Tom Johnson is Chief Executive Officer of H/Advisors Abernathy, where he is leading a growth strategy rooted in the firm’s powerful heritage as a trusted partner to leading organizations and executives in their most critical moments.
Your Partner in Communication
Our Approach
H/Advisors Abernathy is your partner in engaging with key stakeholders on complex issues.
With strategic communications experts across disciplines and around the world, we work closely with clients to build and preserve value, seize opportunities and solve problems in today’s dynamic and interconnected world.
News
04/11/2025
Amid Tariff Turmoil, Companies Need to Speak to Stakeholders Now to be Able to Thrive Later
The Trump administration’s tariffs have ushered in unprecedented economic uncertainty that has greatly rattled most major global equity indexes and flummoxed corporate executives, Boards of Directors and the general public, alike. In times of intense volatility, strong stakeholder communications are the key to protecting a company’s reputation and ensuring the business is still standing. Business leaders need to focus simultaneously on the near- and long-term, nimbly navigating through trade uncertainty while also carefully developing an operating model for the full length of a Trump presidency.
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03/11/2025
Mardi Gras, M&A and Market Movers: On the Ground at Tulane 2025
The day after Mardi Gras, a sea of M&A lawyers, bankers, proxy solicitors, and communications advisors arrived for New Orleans’ second-biggest party of the year: the 37th annual Tulane Corporate Law Institute. The H/Advisors Abernathy team spent three productive days on the ground discussing the trends shaping the deal environment in 2025.
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02/25/2025
H/Advisors Abernathy 2025 M&A Data and Insights: More Than 60% of the Largest Transactions Announced in 2024 Leaked Before Announcement
In its fifth annual edition, our proprietary research – ‘When Deals Spring a Leak Volume V’ –provides corporate leaders, Boards of Directors and M&A advisors with key insights and trends from the past year of dealmaking.
Building on the firm’s proprietary database of M&A transactions, our Research & Insights team analyzed announced transactions valued at $1 billion and greater to understand the frequency at which deals leak as well as how a leak may affect perception of the transaction among media and digital audiences.
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02/14/2025
What CEOs Should Consider Before Addressing Sensitive Topics on Social Media
While social media has made it easier for CEOs to weigh in on sensitive issues, many companies rightfully question whether their leaders should contribute to the chorus of opinions online. H/Advisors Abernathy explored this quandary in its second annual “Social in the C-Suite Report,” by looking at how CEOs used their social voice to opine on an array of sensitive issues, offering some key insights that can help CEOs, and their communications teams determine how to best use executive channels amidst a critical news cycle.
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Leadership
Carina Davidson
President
Carina Davidson serves as H/Advisors Abernathy’s President, based in the firm's New York office. Carina counsels companies of all sizes across a broad range of sectors on complex communications matters. She has significant expertise helping clients manage their reputations and develop strategies to reach their core audiences.
Peter Lee
Chief Financial Officer
Peter Lee is the Chief Financial Officer of H/Advisors Abernathy, where he is responsible for all of the firm’s financial functions, including accounting, financial planning, forecasting, client accounting and various financial analyses and reporting. He also oversees and manages the firm’s information technology. His career spans more than 25 years of experience in financial management, business leadership and corporate strategy in various industries, including strategic communications, marketing and advertising, manufacturing, banking and logistics.
Mary Ann Hernandez
Head of Human Resources
Mary Ann Hernandez leads H/Advisors Abernathy’s Human Resources department and is responsible for talent acquisition at all levels, performance management, policy implementation, and staff culture and wellbeing initiatives for all of the firm’s offices.
Michael Hotra
Managing Director, Head of D.C. Office
Michael Hotra represents clients impacted by federal and state policy, politics and regulation, as well as policy-oriented shareholder proposals. He often works closely with a client’s legal counsel, government affairs representatives and leadership teams to develop public affairs strategies that mitigate risk, protect and enhance valuation and reputation and enable optimal business outcomes. He has specific expertise supporting clients undergoing investigations by federal and state governments, and has counseled several companies through DOJ, SEC, NLRB, GAO and agency-level investigations and merger reviews, as well as Congressional investigations and CEO-level oversight hearings. Mike has also counseled clients litigating and settling thousands of MDL cases initiated by state attorneys general.
Sydney Isaacs
Managing Director, Head of Houston Office
Sydney Isaacs provides strategic communications counsel to companies during times of change, including mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, crises and activist shareholder engagements. Sydney’s work supports companies’ valuations and reputations through a combination of financial communications and PR strategies. She has particularly deep experience advising companies across the energy sector, providing support to clients on communications related to their diverse efforts to participate in and respond to the energy transition.