Ned Barnett, Fellow, ASHMPR
CornerBar PR Contributor Since April 22, 2014
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About The Author
Ned Barnett is embarrassed to learn that he looks quite a bit like CornerBarPR.com® Chief Curmudgeon Rich Barger. He hopes the quality of his work will differentiate him from from his older, heavier, meaner, not-separated-at-birth twin.
Graduated from the University of Georgia in 1973 -- the Georgia in the Soviet Union -- Ned claims that, for the first ten years of his career, he used the KGB to deliver his press releases, resulting in a remarkable string of placement successes.
Upon defecting to the U.S., Ned could neither speak nor write in English, so he naturally gravitated to healthcare PR where nobody noticed. In 1978, he was the youngest (to that time) person to earn accreditation from PRSA, and, in 1984, he became the first person to earn a Fellowship in PR from the American Hospital Association.
In quick succession, he worked for three major for-profit hospital companies, which, in turn, went through a leveraged buy-out, a hostile takeover, and a pre-packaged bankruptcy. He then turned his attentions to Silicon Valley, just in time for that bubble to burst. Rumors that he's somehow responsible for this pattern of failures have failed to take hold, no matter how Ned tries to spread them.
Ned is based in Las Vegas, which he likes somewhat less than root canals without novocaine. "I drew the short straw," he explains. When not trying to learn English, he consults with high-tech and healthcare clients, as well as advocacy groups. Crisis management is a specialty -- but, history notwistanding, he denies that his presence creates the crises he then works to resolve. "That's a great-sounding marketing strategy, but I haven't figured out how to make that happen. Yet."