For businesspeople, politicians and philanthropists alike, a good reputation is hard-earned and more than easily lost. Thankfully, reputation managers are there to pick up the pieces.
Unlike some other professions, the broad parameters of reputation management often make it hard to define. Their work can range from writing public statements and drafting long-term, sustainable philanthropic strategies to handling in-the-moment criticism in the news and providing their clients with media training. With AI technology increasing the pervasiveness of misinformation, reputation managers are evolving too by developing high levels of tech prowess to deal with sophisticated online threats.
A good reputation manager often has experience in fields closely connected to communications, such as journalism, political PR and law, often drawing on their professional experience to do their job today.
For HNWs and high-profile figures, a strong reputation is not just a way of having an easier public life; it is another form of wealth to be cultivated, argues reputation manager George Pascoe-Watson, partner at Schillings.
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‘Reputation is the number one asset class, and if it were a commodity, you would invest in it… you have to invest in your reputation, and then you deploy an asset once you have invested in it,’ he says.
[See also: What is a reputation manager]
Reputation is not just a hypothetical concept, especially when there are real-life consequences for damaging someone’s public image. The Tattle Life ruling, a ground-breaking libel case in June 2025 which unmasked the operator of a gossip website ‘built to monetise people’s misery’, represents a shift towards protecting people’s privacy from a legal level.
For those wanting to manage their public image, AI is a new frontier that reputation managers are doing their best to plan around. The threat of fake online profiles, synthetic news narratives, and automated disinformation are becoming a reality in the modern online world. As well as this, AI search tools are becoming many people’s internet resource of choice and they require different reputational tactics than traditional search engines, such as Google, says reputation manager Victoria Palmer-Moore, senior managing director at strategic communications firm Sodali & Co.
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‘Sometimes you put someone’s name into an AI tool, and what comes up surprises them,’ she says, adding that a holistic media approach needs to be taken, rather than tackling specific online articles.
[See also: the Spear’s ranking of the best reputation lawyers]
Family offices, which are often discreet in the way they operate, are looking to reputation managers to help them in a world where information is increasingly publicly available. Two leading reputation managers, Andy Coulson and Jon Steafel, are handling communications for former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s family office – a reminder that reputation remains vital even outside roles that demand public scrutiny.
For many people, the ever-present threat of deepfakes, misinformation and blackmail make hiring a reputation manager the key to peace of mind. For those in crisis, the right expert can be the difference between weathering a PR storm and letting it define their story.
The Spear’s Research Unit have curated the list of the best in this field – the reputation managers who use their expertise and network to craft and sustain the reputations of HNWs across the globe.
Click the links below to jump to a section of this article:
- Methodology
- The best reputation managers: some names to know
- The best reputation managers: the complete list
- Contact us
Methodology
Each year, the Spear’s Research Unit reassesses and refreshes its rankings of the leading providers in each sector by gathering data from and about the advisers and firms themselves, assessing submission forms, collating nominations, carrying out peer reviews, reviewing data from third-party sources, gathering references and recommendations, canvassing experts and conducting hundreds of interviews.
Advisers are evaluated using a proprietary scoring system that assigns different weightings to certain attributes. These scores feed directly into each new set of rankings in the Spear’s Indices. Each of these indices are published first online (according to the research calendar) and then in print. Print publication takes the form of the annual Spear’s 500 directory, which includes the top advisers in every index.
[See also: A guide to The Spear’s 500: Everything you need to know]
Each featured adviser is profiled on spears500.com. The site allows users to search the Spear’s database of more than 4,000 entities to find one (or more) to meet their specific requirements by filtering for specific attributes such as an adviser’s location, their specialist expertise and information about their client base.
The best reputation managers: some names to know
Salamander Davoudi
- Focus: Comms and crisis comms
- Ranking: Top Flight
- Firm: Tancredi
Former journalist Salamander Davoudi co-founded Tancredi in 2015 to offer a bespoke communications service with a ‘results-driven’ approach, acting for corporates, private equity firms, luxury brands and private individuals.
‘We create powerful narratives which translate what makes our clients different into what makes them unique,’ the firm’s website reads. This encompasses reputation advisory, corporate, financial and litigation communications, and crisis management.
When it comes to crisis-related work, the firm’s philosophy is to grasp the issues as quickly as possible and develop a strategy to ensure the accurate representation of facts in the media and by third parties.
Read Salamander Davoudi’s full profile on Spears500.com
Chris Philipsborn
- Focus: Discreet crisis communications
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Kreab London
Chris Philipsborn, managing partner of Kreab London and executive vice president of Kreab Worldwide, brings over three decades of experience in reputation, crisis and communications management.
Acclaimed for its discretion, Kreab deploys its services at the highest level, frequently advising C-suite and senior management. ‘Often, perhaps three to five people in the organisation will know that we’ve been hired,’ Philipsborn tells Spear’s.
The former journalist, who spent time writing for the Financial Times, the Economist and the BBC, advises corporations, law firms, NGOs, governments and individuals. Before joining Kreab, Philipsborn was at the helm of large organisations including BT Group and Sellafield, the largest nuclear site in Europe. ‘I’m not a stranger to crisis,’ he says.
Read Chris Philipsborn’s full profile on Spears500.com
Alex Just
- Focus: Strategic communications
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: Forward Global
Alex Just is an employed barrister and head of litigation support at Forward Global, where he oversees full-service risk management for high-profile clients.
Based in London, he advises private clients, family offices, royal families and multinational companies on reputational matters, particularly those with international or digital elements. His work spans communications, asset tracing, corporate intelligence and digital risk, supported by a team of experienced cyber engineers.
‘We often help clients make sure their digital footprint online is accurate,’ he tells Spear’s. ‘Increasingly, we’re doing the same thing for AI agents, looking at what happens when you search on ChatGPT or DeepSeek.’
Read Alex Just’s full profile on Spears500.com
Peter Headden
- Focus: Reputational challenges
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Farrant Group
Peter Headden launched the Farrant Group with Michael Farrant in 2021. The firm manages the reputations of leading companies, political organisations and private individuals and families, advising on proactive and reactive risk management.
The majority of his work has an international element, and Headden often finds himself managing a complex web of clients’ legal, personal and business issues. ‘It might be complicated geographies, it might be complicated issues at play, so there’s not an off-the-shelf solution. My job is to try to find a solution for the clients,’ he tells Spear’s.
In recent years, he has observed a shift in wealthy clients’ attitudes to reputation management. ‘We’ve seen a change from, “Oh no, we have a problem; we need to use a reputation management company,” towards, “Actually, we’re doing great stuff here, and now we need to communicate that.”’
Read Peter Headden’s full profile on Spears500.com
Victoria O’Byrne
- Focus: Highly connected political and C-suite comms
- Ranking: Top Flight
- Firm: Schillings
‘New Labour royalty’ is the description that one industry peer opts for when discussing Victoria O’Byrne. The adviser worked in corporate communications for the Labour Party under Tony Blair and as a special adviser to Dame Tessa Jowell when she was Olympics minister.
O’Byrne was also group corporate affairs director at Virgin, where she worked with Richard Branson, and has served as communications secretary to the Prince and Princess of Wales. In 2023, O’Byrne joined Schillings as a founding partner of the firm’s communications business, alongside George Pascoe-Watson.
‘Increasingly, clients understand how significant reputation is, and they want to invest in it,’ she tells Spear’s. ‘It’s an intangible asset, but it gives tangible results.’
Read Victoria O’Byrne’s full profile on Spears500.com
Mark Borkowski
- Focus: Media and crisis management
- Ranking: Top Flight
- Firm: Borkowski
One of the country’s leading media analysts on topics of crisis and reputation, Mark Borkowski’s analysis of the scandal involving Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly Prince Andrew) was highly influential in shaping public understanding of the crisis facing the royal family. With public shaming of well-known voices for undesirable viewpoints – or ‘cancel culture’ – a developing area in the crisis and reputation industry, Borkowski’s services are more relevant than ever.
‘We know it is possible to “uncancel” a person or brand, but it requires time, patience, commitment to change and careful management of communications,’ he says.
Well known in the field, Borkowski wields unrivalled relationships with decision-makers, opinion formers and media influencers.
Read Mark Borkowski’s full profile on Spears500.com
The best reputation managers: the complete list
Click on the individual names to be directed to more detailed profiles of each adviser on The Spear’s 500 website. The table is ordered by ranking and then alphabetically by surname.
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With additional reporting by Christian Maddock.
