Ian Campbell
Vice Chairman
Ian Campbell serves as Vice Chairman of the firm and founded H/Advisors Abernathy’s West Coast offices. He focuses on crisis communications, mergers and acquisitions, investor relations, financial PR and issues management. An expert in activism, Ian has advised many clients on proxy fights and other control contests and has directed or advised communications teams in over 150 M&A assignments. He has also managed crisis and regulatory assignments that include SEC investigations, multi-state attorneys general investigations, anti-trust matters, cases under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and issues involving the FTC, FERC, CPUC, NTSB and every national banking regulator.
Prior to joining Abernathy, Ian served 12 years as Senior Vice President and CCO of Great Western Financial Corporation. Before that, he served as Deputy Director of the California Department of Commerce under Governor George Deukmejian.
Representative Experience
• Bank of the West on its pending sale to BMO for $16.3 billion
• California Resources Corporation on its filing for and emergence from bankruptcy
• AECOM on its activism defense against Starboard Value
• Flex on corporate, investor and crisis communications matters
• SJW Group on its $1.1 billion merger with Connecticut Water Service, a process in which both publicly • traded water utility companies received separate, unsolicited acquisition proposals and multi-state regulatory scrutiny
• Xcel Energy on environmental, regulatory and natural disaster communications
• Edison International on a statewide campaign to reform the way California addresses wildfire prevention, suppression and liabilities in the face of climate change
Education
• Occidental College, M.A. in Urban Studies
• Coro Foundation, Fellow
• Pomona College, B.A. in Government (Magna Cum Laude)
Memberships and Affiliations
• Coro Southern California, Chair, Honorary Board
• USC School of Law Institute for Corporate Counsel
• California Parks and Recreation Commission, Chairman (Past)