About
sm/c/p Value Proposition
Proven Expertise & Seasoned Counsel
Decision makers demand real-time actionable counsel in the moment — not jargon and bromides after the fact.
Gordon Hensley developed his core skillsets in the most competitive political campaign environments as a communications director, speechwriter and/or primary on-camera/on the record spokesperson. Clients and others working with him significantly benefit from his unusually diverse multi-discipline background.
Hensley specializes in crafting compelling, sophisticated, policy-driven earned, owned and shared media content emphasizing value proposition and moving the narrative forward.
He’s collaborated with dozens of prominent government affairs, media, polling, and research firms on political and corporate projects; accustomed to achieving progress in a collaborative, team manner — premised on clear business objective, informed by research, and managed in real time.
Effective Real Time News & Policy Content
Deliverables, Deliverables,Deliverables
Aggressive News Management
Working in politics, government and issues advocacy projects, Hensley has long prioritized and excelled at playing offense in the news cycle to news cycle media mosh pit.
Frequent multi-platform content dissemination, message repetition and purposeful, reasoned engagement with opponents earns coverage, frames reporting and shapes public opinion.
There’s no mystery to aggressive news management and making your own luck by out-hustling competitors for limited reporting space in a specific national, state or policy news marketplace.
Procedural transparency, constructive candor, and availability are the firm’s long held foundational principles.
Transparency, Candor, Availability
Corporate History
In addition to being retained on communications projects (strategy/writing/data packaging) by 4 government affairs firms — 2 in NYC, 1 in Austin TX and 1 in DC — other project-specific clients include 2 biotech startups, a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical firm, and a pro-bono non-profit related to non-partisan voter registration.
As Covid accelerated in early 2020 Hensley was offered a unique short-term opportunity to join the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a senior advisor to the Secretary, FDA Commissioner and CMS Administrator. Hensley also served as senior communications counsel for Covid testing czar, Admiral Brett Giroir.
In addition to working on a book project with an Obama cabinet official, sm/c/p became a strategic partner with Tennessee and DC-based Bridge Public Affairs, formed by former senior aides to TN Senator Bob Corker. sm/c/p teams with Westchester County, NY law firm on local zoning advocacy effort.
Hensley retained as a primary collaborator on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s presidential campaign announcement speech; later works with Walker campaign on its health, labor reform and foreign policy proposals and subsequent media roll outs in Minneapolis MN, Las Vegas NV and Charleston SC, respectively.
sm/c/p begins 5 year collaboration with BGR government affairs, Schmidt Public Affairs and King & Spalding to help launch and successfully establish the Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC) in the competitive DC pharmacy space. SCPC advocates for Long Term Care (LTC) pharmacies and their elderly patients. sm/c/p/ also commences writing and strategic communications work for a NYC-based eldercare law practice.
sm/c/p partners with Alexandria-based Schmidt Public Affairs (SPA) to establish Health Media Management Group, LLC (HMMG) to create paid media and manage polling and research projects on behalf of DC-based Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (AQNHC), Texas Health Care Association (THCA) and the Louisiana Nursing Home Association (LNHA). sm/c/p concurrently serves as primary day to day writer for both the American Health Care Assn (AHCA) and AQNHC on long term and post-acute care federal and state issues.
Strategic Media Inc. (SMI) rebrands in Dec 2006 as sm/c/p inc. — moves from Georgetown to Prince Street in Alexandria, VA. The re-brand completes transition to non-partisan corporate work with added focus on digital content strategy and social media platforms. The City of New York/Bloomberg Administration retains sm/c/p for major international business content/copyrighting project with focus on Asia, Europe.
TN GOP Senate candidate Bob Corker shakes-up his 2006 U.S. Senate campaign 3 months before election day and brings in a new team after falling behind to U.S. Rep. Harold Ford. Hensley takes role in Nashville as senior adviser; re-organizes press and communications operation. Corker wins narrowly as GOP Senate/House candidates suffer major losses.
SMI begins shift from partisan GOP campaign firm to bipartisan corporate advocacy. Retained as subcontractor to DC and NYC firms including Edelman, Mercury, Ruder-Finn and Ketchum, primary policy focus is the long and post-acute health sector’s federal and state Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Services include executive speechwriting, Capitol Hill testimony, communications counsel and PAC communications.
Gordon Hensley founds GOP consulting firm Strategic Media, Inc. (SMI) in Georgetown after serving as NRSC comms dir from 1995-’97. The 4-person start-up offers on-the-ground message strategy and management, speechwriting, and converting raw oppo research into actionable media content. Clients include U.S. Sens. Paul Coverdell (R-GA) and Alfonse D’Amato (R-NY), Gov. George Pataki (R-NY), the New York State GOP, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and TX Gov. George W. Bush’s 1999 GOP pres primary campaign.