J. Michael Willard (born 1945) is a senior public relations counselor and author. He is the author of The Portfolio Bubble: Surviving Professionally at 60, a career guide for older executives, The Flak: A PR Journey, as well as The Accidental Headline, a media training book, and Dancing With The Bear: Crisis Management in Eastern Europe. Willard is president & CEO of The Willard Group Companies, headquartered in Kiev, Ukraine. Before becoming a founding partner of The Willard Group, he was managing director and market leader of Burson-Marsteller's operations in Russia and Ukraine, supervising services in public relations, research, governmental relations, special events and advertising. Willard launched Burson-Marsteller's first commercial operation in Ukraine in 1996 and in 1997 helped lead the Russian Burson-Marsteller team to a successful transition from government-funded projects to commercial work. First coming to the former Soviet Union more than a decade ago, Willard led Burson-Marsteller's largest government funded project in the region, the Ukraine Market Reform Education Program. Prior to joining Burson-Marsteller, Willard was president and owner of Willard & Associates for nearly a decade before selling the advertising/public relations agency to his employees. During this time, he built W&A into a multi-million company with offices in Charleston, West Virginia and Washington, DC. Willard was director of U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd's Democratic Leader's office when Byrd held that position, also serving in the capacity of communications, foreign affairs and domestic policy advisor for seven years. Joining Byrd's office as press secretary, Willard quickly became a top advisor, travelling with Byrd to visit world leaders in the senator's capacity as Presidential Emissary for President Jimmy Carter. As an advisor to Byrd, Willard organized discussions with TV networks which led to the first televised coverage of the U.S. Senate. Additionally, Mr. Willard led various Senate Democratic Policy Committee and Intelligence Committee staff delegations to Central America (El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Panama) in the 1980s, meeting with government officials and opposing party and guerrilla leaders. Willard returned to West Virginia as communications director for then-Gov. John D.Rockefeller IV. Willard served as a political advisor to Rockefeller in his successful bid to win a U.S. senate seat. He is a former wire service reporter and UPI bureau chief, and has been a reporter for newspapers including the Orlando Sentinel and the Tampa Times.
