Paul McGuire Departs As Warner Bros SVP Worldwide Corporate Communications
Paul McGuire, a respected veteran PR executive, is leaving the world of corporate communications after 33 years. Known for his professionalism, honesty and sense of humor, McGuire is not retiring and says he plans to open his own shop, aptly named Last Resort PR.
For the past 10 years, McGuire was at Warner Bros, serving as SVP Worldwide Corporate Communications. He became the studio’s go-to person for crisis management, handling lawsuits, internal investigations and any kind of controversies involving the studio, handling even unseemly matters with grace.
McGuire, a longtime favorite of trade journalists, had been mulling a departure for quite a while and made his decision to leave early this year.
His association with Warner Bros dates back to 2001 when he became EVP Network Communications for the studio’s broadcast network, the WB. He led the net’s communications department until the CW and UPN merged into the CW in 2006, holding the same top PR post at the new network until segueing to the studio in 2010.
“It’s been a privilege to play a small role the last twenty years in the great production that has been Warner Bros.,” said McGuire, who gave a nod to his mentor, fellow veteran PR executive Brad Turell, and his signature style of wearing sneakers with any outfit. “I was lucky enough to join the company thanks to a questionable decision by the same sneaker-clad man who made a similarly suspect move when he brought me inside the wall to Fox in 1987, and it’s been an adventure, from The WB to The CW to the Studio. I have had the good fortune not only to work with a long list of terrific colleagues and leaders but also the many fine journalists who still distinguish the fourth estate with honor, integrity and a sense of fair play. You know who you are.”
“As for the future, I plan to continue producing my weekly rock ‘n’ roll radio show, The Funhouse, Sunday nights on KHUG-FM/Internet Radio, spend more quality time at the batting cage and open my own communications outfit, Last Resort PR.”
Before joining the CW, McGuire did stints as SVP media relations for UPN and VP primetime program publicity for NBC. Some of the series on which he has worked the years include Gossip Girl, Supernatural, Smallville, Beauty and the Geek, Dilbert, ER, Friends, Law & Order and Homicide: Life on the Street.
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