ISO 22301 (business continuity) and he is a regular lecturer for third parties certification bodies and training centres.
He started his career working in the food industry and later co-founded and managed different ventures in IT and banking services.
Over the years, he has handled a variety of assignments, including general management and business development in various sectors such as finance, transport & logistic; engineering services; ICT, energy, renewables and sustainability and insurance brokerage.
Emanuele is fluent in Italian and English. With an eclectic college background, he earned a Master's degree in Management, an MBA from the SDA-Bocconi University and several certifications.
Based in Hong Kong, Rex has been active in the Asia Pacific area since 2004 providing independent security consultation services including risk assessments, security planning, system design, security audits, investigations and forensics, penetration testing, event security system integration and training. He served a wide range of business sectors from critical infrastructure, logistics hubs, luxurious retail, casinos, utilities, NGOs, jewellery, embassies, hospitality, banking and pharmaceutical.
Rex is secretary of the ASIS International Chapter of Hong Kong, member of the International Professional Security Association (IPSA). He holds a Certificate in Security Management by K2 Consulting, a degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA degree. He is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English.
Pierce Lüthi is a Consultant for CS&A International based in Brussels, Belgium.
Pierce joined CS&A in 2022 and is responsible for scenario research and development and supporting training programmes for the company’s international clients. His work involves liaising directly with clients to design exercises and working with leadership teams to enhance their crisis resilience, preparedness, and skills. Pierce specialises in disaster management and humanitarian response, which benefits clients wanting to be ready for severe disruptions.
Pierce also supports the design and development of CS&A crisis software solutions such as OnPoint™, CrisisMediaSim™, CrisisScan™, and ReputationScout™, which help enhance clients’ overall crisis resilience and response effectively with proven technology.
Pierce holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Disaster Management and Humanitarian Response with Professional Experience from the University of Manchester, providing him with a breadth of knowledge on crisis response and resilience planning. Originally from Switzerland and educated in England, Pierce is also a native speaker of both English and French.
Sarah Woods is an Associate with CS&A International, currently based in London. She has over 20 years of experience in strategic communications and reputation and crisis management, both in-house and as a consultant. While working across multiple industries, her expertise has focused on advising local and multinational organizations in a variety of industries including education, banking, finance, and energy.
During her tenure as Director of Communications at The Allen-Stevenson School in New York City, Sarah was a pivotal member of the Senior Administrative Team, contributing to the formulation of policies and strategies for this K-8 all-boys independent school. Her leadership extended to overseeing the communications team, developing, and implementing communications and marketing plans, and playing a crucial role in crisis and issues management, aligning messaging with the Head of School and Board of Trustees. As the administrative liaison to the Strategy + Communications Committee of the Board, she played a key role in launching the school’s most recent strategic plan.
While in Hong Kong, Sarah held the position of Executive Director at the senior-level consultancy, Forrest International Ltd. (acquired by Golin/Harris in 2000), where she led the corporate reputation management team. In this capacity, Sarah provided strategic counsel to CEOs on corporate communications strategy as part of reputation management, including crisis preparation and messaging. Her expertise was further demonstrated by her creation of a crisis module for a communications short course offered to middle managers through The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Sarah began her career in finance in London in 1986, a time of dramatic change for the industry, after earning her BA in Economics at The University of the South, Sewanee, in the United States.
Having lived and worked in New York, Hong Kong, and London, Sarah brings a global perspective to crisis planning and communication.
Andrew Morrison is an Associate with CS&A International based in London, UK. In his corporate career, Andrew has undertaken a range of issues and crisis related assignments
including:
• Distilling the Coca-Cola Company crisis management handbook into a practical guide for managers and handled more than 100 live issues for the company, particularly in Africa to prevent them from turning into crises. These included health, financial, branding and cultural challenges.
• At DSM, Andrew led the communications work-stream for a €30m greenfield fortified food factory in Rwanda. Stakeholders included: The UN World Food Programme, The Clinton Foundation, UK DFID, and the Government of Rwanda.
Further reputation management involved stakeholder and risk mitigation plans for handling NGO interactions and attacks.
• At VISA, Andrew ran the CEMEA press office during the Russian banking crisis which shut down the company’s payment system in the country, denying people access to their credit card accounts and managed VISA’s corporate response until a technological work-around was achieved.
• At Samsung Europe, Andrew was company spokesperson on TV, radio and in print during a major restructuring.
• At Euroclear, Andrew devised and led a cyber security campaign to help employees become more secure at work
• At Enron Europe, he handled sensitive issues and crises related to power plant development, energy trading, office closures and staff redundancies.
Andrew has also written many media training briefs and scenarios and conducted crisis training in partnership with practicing journalists.
As current Chair of the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators)
Global Ethics Committee, Andrew has conducted investigations into alleged breaches of the Codes of Ethics and Codes of Conduct, advising the Board where appropriate. He also leads and conducts annual reputational risk audits and reports across committees to ensure robust responses are in place, if needed. He also previously served on IABC’s Risk & Audit committee.
Andrew has lived in the UK and Switzerland, and worked in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. He is professionally qualified in Strategic Communications Management, Business and Personal Coaching and Sustainability.
A longstanding Associate of CS&A International, Jurrit is a cameraman and photographer based in Belgium working with CS&A clients throughout Europe.
With over twenty years' experience, he is an indispensable professional who co-delivers CS&A’s training programmes including Crisis Media Training, Spokesperson Coaching and Crisis Simulation Exercises.
As an independent cameraman and producer, he works for Belgium’s national TV stations; VRT public channel (één, Canvas), VMMA (VTM, 2B, Jimtv), SBS (VT4, 5TV), and Belgium’s main production companies, taking on domestic and international assignments. In addition, Jurrit has extensive experience in making Corporate Films, Documentaries, Reality TV, Travel Programmes, Cooking Shows and Video Clips, with some of his work featured on www.filmtda.be Familiar with most cameras, Jurrit chooses the Arri Amira as his loyal partner to create unique and smooth images for clients.
Jurrit graduated from Rhitcs, Belgium’s top film school in 1989, having completed two years of study for Film Director, four years for Cameraman, Director of Photography and Sound Engineer.
Benjamin Sylvand is an Associate with CS&A based in France.
With extensive negotiation and mediation experience, Benjamin supports clients in the analysis of conflict and complex situations and the development of bespoke response strategies as well as the conduct of negotiation and mediation.
He is an accomplished executive coach, conflict negotiator and mediator, and has conducted numerous crisis and exercise programmes for clients across industries.
Among his past several positions, Benjamin was director of digital pedagogy at Sciences Po Paris, and L&T director at Castorama France Kingfisher, as well as senior consultant with a Paris-based crisis management firm.
Fluent in French and English, Benjamin holds a PhD in Philosophy (Sorbonne University, France), Post-Doc at Oxford University and an MBA in communication (Sorbonne University, France. He is also certified in complex negotiations (ADN, France).
Of Russian nationality, Lina Kolesnikova is an Associate with CS&A based in Brussels, with extensive experience in both the governmental and non-governmental sectors including the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), the Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels-based think-tank) and the International Crisis Group (international NGO working in conflict prevention).
She counsels clients in conflict resolution, NGO and stakeholder relationship management, and European energy supply and security issues.
Lina has advised on relations between ex-Soviet Union Republics and Western countries and is familiar with the socio-political economic environment and issues of this region. Lina researches and writes on a wide range of topical issues arising from recent and current events on the global scene, and is a frequent speaker and moderator at international meetings and conferences. Her latest publications include articles on crisis management in the Crisis Response Journal.
During her work for Interweek forum (NGO at Novosibirsk State University), she managed all trainings and workshops with up to 1,000 participants every year. She co-ordinated all activities and communication with the Club of Rome, Gorbachev’s Fund, state and local public authorities, various Ministries and NGOs, the World Bank, and The Russian Parliament, among others.
Lina holds an MA degree in History (Novosibirsk State University, Russia), a Post-graduate degree in International and European Relations (Amsterdam School of International Relations, the Netherlands) and a Post-graduate degree in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management (Leicester University, UK). She also holds certificates from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) on peacekeeping and international conflict resolution, global terrorism, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, international humanitarian law, and negotiation of financial transactions.
Mark Bernheimer is an Associate of CS&A, based in Los Angeles and looking after the firm’s clients throughout the United States.
With special expertise in media training, Mark calls upon a rich background in journalism.
He is a former national correspondent with CNN, and a 16-year veteran of the broadcast news industry. His unique background in the news media offers a specialised perspective and rare skill set to assist clients in their dealings with reporters, particularly when preparing them for crisis communication. Therefore, Mark founded and is the principal of MediaWorks Resource Group. (www.mediaworksgroup.com)
Mark wrapped up his news career in 2000, leaving CNN’s Los Angeles bureau to apply his expertise in the area of private consulting and training. During his network news tenure, Mark covered all the major U.S. news stories, including the Monica Lewinsky scandal and subsequent impeachment of President Bill Clinton, the Oklahoma City bombing trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the Washington, D.C. World Trade Organization riots, and the OJ Simpson civil trial.
Prior to his employment at CNN, Mark worked as a free-lance reporter for Los Angeles television station KCAL. His work has also appeared on the National Geographic Channel, and on the pages of the Orange County Register.
Over the years, Mark’s one-on-one interview subjects have included Henry Kissinger and two California governors, as well as innumerable national political candidates and captains of industry. Mark has worked with major corporations including Sun Microsystems, Nissan Motors, and Four Seasons Hotels, providing internal communications assistance, consulting services, and media training.
Mark has a B.A. in Telecommunications and Film from the University of Oregon, and is a member of the Public Relations Society of America.
Louis Cauffman is an Associate with CS&A providing clients with specialised counsel and training in the areas of stress management as well as public and family assistance in preparation for and/or during crises. He designs and runs workshops for corporations, which recognise the impact of crises on employees, victims and next-of kin, and their associated multi-cultural sensitivities.
Louis has extensive experience as a psychotherapist, particularly in family and systems therapy, groups dynamics and solution-focused therapy. He is involved in numerous international training and teaching programs.
Louis is the designer of SolutionFocused Management, a brand new way of tackling day-to-day management challenges. This management method focuses on the exceptions to the problems instead of fixating on the problem-side of problems. These exceptions are then the starting points of an incisive new method of rapidly creating alternative solutions. Problem-solving hereby becomes obsolete and is replaced by solution-building. SolutionFocused Management enhances the manager’s capabilities of again becoming the creator of his own solutions.
Louis is the Founder and Managing Director of The Bruges Group, an international holding of several training institutes in France, the Netherlands and Belgium. In 1986, Louis founded his own consulting firm, Integrative Management Institute, that specialises in consulting family businesses.
With his particular expertise in family and solution-focused therapy and his understanding the business environment, he helps CS&A clients manage and communicate more effectively with victims and next of kin in the high-stress context of crises. He was recently a keynote speaker to the “First International Conference for Systemic Management” to be held in Vienna, during which he conducted a two-day seminar on Solution Management. Louis graduated in Psychology in 1980 from the University of Leuven, Belgium.
Susana is a Consultant at CS&A International, where she plays a key role in advancing CS&A’s crisis resilience services and solutions. Her work includes conducting in-depth research and scenario planning to craft tailored strategies, frameworks, plans, and crisis exercises that address unique client challenges. She contributes to all stages of a project’s lifecycle, from developing resources for simulations and exercises to drafting essential documentation such as crisis management plans, crisis communication plans, and post-exercise reports.
Additionally, Susana manages and supports the development of proprietary software tools that help clients before, during, and after crises. Susana contributes to CS&A’s mission to ensure organizations are equipped with practical tools and well-defined strategies to be crisis-resilient.
Susana holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from NOVA University of Lisbon, which has equipped her with a strong analytical foundation and geopolitical knowledge that she applies across all projects. Susana is also a U.S. Department of State Alumna for her role in Civic Engagement as a Young Student Leader. A native Portuguese speaker, Susana is fluent in English and conversational in Spanish and French.
CS&A International has helped enhance the crisis resilience of its clients since 1991.
With particular experience in high risk and controversial industries, we have worked
with the senior management of multinational corporations across industry sectors.
