Claire Berney

Claire Berney’s first job was working for a Bay Area music magazine that covered new record launches and live shows. Nearly 30 years later, her love of music still informs her work as a communications consultant in the business world.

“When you’re inspired by a great song, the goal isn’t to get to the end – you enjoy the arc of the story it tells,” she said. “The process of communication is similar. It’s about engaging people in the arc of a story, so they feel they have a stake in it.”

Claire, who joined ROI in 2013, has held a wide range of leadership roles in corporate internal communications and public relations. Among other positions, she was a Director of Internal Communications for Hewlett-Packard, the Director of Internal Communications at Yahoo!, and held leadership roles at Weber Shandwick and Manning Selvage and Lee, global public relations firm.

“If you’re going to work in communication you have to be open-minded and embrace the chaotic nature of what we’re trying to do, which is manage change,” Claire said. “Especially in technology, transformation is constant.”

By support clients through transformations of all types, Claire said her work is guided by one overriding principle – a commitment to transparency. “Internal communication is the heartbeat of any company,” she said. “Leaders need to help people understand what they need to do to be successful, and that means communicating with employees honestly and openly, even if it’s not all rainbows.”

Claire earned her MBA with an emphasis in Marketing from Notre Dame de Namur University and holds a B.A. in Consumer Studies from San Francisco State University.