Principal
W20 Group

Gary F. Grates is a globally renowned, recognized, and respected expert in change management communications, employee engagement and corporate strategy execution counseling senior leaders and Boards of Directors from global organizations in the areas of leadership transition, M&A integration, crisis, labor-management relations, organizational effectiveness, employee engagement, function optimization, internal communications improvement, strategy implementation, and change management.

He is a Principal at W20 Group, the parent company of WCG, Twist Marketing, W20 Ventures, and NextWorks. This network of independent, complementary public relations, marketing, and communications counseling firms focused on integrated business solutions in the areas product supremacy, innovation, change, organizational effectiveness, and growth for the world’s leading organizations.

A member of the Executive Team, Grates has more than 25 years of corporate, marketing/brand, labor, and strategic communications experience with a particular expertise in organizational (change) management/employee (internal) communications. Grates has counseled more than one hundred organizations and CEOs including: General Motors, PepsiCo, Caterpillar, Shell, Kraft, Nissan, GE, Carrier/United Technologies, Novartis, Exxon/Mobil, Shell, AMD, Visa, Yum! Brands, eBay, Wyeth, British Airways, VW, Volvo, United Airlines, Pfizer, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch/InBev, Kimberly Clark, The McGraw-Hill Companies, ITT, Vale, and Dell, to name a few.

He is an Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, a Teaching Professor and member of the Advisory Board at ABERJE - the Brazilian Association for Corporate Communications, a former Trustee of Utica College of Syracuse University, a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, PRSA, IABC, National Corporate Directors Association (NACD), and the Institute for PR Research (IPR). He was named one of the Newhouse School’s top “40” graduates.

Grates holds a bachelor’s degree from Utica College of Syracuse University and a master’s degree from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.