Teneo


Teneo is a communications and advisory firm. Founded in June 2011 by Declan Kelly, Paul Keary, and Doug Band, Teneo currently has more than 800 employees. The company's core service is providing strategy and communications services, which covers a wide array of engagements such as customer communications, crisis management, investor relations, digital and social media consulting, executive recruitment, and litigation management. Based in New York City with offices in 19 cities including a major operation in London and Dubai, among Teneo's clients are multi-national Fortune 500 companies, philanthropies, and high-net-worth individuals. The firm markets specific services such as strategic communications, investor relations, digital advisory, diversity & inclusion, management consulting, physical & cyber risk advisory, financial advisory, corporate governance advisory, political & policy risk advisory, and talent advisory among others. In 2019 Teneo sold a majority stake to CVC Capital Partners, at a total valuation of around $700 million. Involved in various philanthropic projects, Teneo founded and operates the Teneo Foundation, which contributed millions to various nonprofits.

History

2011-2013

The global advisory firm Teneo was founded in June 2011 by three partners. Kelly co-founded Teneo in New York with his long-term colleagues Douglas Band and Paul Keary. Kelly took on the roles of chairman and co-CEO, Band became president, and Keary took on the role of chief operating officer. Teneo announced it would be "an investment bank and an international c-suite consulting business." Fortune would later describe Teneo as founded to "provide a blend of six strategic services to corporate leaders, from management consulting and corporate restructuring to business intelligence and strategic communications". Teneo's monthly retainer fees were reported to be as high as $250,000. Tony Blair and Bill Clinton were both announced as members of Teneo's advisory board, with Clinton later becoming a client and paid advisor to Teneo and its founders. Teneo was headquartered first in New York's 601 Lexington Avenue building and later nearby at 280 Park Avenue, with satellite offices in Washington DC, London, and Toronto. An office opened shortly afterwards in Dublin.
Teneo Sports was created in 2011 and in 2012 Teneo added Teneo Intelligence. Teneo had 100 employees by June 2012, a number which had risen to 130 employees by August. Teneo signed a number of high-profile clients at its founding, and by the summer of 2012 the firm's roster included Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola, BHP, and UBS among others. By 2013 the Clinton's connection had become a focus of the press and the Republican party. Teneo launched Teneo Consulting on May 30, 2013.

2014-2015

In 2014 Teneo hired former US Senator George J. Mitchell and former UK government minister Mervyn Davies, Baron Davies of Abersoch as advisors, bringing the roster of senior advisors to twelve. Davies was also appointed vice chairman. New York private equity firm BC Partners made a minority investment in Teneo in December 2014. Thereafter, Teneo grew from operating 6 divisions to 12 divisions, including an executive recruitment operation and a corporate governance arm, through business acquisitions and recruiting."
Charles Watson was named the chairman of Teneo International in January 2015, with oversight of Teneo's non-US operations. FIFA became a client in July 2015, and also around that time Teneo advised Willis Group Holdings on its merger with the consulting firm Towers Watson, a deal valued at $18 billion. In the first six months of 2015, Teneo advised clients on "communications and investor relations for 10 different M&A deals worth a total of over $60 billion." On July 9, 2015, Teneo acquired the London-based communications agencies Blue Rubicon and Stockwell, effectively doubling in size. Subsequently, on October 26, 2015, Teneo acquired Pendomer Communications in London. The acquisition doubled Teneo's employee count to about 500 and brought the headcount at Teneo's London office to 200.
In 2015, Teneo received information requests from the office of Senator Charles Grassley as part of a review into a State Department waiver granted to Huma Abedin, a top aide for Hillary Clinton, which had allowed her to earn income outside the government in 2012. The probe had been initiated in July 2013 to scrutinize Abedin's work with the government while also consulting for four other entities, one of which had been Teneo. The company did not yield to information requests but responded that Teneo was "committed to the highest ethical and professional standards," with Abedin asserting that Teneo had never asked her to do any compromising work. Abedin was reported to have signed a contract with Teneo pledging to avoid conflict of interest problems, and a 2015 freedom of information request showed emails where she recused herself from several situations for that reason. Though the issue was seen as controversial by Republicans, The Journal noted that there "was no evidence of any fundraising, donations, or services provided by Teneo executives to the State Department or Hillary Clinton during her time as Secretary of State."

2016-2017

Teneo expanded its operations in Canada in 2016. That spring, Teneo announced that Twelve Rolling Capital would join the Teneo Capital investment banking platform. Teneo acquired the Irish PR firm PSG Communications in July 2016. PSG at the time had clients such as AIG. Teneo was also advising FIFA on its reorganisation, and was "working on Los Angeles’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics." In September 2016, William Bratton retired as New York City Police Commissioner and joined the newly formed Teneo Risk as executive chairman. That month, Teneo considered an initial public offering for 2017 with a projected valuation of up to $1 billion. At the time, Teneo had roughly 500 clients. Teneo combined its two Irish businesses in March 2017. Teneo shortly afterwards acquired the firms Ryan Communication in Asia, Cabinet DN in Brussels, and Credo Business Consulting in London and Dubai.

2018-2019

Teneo removed sub-branding from all of its operations in November 2018, phasing out unit monikers such as Blue Rubicon. That month Teneo also become the primary sponsor of Tipperary GAA. In March 2019 Teneo acquired Quay Advisers, a communications consultancy in Australia. In May 2019 Teneo staff in London experienced disciplinary action from UK CEO Gordon Tempest-Hay for poor office behaviour in an email later shared with the UK press. Teneo was involved in private arbitration in June 2019 over its involvement in the bidding process for the oil company Anadarko, with Teneo refuting allegations that it had violated conflict of interest provisions when working for two of the bidding companies. In the summer of 2019, Teneo agreed to sell a majority stake to CVC Capital Partners in a deal that valued Teneo at around $700 million. Teneo was contracted in July 2019 to represent the planned Saudi Arabian city of NEOM. Doug Band also registered with the United States Department of Justice as a foreign agent for the first time.

Divisions and services

Among Teneo's clients are Fortune 500 companies, philanthropies, and high-net-worth individuals. Beyond consulting on diverse issues through various business units, Teneo also includes an investment bank. The company categorizes its services across four operating segments: "Strategy & Communications Advisory," "Capital Advisory," "Risk Advisory" and "Management Consulting." Teneo divisions periodically partner with other firms to provide services.

Facilities and staff

Headquartered at 280 Park Avenue in Manhattan, as of 2019 the firm had offices in 18 other locations as well, including London, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Shanghai, Sydney, Johannesburg, Dublin, Hong Kong, Beijing, Brussels, São Paulo, Washington DC, San Francisco, Toronto, Singapore, Dubai, and Doha in Qatar. Teneo had around 800 staff members in 2019. All three Teneo co-founders remain involved with the company. Declan Kelly continues to serve as chairman and CEO with oversight of all the company's operating divisions, Douglas Band remains president, and Paul Keary retains his original role as chief operating officer.
Teneo's business units are headed by a number of division presidents, chairpersons, and CEOs, with recent executives such as Richard Powell of Burson-Marsteller. As of 2019, among Teneo's 24 senior advisors were US Senator George J. Mitchell, Lord Davies of Abersoch, Lord Hague of Richmond, US General Raymond T. Odierno, Sir Michael Rake of the Confederation of British Industry, Harvey Pitt of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, rugby professional Brian O'Driscoll, Lon Augustenborg of the CIA, James Hoge of Foreign Affairs, and Victor D. Cha of Georgetown University. Other advisors have included Paul Haenle of Tsinghua University, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. In 2016, William Bratton became head of Teneo's newly formed risk-management division.

Philanthropy

Involved in various philanthropic projects, Teneo founded and operates the Teneo Foundation, a non-profit which has contributed millions of dollars to organizations such as the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. Teneo also partnered with The Johnson School of Business at Cornell University to create the Teneo Leadership Institute, an initiative which trains CEOs and senior executives on managing "volatile markets, geopolitical winds and other disruptors facing global businesses."
In late 2014, Teneo and former professional tennis player Billie Jean King co-founded the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative. Teneo co-founder Paul Keary stated the non-profit aims to achieve "understanding through research the impediments to diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and then to develop the economic and commercial rationale for diversity and inclusion in the workforce." Also in 2014, Teneo was a primary sponsor of the Shareholder-Director Exchange Protocol, which was developed for American investors and boards "who wish to consider engagement by providing a practical framework for effective, mutually beneficial engagement."