Tappan Makes Public Affairs Move

November 1, 2007 · Politico Article (PDF)

Suite Talk: Firming up
TAPPAN MAKES PUBLIC AFFAIRS MOVE
By Aoife McCarthy
Oct 29, 2007

Weber Merritt Public Affairs announced that Robert Tappan will be joining the Washington-based firm as the president of its public affairs operation.

Tappan joins the firm from Burson-Marsteller, where he was president of the D.C. office.

While at Burson, Tappan provided communications counsel for clients, including former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the American Resort Development Association, the government of Colombia and Blackwater USA, the private security company that has attracted some unwanted news attention in recent weeks.

Before joining Burson, Tappan was a senior State Department official. For nearly four years, he was the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for public affairs.

During his tenure with State, he was asked to serve as director of strategic communications for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad in 2004. While there, he led the communications strategy for the CPA.

In this new position at Weber Merritt, Tappan will oversee the firm’s new business and marketing activities and provide strategic communications counsel to clients.

Rob is well-positioned to help grow our business, said firm co-founder Bernie Merritt. He brings great value to our integrated campaign-style approach and will help navigate our clients through the rapidly changing public policy landscape.

Tappan joins the bipartisan firm alongside other senior communications strategists, including Chuck Dolan, a Democratic political veteran who joined Weber Merritt earlier in the year.

Tappan and Dolan each held previous senior-level posts at global PR agencies, both have served as political appointees in presidential administrations, and both have strong expertise in international affairs and issues management. For his service in Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld awarded Mr. Tappan one of the highest Defense Departments civilian honors, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Mr. Tappan was also the recipient of the Department of States Superior Honor Award.

Prior to entering government service, Mr. Tappan worked for several public affairs and government relations firms providing strategic communications counsel, public affairs, and reputation management consulting to clients in the corporate, association, and not-for-profit sectors.

During the mid-1980s, Tappan served as a staffer in the Editorial Department of The Washington Post. He has given numerous radio and television interviews, and has appeared on ABCs Nightline, NBCs Nightly News with Tom Brokaw and the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.

A graduate of Georgetown University, he also studied at the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies in Oxford.