Public Relations · Public Affairs · Advocacy · Crisis · Reputation

Senior communications counsel for complex, regulated, and high-stakes issues.

Riccon Strategic Communications provides senior counsel and full-service execution to organizations and individuals facing complex, regulated, and high-stakes issues.

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About

An experienced partner for reputation and crisis challenges.

Since 2018, Riccon Strategic Communications has helped organizations navigate complex, highly regulated, and high-stakes issues. We provide senior communications counsel and hands-on execution to organizations including trade associations, advocacy groups, and companies in industries that are closely watched, misunderstood, or facing real or looming regulatory challenges.

We help you navigate the moments that matter most: when your reputation is on the line, effective communication cannot be an afterthought. What you say — and how and when you say it — can determine the outcome.

For many clients, we serve as their outsourced communications department, handling everything from strategy through execution: media relations, messaging, content, public affairs, crisis response, and digital channel management. For others, we integrate seamlessly with an existing team to add senior capacity exactly where it's needed. We draw on experience across Capitol Hill, political campaigns, and a leading crisis and public affairs firm to help clients protect their reputations, advance their goals, and turn complicated issues into clear, credible narratives.

We work hard to earn our clients' trust, and harder to keep it.

Services

Strategy & Messaging

Communications strategy and planning · message and narrative development · communications audits and SWOT analysis · executive coaching

Media & Public Relations

Media relations · proactive and reactive press · thought-leadership content · interview preparation and media training

Public Affairs & Advocacy

Public affairs · advocacy and coalition communications · campaign communications

Crisis & Reputation

Crisis preparedness · crisis management and incident response · issues management · litigation communications · reputation management

Content & Editorial

Writing and content development · op-eds and bylines · social and digital · editorial services and copyediting

Where we work

Key industry expertise.

Associations & Nonprofits
Biometrics & Identity
Cannabis & Emerging Industries
Congress, Policy & Regulatory
Cybersecurity & Data Breach
Education
Energy & Environment
Financial Services & Fintech
Healthcare
Native American / Tribal Enterprises
Technology & AI

How we work

How we can work with you.

Most engagements begin with a conversation about what you're facing and what you already have in place. From there, the structure follows the need.

Outsourced communications department

An ongoing retainer in which we run your entire external and/or internal communications function — strategy, press, content, digital, newsletters and owned channels, and reporting to your board or members.

Embedded senior counsel

We integrate seamlessly with your existing team to immediately add senior capacity and judgment where it's needed, without the cost or delay of another full-time hire.

Projects & rapid response

A defined moment: a launch, a campaign, a legislative fight, or a crisis. Scoped tightly, staffed senior, and executed on your timeline.

Selected work

Representative engagements.

International Biometrics + Identity Association

Building an organization's communications function

Challenge: The International Biometrics + Identity Association (IBIA), a trade association in a growing but often misunderstood part of the technology sector, had an outdated web presence, no consistent content calendar or media relations program, and a virtually nonexistent public voice — even as the industry faces sustained media and governmental scrutiny, proposed restrictions in a number of jurisdictions, and an adverse communications environment rife with misinformation and false narratives made by opponents of the technology.
Approach: Build the organization's communications infrastructure end-to-end to establish it as an authoritative, ethically grounded voice representing this major international industry. Develop multiple channels to disseminate materials to relevant audiences, including media, policymakers, and the general public.
Result: We relaunched the Association's website to support a proactive and sustained campaign focused on advocacy, audience education, and more active media engagement, featuring electronic collateral materials, policy education, industry backgrounders, regular newsletters, and an ongoing content and thought-leadership cadence.

Principal

Andrew Ricci

Founder and principal of Riccon Strategic Communications, which he launched in 2018 to provide senior communications counsel and full-service execution to organizations navigating complex and high-stakes environments.

Over nearly two decades, Andrew has built and defended the reputations of clients ranging from members of Congress to national trade associations to individuals at the center of national news. He began his career on Capitol Hill, serving as a press secretary and communications aide to two members of Congress. He also spent time on the campaign trail as communications director for a nationally targeted congressional campaign, where he was the candidate's chief spokesperson, lead communications strategist, and manager of all campaign communications.

He then spent nearly seven years at LEVICK, a leading crisis and public affairs firm, rising to Vice President and leading client accounts across the crisis, corporate, advocacy, and public affairs practices, securing hundreds of media placements a year and designing rapid-response campaigns for clients facing their most difficult moments.

His work has been recognized with national honors, including a PR News Platinum PR Award and a PRSA-NCC Thoth Award for his role on the team supporting the family of Warren Weinstein, a U.S. aid worker held hostage abroad and unintentionally killed in a 2015 U.S. drone strike on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Today, Andrew works with trade associations, advocacy groups, and companies in regulated and closely scrutinized industries, serving as an outsourced communications department or integrating with in-house teams to add senior firepower where it's needed. A native of Western Pennsylvania, he is based in the Washington, D.C. area.

— PR News Platinum PR Award
— PRSA-NCC Thoth Award, Certificate of Excellence
— Former Vice President, LEVICK
— Former Press Secretary, U.S. House of Representatives

For partner firms

The communications element of your engagement.

Government affairs and public affairs firms move policy, but their clients still need to win the communications fight. An effective communications campaign, integrated with your activities, can amplify your efforts and contribute to your success.

We partner with government affairs, public affairs, and professional services firms, complementing your work rather than competing with it.

— Referral when a client needs communications support you don't provide
— Partnering on pitches to present a combined offering
— White-labeled service, working behind your brand
— Parallel counsel, running communications alongside your work

References

“IBIA represents a rapidly growing and heavily scrutinized industry, especially among lawmakers, journalists, and the general public. The technology, the safety and security it provides — and the ways it is implemented — is often misunderstood, and while we have a clear mission and an engaged Membership, we previously had limited ability to communicate to these audiences widely. Andrew helped build and augment our communications function, and he and his firm continue to operate as our main communications point-of-contact and primary content provider. Andrew understands our industry, the policy environment in which we operate, and ably helps us tailor our messages to what each of our audiences needs. I value his judgment because the stakes are high, and his dogged efforts have considerably broadened and deepened IBIA’s reach as a leading voice in the biometrics and identity debate.”
Rob Tappan — Executive Director, International Biometrics + Identity Association

“Andrew's work ethic, creativity, and work product were outstanding, and I would not hesitate to hire him again. I give Andrew the highest possible recommendation.”
Former U.S. Congressman Zack Space

Let's talk.

Whether you're facing a communications challenge or simply want senior counsel you can call on, I'd welcome a conversation.

andrew@ricconstrategic.com (202) 930-3293 LinkedIn