Chris Byrne is a Managing Director at Breakwater Strategy with two decades of experience working at the highest levels of government, politics and cable news. Chris is an expert in crisis communications, media training, speechwriting and brand development. 

For eight years, Chris held various roles at the Fox News Channel and was the Senior Producer of the network’s highest-rated primetime show during his tenure. In this position, he was the principal advisor to the host, produced live broadcasts and developed content for thousands of hours of programming during the most consequential news events of the 21st century. Chris also worked with network executives to relaunch Fox’s weekend primetime lineup, produced shows on-location at Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles and secured exclusive interviews with high-profile figures from former presidents to some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment.  

Throughout the 2016 Presidential Campaign, Chris was a trusted communications advisor to Donald J. Trump and the Trump family.  Chris also spearheaded the campaign’s groundbreaking efforts to strategically engage with local and regional media outlets to reach critical swing state voters. In addition, he helped develop and manage the live remote television studio inside the campaign’s headquarters at Trump Tower in New York City. Following Trump’s historic victory, Chris was a key member of the Presidential Transition Team where he served as a national spokesman and led rapid response efforts for major cabinet nominees. 

Later in his career, as a Vice President at Prosek Partners, Chris established the firm’s first public affairs and government relations advisory services for clients. He also directed executive visibility programs and led media training sessions, enhancing the public profiles of several prominent global financial services leaders. 

He is also the founder of West Wing Strategies, a strategic communications firm that provided earned media opportunities, speechwriting services and innovative thought leadership initiatives to clients across various industries. 

Chris began his career in Washington, serving four years in the George W. Bush Administration as a White House Spokesman and Special Assistant to the White House Press Secretary. As the top aide to Dana Perino, Chris played a pivotal role in providing counsel to Dana prior to her daily televised press briefings. Prior to this, the President appointed Chris as Deputy Associate Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel. 

A proud graduate of the University of Delaware, Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. He resides outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Taylor Pearson is a Director at Breakwater Strategy. She brings a wealth of experience in crisis communications, litigation communications, corporate communications, and broadcast media. Most recently, Taylor was a Director at Trident DMG where she led communications campaigns ranging from a local charter school to one of the most read newspapers in the world.

Before Trident, Taylor was a booking producer at CBS News and a production assistant at MSNBC. During her tenure, she field produced the 2021 March on Washington, the 2020 State of the Union, and the 2020 South Carolina primary, among other historic events. Taylor also has experience in the policymaking world, including internships with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Africa Program and the late Congressman Elijah E. Cummings.

Taylor received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (previously known as the “Woodrow Wilson School”), with a minor in African American Studies. There, she earned accolades for her work with the Association of Black Women and the Latinos y Amigos student groups as well as for her original reporting on racial discrepancies in time off taken from the university. She is likewise proud of a musical she helped write using archival documents from the Princeton & Slavery Project.

Taylor spent a semester in Paris studying French history, politics, media, and art at L’Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (colloquially referred to as “Sciences Po”). While abroad, she also independently researched and proposed policy solutions to the Greek economic crisis with a Princeton task force.

Taylor has lived in various states but feels the most at home in the Princeton, NJ, area where she went to boarding school and college. She currently resides in the Northwest Corridor of Washington, D.C., and, in her free time, you can find her at Busboys & Poets’ Open Mic Night or at the DuPont Circle Farmer’s Market.

As a Vice President at Breakwater Strategy, Lydie works with a range of clients across industries including tech, financial services, education, media and entertainment on strategic communications challenges and initiatives. 

Since 2019, Lydie has worked on Breakwater Strategy’s strategic communications accounts, supporting clients in crisis and reputation management, corporate and executive communications, and media campaigns. Her work includes conducting media landscape analysis, background research, content analysis, message development and proactive media outreach. As just the second employee at Breakwater, she plays a central role both in overseeing the firm’s day-to-day operations and in safeguarding its culture. 

Prior to Breakwater, Lydie worked as a Strategic Communications Associate at FGS Global (legacy Glover Park Group) where she supported client teams with background research, media monitoring and client deliverables. 

Originally from North Carolina and currently based out of Raleigh, Lydie is a graduate from UNC Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in Media and Journalism and a minor in Hispanic Studies. She can typically be found reading the latest book between commercial breaks of UNC Basketball games or walking around the triangle with her dog Mack. 

As a Director at Breakwater Strategy, Maggie brings with her a passion for emerging technologies across industries and navigating complex regulatory environments.

Maggie is an MBA candidate at Georgetown University with a concentration in non-market strategy. She is honored as a Social Business Fellow and Impact Investing Fellow where she has performed research ranging from altruistic investment in disaster zones to the economics of agricultural supply chains in the Upper Midwest.

Most recently, Maggie worked as a consultant with the Department of Energy (DOE) managing the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) which aims to accelerate the commercialization of innovative energy technologies. Previously, Maggie served as the Technical Lead to the CEO of Nanoracks where she provided thought leadership for program development and market expansion, led the externally hosted payloads program for the International Space Station (ISS), and ran SBIRs under the Advanced Concepts program for a novel cislunar, autonomous data relay platform.

Lastly, Maggie worked as an Embedded Systems Engineer at Boeing to develop command and data handling systems for the ISS and test flight computers for the Space Launch System (SLS) at Marshall Space Flight Center. Maggie spent her early career working as a NASA intern developing real-time control systems for rocket engine test stands at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Maggie graduated Magna Cum Laude from Loyola University in New Orleans and received a double major Finance and Computer Science with a concentration in Computational Science.

Based in Washington, DC with her husband and puppy, Maggie spends her time enjoying all things jazz, oysters, and DIY home improvements.

Leveraging her keen analytical acumen and diverse experience in business strategy, Kim is focused on delivering impactful solutions to our Capital Market clients’ most critical challenges.

Kim joined Breakwater with extensive experience in financial services where she has held roles advising senior executives across Strategy, Business Intelligence, Finance, Product, and Market Intelligence. Over her career, Kim has developed multiyear business strategies for divisions ranging from $5B to $50B in AUA. She is adept at identifying growth opportunities and designing business plans to capitalize on those opportunities through redefining target segments, product offerings and distribution channels that have stronger market fit. She understands the tradeoffs ever present in the business environment and has designed mathematical and financial models to understand the most efficient use of capital to achieve desired results.

Kim graduated summa cum laude from the University of Connecticut, with a B.S. in Marketing and a B.A. in English. In recognition of her academic success and professional experiences, she was a student inductee to the School of Business Hall of Fame. She also holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Connecticut School of Business with concentrations in Management and Marketing.

Expertise:

• Market Research & Competitive Intelligence
• Business Strategy
• Financial Planning & Analysis
• Product and Business Development

Rob is an Associate Director at Breakwater Strategy. He brings experience in corporate communications, advocacy, and issue management. Throughout his career, he has helped advocacy organizations, government agencies, and corporations find effective messages and deliver them to key audiences.

Prior to Breakwater, Rob was an Account Director at CLYDE, a communications and public affairs agency based in Washington, DC. At CLYDE, he worked in the healthcare space alongside Fortune 500 companies and a government initiative and spearheaded an agency podcast. Before CLYDE, Rob served as a Senior Manager, Digital Media and Communications at the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. He earned an M.A. in Media and Strategic Communication and a double major B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication/Political Science, both from George Washington University.

When not in the office, you can find him watching the New Jersey Devils, New York Yankees, and New York Giants, reading the latest history book, or looking for his golf ball in the woods.

Joe Carberry is a Partner at Breakwater Strategy, a strategic insights and communications consultancy focused on helping organizations navigate high-risk, high-reward moments with a combination of research-driven insights and strategic counsel at the intersection of business strategy, public policy, the capital markets and the public conversation.

For more than 25 years, Carberry has built a strong track record helping organizations engage their most important constituencies, manage complex issues, and drive measurable business outcomes. His experience spans virtually every aspect of communications and marketing across various industries, in markets around the world. He has led initiatives that define and differentiate brands, build reputation, drive growth, manage risk, shape policy, engage employees, and navigate change.

Carberry’s experience includes working with some of the world’s leading brands, both in-house and as an external advisor. Before Breakwater, Carberry led the Corporate Relations function for The Charles Schwab Corporation, and co-led the firm’s marketing department. Prior to Schwab, Carberry was head of global communications for eBay Marketplaces; head of global public affairs at Visa Inc.; a partner at Brunswick Group; and President of the Western U.S. Region at MSLGROUP. He has worked extensively in financial services and technology as well as various other sectors. Carberry began his career in politics, working on the re-election campaign for California Gov. Pete Wilson and serving as deputy press secretary to San Diego Mayor Susan Golding.

He holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and a BA in journalism and graphic design from San Diego State University. He is a member of the advisory board for the SDSU School of Journalism and Media Studies.

Reagan Putnam is a Senior Associate at Breakwater Strategy within the Capital Markets practice, based in Washington D.C. She provides ongoing support for the team’s core research functions and helps develop actionable recommendations for stakeholders.

With a background in consulting and financial markets, Reagan has experience helping clients navigate the challenging intersection between strategy, finance, and market dynamics to achieve their goals and drive sustainable growth.

She joined Breakwater from the Palladium Group, which focused on impact investing projects for developing regions in southern Asia and coastal Africa, with a concentration on healthcare infrastructure and improving access to education for women and girls. Previously, Reagan also acted as an investment fellow with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the USDA, where she worked to advise clients on sustainable investment opportunities in emerging markets.

Reagan majored in International Affairs and Business (Finance) at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is a member of Kappa Delta and works with their national philanthropies. She also volunteers her time with the Junior League. In her free time, Reagan enjoys staying active through fitness and tennis, indulging her passion for writing, learning languages, and running her book club.

Expertise:

• Market Research
• Strategic Communications

Meredith currently serves as an Associate Director within the Breakwater Strategies Capital Markets practice.

Prior to joining Breakwater, she worked at Capstone LLC for almost three years, working as an associate and then senior analyst on the private market teams. She was a generalist, assisting all of Capstone’s policy vertical teams on over 30 due diligence and consulting projects for private equity and corporate clients. On the projects she has worked on, Meredith has covered a wide variety of topics such as organic waste policy, satellite-based emissions monitoring, and international debt collection laws.

Before joining Capstone, she attended Indiana University, Bloomington and received a degree in Finance and Public Policy Analysis from the Kelley School of Business. She currently serves on the Board of the Envision Capital Management, a student organization and 501c3 non-profit student investment fund she helped create while at Indiana University.

Expertise:

• Private Equity
• Market Research
• Public Policy
• Strategic Marketing

Leveraging her deep and broad experience in research, Tina designs market-leading approaches to develop research-driven intelligence that enable clients to best address the needs of corporate stakeholders through sharpened strategic communications priorities and best practices.

Prior to joining Breakwater, Tina was a Director at a leading data-driven investor relations consulting firm working closely with project directors and managing research workflow for the core perception study business. Previously, she worked in several research-oriented roles, including investigative research and as a librarian in both public and university libraries.

Tina received her Master of Library Science from Southern Connecticut State University and her Bachelor of Arts in English & Cinema Studies from Northeastern University.

Expertise:

• Capital Markets
• Investor Relations
• Sell Side & Buy Side
• Perception/Shareholder Research
• Process Excellence
• All Sectors and Market Capitalizations