Navigate Response joins the Witt O’Brien’s family

26 February 2020
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We’re excited to announce we’ve joined the Witt O’Brien’s family, a leading crisis and emergency management consulting firm in both the public and private sectors, based in the U.S..

Witt O’Brien’s, part of the SEACOR family of businesses, has been an innovator and leader in the maritime industry for 35 years, providing training and exercises, planning, regulatory compliance, communications, port security, Qualified Individual (QI), Incident Management Team (IMT) and Spill Management Team (SMT) services and supporting the owners and managers of more than 11,000 vessels.

Witt O’Brien’s is also a leader in disaster management for governments, aiding them with preparing for, responding to, recovering from, and mitigating risks from natural and manmade disasters. Witt O’Brien’s has supported nearly every U.S. major disaster over 20 years.

What does this acquisition mean for our clients?

There will be no disruption to the services you are already receiving and no change to your contracts. Our global network and teams in London and Singapore remain unchanged and will continue to be led by Ed Ion in Singapore; Mike Elsom, Bill Lines and Dustin Eno in London.

Our footprint in the U.S. has grown with the addition of a presence in Houston and Washington. If you’re a client of another QI provider in the U.S., nothing changes: you will continue to receive independent strategic counsel and practical 24/7 global support. However, if you’re not already receiving QI/SMT services from Witt O’Brien’s, you now have the ability to have one provider to support all your emergency and crisis communications planning and response needs.

Faster & more effective U.S. response

Clients of both Witt O’Brien’s and Navigate Response will now be serviced by a single company with combined capabilities, providing better value that’s easier for you to manage and  a faster response to any U.S. incident. One call initiates the response resources to support all aspects of a crisis when you and your team need help the most.

The combined Witt O’Brien’s and Navigate Response teams mean that experienced Qualified Individuals (QIs) and Public Information Officers (PIOs) will work together and with the U.S. Coast Guard on your behalf. Our U.S. network of QIs and PIOs provide unmatched local market logistical support and media expertise.

All clients can expect to receive more attention and more robust and efficient solutions to support  crisis preparedness, response and recovery needs through the combination of the Navigate Response and Witt O’Brien’s teams.

We’ll be able to help clients meet complex U.S. compliance requirements and emergency planning, training, exercises and response better than ever before.

What does this acquisition mean for us?

Our team is now part of the Witt O’Brien’s family. We will operate as Navigate Response, a Witt O’Brien’s Company, using the endorsed logo shown here.

Our founders will continue to lead their existing practices post-acquisition: Mike Elsom and Bill Lines in London and Ed Ion in Singapore. They will report to Sean Fitzgerald, Managing Director of Witt O’Brien’s crisis communications practice, based in Houston.

Our story continues…

We set out to solve crisis communications and media challenges faced by our maritime and corporate clients many years ago. Making our clients more prepared to manage their reputation when a crisis occurs and making them more resilient is at the core of what we do. Joining forces with a company as passionate about building resiliency for clients is what takes us into this next chapter of our storybook with Witt O’Brien’s.

While our initial focus will remain in the maritime industry, we see huge potential to expand our firms’ combined offerings in both the private and public sectors.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for entrusting us to be your crisis communications and emergency response partner. We’re delighted to join the Witt O’Brien’s family of businesses.

We look forward to this next chapter and our commitment is stronger than ever to make you ReadyResilient!

To contact us with questions or to learn more about this merger and our full suite of crisis and emergency management solutions, reach us at enquiries@navigateresponse.com

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