Public Relations Jobs: Goldman Sachs' Tony Fratto Has Been Busy Guy, Same for Skadden's Luke Ferrandino

 The subunit on Reddit for public relations jobs posts laments from both in-house and agency employees about the stress generated by superiors, clients including internal ones, journalists and even shareholders. 

The classic example of that could be illustrated by what Goldman Sachs' spokesperson Tony Fratto has had embedded in his recent duties.

At the top of the list was being out there often delivering the financial institution's stance on the ongoing employability of its top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler. Since it was all quite positive many of us took to decoding what the statements might be revealing. For example, there was speculation that whenever a corporation indicates a controversial employee has the full support of the board that support actually might already be souring. 

Well, for now, Fratto is off the hook on the Ruemmler situation. As is well-known, she resigned. There is a distancing there. 

Ruemmler is using the services of her own spokesperson Jennifer Connelly, owner of the JConnelly agency. But that venue might not be adequate when Ruemmler testifies about the Epstein connection before the House Oversight Committee in April. Fratto might have to leap back in. That is, if Ruemmler does not move up her planned June 30, 2026 exit from Goldman Sachs because of the testimony. 

So, for now, Ruemmler is packed off in a box. But a new public relations crisis has erupted. Interview Magazine did a March spread on "The Finest Boys in Finance." In a public statement Fratto indicates that was done without going through the corporation's media channels. 

Among the four young lads featured are two from Goldman Sachs. They are Mason Clarke, an investment banker analyst, and Clay Nelson, an equity swaps specialist. The positioning and packaging of the article has the ethos of young men about town. Not a great image for an organization dealing with people's money. 

Of course, one wonders why the boys took the plunge. Surely there will be internal consequences. Maybe slight or maybe serious such as termination. But in this era of the lucrative influencer game that's where they could hope to be heading. They realize that this controversy got them plenty of attention. And/or they could be considering starting their own fund. In coaching I have a 30-something who did launch a hedge fund.

Meanwhile, Fratto may have the same headache as I assume Skadden's CMO Luke Ferrandino did when junior lawyer Rachel Cohen, already in the influencer category, decided to make noise about the firm's dealmaking with the Trump administration to lift the Executive Order and eventually exit. In addition, another departer provided an interviewer on "60 Minutes," when that programming was still credible. Ferrandino had recently left Paul, Weiss for the bigger job at Skadden. But with all the recent Epstein-related developments at Paul, Weiss Ferrandino would also have been kept quite busy.

Well, the objective is for the noise to be muted. 

But the latest noise at Skadden comes from recent lawsuit "Paisner v Tan." As Bloomberg News reports that complaint:

" ... suggests the shareholder suit may seek to link the transaction to a $100 million pro bono agreement between the administration and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, a leading white-shoe law firm that advised Intel on the stock sale."

So, like Reddit captures, those in the communications loop are at the mercy of myriad forces, including unfolding realities.

The boys of Goldman and the former associates at Skadden gained the upper hand. They may be able to hold onto that. Meanwhile, the communications paid folks probably will always be in a scrambling mode. 

In coaching, I steer clients to ways of making a living which gives them the most control. Solopreneur is among them. Employees, whatever the function, currently tend to be spun around as in a dryer. The majority of clients still working in large organizations are building enterprises on the side. 

Full Disclosure: Ferrandino and I have a snippet of history. When on retainer with Paul, Weiss I perceived I wasn't being taken seriously. After two months I pulled the plug. My mindset as a solopreneur has always been: If I am responsible for my own healthcare insurance and retirement fund I expect to participate in the terms and conditions of a work experience. 

Success is a mental game. Failure comes from being done in by the “committee” in your head.

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