Ken Sunshine

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Ken Sunshine is an American public relations consultant. After a career in New York politics, including serving as chief of staff for Mayor David Dinkins,[1] Sunshine founded Ken Sunshine Consultants (later to become Sunshine Sachs in 1992, and over the past three decades the firm has acquired clients ranging from Fortune 500 corporations, labor unions, and celebrities.[2][3] Notable clients have included Ben Affleck,[4] Barbra Streisand,[5] the Michael Jackson estate,[6] Michael Sam[7] and Jon Bon Jovi.[8]

Early life[edit]

He grew up in Long Island and graduated from Cornell University in 1970.[9]

Career[edit]

Before starting his own firm, Sunshine ran the public relations department of ASCAP, where he supervised events featuring internationally acclaimed music artists. Sunshine has advised on media consulting and public policy for over thirty years, and has been a longtime activist in the civil rights movement.[10] In the 1970s, he worked on Bella Abzug's Senate, mayoral and congressional campaigns[11] with Harold Holzer. Later he served as the chief of staff for Mayor David Dinkins, a job that included managing future New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio[12]

Sunshine Sachs specializes in corporate image programs, crisis communication, reputation management and issues management,[13] consumer and lifestyle marketing, public affairs, media relations, event promotion, and communications skills training. In 2014, Sunshine Sachs was named the number one public relations agency in New York by New York Observer.[14]

Throughout his long career in Democratic politics, he worked on many national and local campaigns, and served as Chief of Staff for David Dinkins the first African-American Mayor of New York City.[15] In 1994, he worked on Mario Cuomo's gubernatorial campaign[16] and remains an advisor to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.[17]

He appeared on The Early Show and Anderson Cooper 360.[18][19]

Wikipedia alterations[edit]

On June 19, 2015, Sunshine Sachs admitted its employees had edited its clients' Wikipedia pages to remove negative publicity about them. Sunshine Sachs said its employees failed to make public their relationship with the firm when making edits, and a key employee was unaware of Wikipedia's conflict of interest policy. Celebrities whose Wikpedia articles were edited by Sunshine Sachs include Naomi Campbell, Mia Farrow and Sarah Brightman, and it remains unclear if the celebrities themselves were aware of the edits.[20]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Hawkins, Andrew. "PR pros tell mayor how to recover". Crains.com. Crains. Retrieved 15 December 2014. 
  2. ^ WEISMAN, ALY. "Meet The 20 Most Powerful Publicists In Hollywood [Ranked]". www.businessinsider.com. Business Insider. Retrieved 11 July 2014. 
  3. ^ Chupick, Jason. "10 YEARS: HEY, HOW'D YOU START REPPING A-LISTERS, KEN SUNSHINE?". www.mediabistro.com. Media Bistro. Retrieved 11 July 2014. 
  4. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlxYzt9maF4
  5. ^ Bernstein, Jacob. "Barbra Streisand, a Voice to Be Reckoned With". www.nyt.com. New York Times. Retrieved 15 December 2014. 
  6. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px2ectsSVw4
  7. ^ http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=11225559
  8. ^ MOORE, Heidi. "Ken Sunshine, the Man Behind John Thani's Self-Defense". www.wsj.com. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 December 2014. 
  9. ^ Tang, Xiaowei Cathy (23 October 2005). "Celebrity Publicist Talks Hollywood". The Cornell Daily Sun. Retrieved 11 July 2014. 
  10. ^ EDWARDS, RUBY. "Hollywood’s Invisible Man: Profile of a PR Wizard". www.columbia.edu. Columbia.edu. Retrieved 11 July 2014. 
  11. ^ Smith, Elizabeth (13 September 2014). "Ken Sunshine joins The Met’s board of trustees". Page Six. Retrieved 15 December 2014. 
  12. ^ Campbell, Colin. "Bill De Blasio For NYC Mayor: Can The Public Advocate Go From Master Strategist To Mister Mayor?". www.huffingtonpost.com. Huffington Post. Retrieved 15 December 2014. 
  13. ^ n/a, n/a. "The Influentials: Media". www.nymag..com. New York Magazine. Retrieved 11 July 2014. 
  14. ^ Kaminer, Michael (19 November 2014). "New York’s Top 50 Public Relations Agencies". New York Observer. Retrieved 15 December 2014. 
  15. ^ Siegel, Joel (29 December 2014). "David Dinkins, inaugurated 25 years ago, recalls election as New York City's first black mayor". New York Daily News. Retrieved 6 January 2015. 
  16. ^ "Mario Cuomo Advisor Remembers the Former Governor". NY1. 1 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015. 
  17. ^ Nagourney, Andrew; Craig, Susanne (2 January 2015). "One Last Confluence for Mario and Andrew Cuomo, Proud Rivals". New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2015. 
  18. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9w_Wre7ics
  19. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2MhyU6hD3s
  20. ^ Cieply, Michael (June 22, 2015). "Wikipedia Pages of Star Clients Altered by P.R. Firm". The New York Times. Retrieved June 23, 2015. 

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ken_Sunshine&oldid=668435125"