Howard Waterman

Howard is an innovative communications expert, strategist, and award-winning board advisor with over two decades of experience in strategic communications, PR, executive counsel, crisis management, and internal communications. He has held senior leadership roles at top US brands including Verizon and Moody's Corporation and advises tech startups. As founder and CEO of The Waterman Group, he leads strategic media relations, thought leadership campaigns, brand reputation, crisis management, investor relations, executive coaching, positioning, and storytelling.

Howard has driven communications and investor relations strategies across technology, telecom, fintech, education, media, and early-stage startups. He helps businesses scale by building brand awareness and thought leadership to strengthen organizational presence, raise capital, and increase revenue.

His leadership highlights include:
• Airspan Networks – Directed PR/IR strategy that supported the company’s 2021 IPO, including a non-deal roadshow, analyst day, and listing events, then led quarterly earnings narratives.
• NextNav Inc. – Interim head of marketing and communications; the stock doubled during his tenure.
• Umlaut Inc. – US communications lead, doubling news coverage prior to its merger with Accenture.

Howard serves as a trusted advisor and board member:
• AI 2030 – Corporate board of advisors and Chief Executive in Residence for Communications/PR Strategy; named 2024 Advisor of the Year in January 2025.
• The Streaming Guide (ScreenGeni.us) – Senior advisor to the founder/CEO and Fractional Chief Communications Officer.
• Transcontinental University – Board member, helping advance global leadership and professional development.

Previously, Howard was Senior Vice President of Strategic Communications at Moody’s Corporation, leading global communications for Moody’s Analytics ($2.6B+ annual revenue). He developed PR strategy for integrated risk assessment, advised senior leadership, and positioned the chief economist and team for top-tier media coverage.

At Verizon, Howard spent over 20 years in leadership, serving on the Northeast wireless senior management team ($16B annual revenue) for more than a decade. He built and led a 35-person team managing all communications for 19,000 employees, including tech/network performance, product launches, crisis communications, social media, and executive counsel. He was on the team that launched the Verizon Wireless brand, led network superiority campaigns, launched the first Mobile Edge Compute platform with AWS, and developed best practices for employee engagement, Great Place to Work campaigns, and CSR programs supporting domestic abuse survivors.

Howard began his career at 1010 WINS all-news radio in New York City at 19.