Rising Stars of the Profession 2021: Meredith Griffanti

Meredith Griffanti leads FTI Consulting's Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Communications practice and specializes in crisis and high-stakes litigation communications, with a focus on complex cybersecurity attacks and data privacy investigations. She provides counsel to clients on both cybersecurity preparedness and incident response matters involving PII, PHI, IP and other sensitive data across a wide range of industries.

Ms. Griffanti has worked on some of the most high-profile and highly sensitive data breaches around the world and has successfully navigated responses to complex incidents such as business email compromise, phishing and spear-phishing, DDoS, credential stuffing, nation-state and major, double-extortion ransomware attacks. She was named a 2021 Top Woman in PR and a 2020 Person of the Year for Crisis Management by PR News.

Ms. Griffanti began her career on Capitol Hill, where she served as a communications director, spokesperson and press secretary to several elected officials. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Georgia and furthered her international studies abroad at the Universität Innsbruck in Innsbruck, Austria.

"The biggest factor in my success – and our practice's overall success – is 100% the people on our team, notes Griffanti. "The strength of our junior-level talent – the drive, grit and commitment that they bring to the table each and every day – is not only a market differentiator in the way that we provide our services to our clients, but also has helped us to cultivate an environment where they are encouraged to lead accounts, try new things, deepen expertise, and grow into our future practice leaders. I am truly grateful for and proud of our team – they have made us the best Cybersecurity Communications firm in the business and have successfully navigated the crisis communications response to hundreds of cybersecurity incidents with an extraordinary amount of professionalism and grace."

She counts the most rewarding and gratifying part of her career in consulting as helping to develop and cultivate junior-level talent and watching them grow and evolve into tomorrow's leaders. "I also appreciate the fact that no industry or company – regardless of size or geography – is immune to cybersecurity threats. Therefore, in our practice, we have the unique opportunity to work with companies and their executive-level leadership in a variety of sectors to help them prepare for, defend against, or work through many different types of cybersecurity incidents. Working across industries has allowed us to have exposure to all types of business challenges specific to particular sectors – from healthcare to critical infrastructure to professional services to manufacturing and others. This perspective, along with the depth and breadth of experience that we have gained, has afforded our team some of the most high-profile incident response matters in the world and has also made for some great lessons learned and case studies along the way."

When asked about her greatest achievement to date, Griffanti states, "I am always most proud and feel the biggest sense of achievement and accomplishment when one of our junior-level team members leads their own account for the first time. It's extremely rewarding to watch them put into practice what they've gleaned in supporting larger accounts and use that knowledge to guide a client through an intense, high-stakes situation. Listening to them give advice, provide expert counsel, and direct the show is one of the most gratifying parts of my job. Additionally, another proud moment for me this year was when we were called upon to support two of the three largest ransomware attacks of 2021 – which is a testament to our reputation as the premier cybersecurity communications firm in the business. The hard work we've put in to win these accounts and to raise our profile in the industry has paid off."

"This recognition is truly not about me, but more so about our overall team of rising stars that have contributed to the many successes, our practice has seen thus far in 2021. The recognition would give credence and weight to our accomplishments, and I am grateful for the nomination."

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

"I learned from one of my mentors to always take a moment to stop and give credit where credit is due – no matter how busy you are. We have so many people working behind the scenes to keep the trains running and to ensure that our clients get a top-notch work product and are provided with first-rate crisis communications counsel. When that work is recognized either by a client or by our law firm partners, I always try to take a minute to let the team know that they're doing excellent work, to provide direct feedback to them on their outstanding performance and to make sure they are recognized by senior-level leadership within our firm. It's important for the team to hear that they're doing a great job – so that they stay motivated and stay hungry for future opportunities. Our line of business calls for long hours, including nights and weekends and often holidays, because a crisis truly knows no time boundaries. So, when you have people working around the clock, it's important for them to know that they matter and understand how grateful the client is for their support in helping them through a truly tumultuous and stressful experience."