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Berman and Company

Website:

www.bermanco.com/about-us/
Location:

Arlington, VA
Type:

Public Relations Firm
Formation:

1987 1

References

  1. Seidman, Derek. “Longtime Astroturf Firm Obscures Funders as It Targets Starbucks Union.” Truthout. April 7, 2023. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://truthout.org/articles/longtime-astroturf-firm-obscures-funders-as-it-targets-starbucks-union/

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

Berman and Company is a public relations firm founded by lobbyist Richard “Rick” Berman. 1 2 Critics have nicknamed Berman, “Dr. Evil.” 3

The firm is associated with a number of nonprofit groups that it manages or has managed, including the Center for Union Facts, 4 the Center for Organizational Research and Education, the Center for Consumer Freedom, Humane Watch, the Center for Accountability in Science, Activist Facts, the Employment Policies Institute, and the Center for the Environment and Welfare. 5

Critics have accused the nonprofit groups of being front groups to make money for the for-profit Berman and Company. 6

Background

Berman and Company claimed that in 2022 and 2023, it had over 2,800 media hits for clients, 350 videos produced, 820 op-ed placements, 60 websites built, 80 million online video views, and 220 million total digital ad impressions. 7

The firm says its clients include Fortune 50 companies, tech leaders, trade associations, and nonprofit organizations. 8

Founder

Rick Berman is the founder and former chief executive officer of Berman and Company, and has created nonprofit groups known for campaigns that target labor unions, environmentalist groups, animal liberation groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. 9

Berman has been nicknamed “Dr. Evil” by critics for aggressively representing clients who tend to be opponents of the political left. Berman said he takes pride in the label. 10 Both allies and critics have compared Berman to the charismatic lobbyist for the tobacco industry portrayed in the 2006 film Thank You for Smoking. 11

As recently as November 2022, Berman was listed on the Berman and Company website as the firm’s president, the left-of-center website Truthout reported. As of December 2023, he was referred to as the company’s founder. 12 13

Before founding the company, Berman was vice president of the restaurant chain Steak and Ale and executive vice president of the Pillsbury Restaurant Group. 14 15

Berman was previously a lawyer for Bethlehem Steel and the Dana Corporation. 16 Berman is also a former labor law director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 17

In 2014, Berman told a private gathering at the Western Energy Alliance that the oil and gas industry was in an “endless war,” and should consider digging up embarrassing information on environmentalists, left-wing activists, and left-wing celebrities, the New York Times reported citing leaked audio. He solicited $3 million from oil and gas executives for Berman and Company to run the “Big Green Radicals” campaign. He told the executives, “You can either win ugly or lose pretty.” 18

Nonprofit Associations

Berman and Company founder Richard Berman was previously the president and executive director of the Center for Union Facts, 19 and was the president and executive director of the Center for Organizational Research and Education. 20

The Berman and Company-affiliated Center for Organizational Research and Education launched other projects that include the Center for Consumer Freedom, Humane Watch, the Center for Accountability in Science, and Activist Facts. 21

Critics have accused the nonprofit groups of being front groups or moneymakers for the for-profit Berman and Company. 22

Berman and Company staff run some of the nonprofits. For example, the Employment Policies Institute executive director is Mike Saltsman, an owner and partner at Berman and Company. 23

Meanwhile, Jack Hubbard, one of the partners of Berman and Company, is the executive director of the Center for the Environment and Welfare. In 2023, the Center for the Environment and Welfare launched a campaign against what it called “lab-grown” meat, or against the cultivated meat industry. Hubbard claimed that Berman and Company assisted in providing services to CEW. 24

Humane Watch is among the Berman-aligned nonprofits that routinely criticize the Humane Society of the United States. In 2023, Berman and Company was behind the “FreedomWoke” campaign, which attacked conservative group FreedomWorks for employing chief operating officer Marty Irby, who did work with the animal advocacy group Animal Wellness Action and the legislative advocacy arm of HSUS. Irby eventually resigned. 25

In 2023, the Berman and Company-aligned nonprofit Center for Union Facts launched a campaign against the Starbucks Workers United Union. 26

In 2010, the Humane Society and Mothers Against Drunk Driving filed a complaint with the New York Commission on Public Integrity accusing the American Beverage Institute and Berman and Company of lobbying while failing to register with the state as lobbyists. 27

The left-of-center watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint in 2006 with the Internal Revenue Service alleging the Center for Consumer Freedom made payments to Berman and Company. 28

Berman and Company was loosely affiliated with the Job Creators Network (JCN) in 2015, the left wing Mother Jones reported. The publication noted that the JCN media contact was employed by Berman and Company, while the Berman and Company in-house web developer had listed the JCN campaign in his online portfolio. However, Mother Jones was clear that Berman and Company did not launch or run the Job Creators Network, as was the case with other nonprofits. 29

Leadership

James Bowers is an owner and partner at Berman and Company. In a profile of a 2012 ad campaign Berman and Company conducted, a Huffington Post writer characterized Bowers as having a “wicked sense of humor.” 30

Mike Saltsman is an owner and partner at Berman and Company. He is also the executive director of the nonprofit Employment Policies Institute. He is a board member of the California Business and Industrial Alliance and previously worked for the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. 31

Jack Hubbard is an owner and partner at Berman and Company. He was previously the chief marketing officer and later chief operating officer at American Humane. 32

Will Coggin is the vice president of research at Berman and Company. 33

Charlyce Bozzello is the chief of staff at Berman and Company. She is the company’s former communications director. Previously, she worked for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. 34

Jackson Shedelbower is the vice president of communications at Berman and Company. 35

References

  1. “About Us.” Berman and Company. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.bermanco.com/about-us/
  2. “Center for Union Facts.” Influence Watch. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-center-for-union-facts-cuf/
  3. Schorn, Daniel. “Meet Rick Berman, A.K.A. ‘Dr. Evil.’” 60 Minutes. CBS News. February 25, 2011. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-rick-berman-aka-dr-evil/
  4. Center for Union Facts, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2022, Part VII Section B https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/204036946/202323189349306432/full
  5. Reynolds, Matt. “The Murky Campaign to Discredit Lab-Grown Meat.” WIRED. January 18, 2024. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.wired.com/story/cultivated-meat-pr-cew-center-environment-welfare-berman/
  6. Storm, Stephanie. “Nonprofit Advocate Carves Out a For-Profit Niche.” New York Times. June 17, 2010. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/us/politics/18berman.html?pagewanted=all
  7. “About Us.” Berman and Company. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.bermanco.com/about-us/
  8. Berman and Company. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.bermanco.com/
  9. Schouten, Fredreka. “Secret donors fund new ads targeting Hillary Clinton.” USA Today. January 20, 2016. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/01/20/secret-donors-fund-new-ads-targeting-hillary-clinton/79067562/
  10. Schorn, Daniel. “Meet Rick Berman, A.K.A. ‘Dr. Evil.’” 60 Minutes. CBS News. February 25, 2011. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-rick-berman-aka-dr-evil/
  11. O’Donnell, Jayne. “Got a nasty fight? Here’s your man.” USA Today. July 31, 2006. Accessed March 21, 2024. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/companies/2006-07-31-lobbyist-usat_x.htm
  12. Seidman, Derek. “Longtime Astroturf Firm Obscures Funders as It Targets Starbucks Union.” Truthout. April 7, 2023. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://truthout.org/articles/longtime-astroturf-firm-obscures-funders-as-it-targets-starbucks-union/
  13. “About Us.” Berman and Company. Archived from the original December 26, 2023. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20231226044709/https:/www.bermanco.com/about-us/.
  14. Roychoundhuri, Onnesha. “Sticking Up for the Big Guys.” AlterNet. February 17, 2006. Accessed March 21, 2024.https://www.alternet.org/2006/02/sticking_up_for_the_big_guys
  15. Seidman, Derek. “Longtime Astroturf Firm Obscures Funders as It Targets Starbucks Union.” Truthout. April 7, 2023. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://truthout.org/articles/longtime-astroturf-firm-obscures-funders-as-it-targets-starbucks-union/
  16. Seidman, Derek. “Longtime Astroturf Firm Obscures Funders as It Targets Starbucks Union.” Truthout. April 7, 2023. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://truthout.org/articles/longtime-astroturf-firm-obscures-funders-as-it-targets-starbucks-union/
  17.  Roychoundhuri, Onnesha. “Sticking Up for the Big Guys.” AlterNet. February 17, 2006. Accessed March 21, 2024.https://www.alternet.org/2006/02/sticking_up_for_the_big_guys
  18. Lipton, Eric. “Hard-Nosed Advice From Veteran Lobbyist: ‘Win Ugly or Lose Pretty.’” New York Times. October 30, 2014. Accessed March 21, 2024.  https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/us/politics/pr-executives-western-energy-alliance-speech-taped.html?_r=0
  19. Center for Union Facts, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2022, Part VII Section A https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/204036946/202323189349306432/full
  20. Center for Organizational Research and Education, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2022, Part VII Section A https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/260006579/202323189349304652/full
  21. Center for Organizational Research and Education. Accessed April 2, 2024. https://coreprojects.com/.
  22. Storm, Stephanie. “Nonprofit Advocate Carves Out a For-Profit Niche.” New York Times. June 17, 2010. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/us/politics/18berman.html?pagewanted=all
  23. “Michael Saltsman.” Berman and Company. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.bermanco.com/people/michael-saltsman/
  24. Reynolds, Matt. “The Murky Campaign to Discredit Lab-Grown Meat.” WIRED. January 18, 2024. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.wired.com/story/cultivated-meat-pr-cew-center-environment-welfare-berman/
  25.  Fuchs, Hailey. “How an animal rights activist at FreedomWorks became the target of Dr. Evil’s former PR shop.” Politico. May 15, 2023. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/19/animal-rights-activist-freedomworks-target-00097868
  26.  Seidman, Derek. “Longtime Astroturf Firm Obscures Funders as It Targets Starbucks Union.” Truthout. April 7, 2023. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://truthout.org/articles/longtime-astroturf-firm-obscures-funders-as-it-targets-starbucks-union/
  27. Storm, Stephanie. “Nonprofit Advocate Carves Out a For-Profit Niche.” New York Times. June 17, 2010. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/us/politics/18berman.html?pagewanted=all
  28. Roychoundhuri, Onnesha. “Sticking Up for the Big Guys.” AlterNet. February 17, 2006. Accessed March 21, 2024.https://www.alternet.org/2006/02/sticking_up_for_the_big_guys
  29. Redden, Molly. “Notorious Astroturf Pioneer Rick Berman Is Behind Business Group’s Anti-Labor-Board Campaign.” Mother Jones. March 15, 2015. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/03/rick-berman-job-creators-network/
  30. Dicker, Ron. “Meet the Mind behind Those Notorious Ads.” HuffPost, June 5, 2012. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/james-bowers-nanny-bloomberg-ad_n_1570053.
  31. “Michael Saltsman.” Berman and Company. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.bermanco.com/people/michael-saltsman/
  32. “Jack Hubbard.” Berman and Company. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.bermanco.com/people/jack-hubbard/
  33. “Will Coggin.” Berman and Company. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.bermanco.com/people/will-coggin/
  34. Charlyee Bozzello. Berman and Company. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.bermanco.com/people/charlyce-bozzello/
  35. Jackson Shedelbower. Berman and Company. Accessed March 21, 2024. https://www.bermanco.com/people/jackson-shedelbower/
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Berman and Company

1655 Fort Myer Drive, Suite 600
Arlington, VA 22209