 | | Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 09:18:12 -0800 (PST)
From: Name withheld upon request
Subject: Brian Connolly
To: ron@themayreport.com
Cc: claire@themayreport.com
Please keep my name and e-mail confidential.
Dig deeper on Brian Connolly and you'll discover that he is no "ethics czar." You'll quickly learn what everyone in the PR community already knows: his self-styled "crusade" against agencies is driven by the fact that he's been fired from high-profile positions at several firms.
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Ron May here. I know that he was fired by Howard Solomon at Ruder-Finn, and he seems to hold a grudge there, but he denies it. He speaks highly of Paul Rand, whom he says (and I verified this with Rand), built a $9.5MM a year operation. He compares that to Howard's operation, which he says has never gone beyond $2.5MM. I also know that Brian was billable only about 15% of the time, which does not cut the mustard in most bigger PR firms. But look, his fiancee, Vicki Valentine, makes great lasagna, and I need to keep my dinner invitations coming. Seriously, I do find Brian to be a thoughtful guy, and he is probably right about a lot of his points, but I realize that does not endear him to his profession. I have no direct knowledge of how competent he was in doing his job. He seems to be straightforward, honest, and a bit bull-headed. The kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back, but if you cross him... watch out. |