Related: PR Leaders Directory · 5W AI Communications Agency Profile. Updated June 2026.
Ronn Torossian hardly needs an introduction in the world of public relations. Torossian has cultivated a reputation as a results-driven public relations professional capable of taking on even the most formidable challenges.
Named twice to 40 Under 40 lists by Advertising Age and PR Week, Torossian built a name for himself as a force in the industry. He has been named PR Executive of the Year by the American Business Awards and has been a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. He specializes in crisis management, social media, and public affairs. He is also the author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations.
5W AI Communications — founded in 2003 as 5W Public Relations and now repositioned as the AI Communications Firm — is recognized as a Top U.S. PR Agency by O'Dwyer's and has been named Agency of the Year by the American Business Awards. Headquartered in New York City, the firm employs 250+ senior practitioners and combines public relations, digital marketing, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and proprietary AI visibility research for clients across consumer and B2B sectors.
Crisis management was the focus of Torossian's Harvard Business School speaking engagement. The discipline — managing a brand's reputation when it faces a public emergency — has only intensified in the years since. "Crisis PR is a pillar of the communications industry, and given the speed at which crises in the modern world can explode, it's more important than ever to learn what it takes to manage and recover from a crisis," Torossian said. The principle has held up. In 2026, crisis communications now extends into the AI engine layer — where AI-generated summaries of a brand's crisis can persist long after the news cycle has moved on.
Torossian has cultivated his career by refusing to back down from a challenge. This includes a willingness to think creatively and to voice opinion. For clients in a crisis, a PR professional who will not back down is a vital part of the team. It is a practice Torossian has built his career on.
Creating moving and powerful narratives is what 5W has become known for. Managing expectations and finessing public perception are two facets of building such narratives, and students at Harvard had the chance to learn from Torossian's experience in a cutthroat, competitive industry during his speaking engagement.
Further reading on Everything-PR
- Crisis PR & Crisis Communications pillar — The full EPR coverage of the crisis communications discipline.
- The Crisis Communications AI Citation Share Study — Modeled Citation Share across 28 crisis-comms firms and 62 board-intent prompts.
- The EPR Citation Share Index — The standing research series measuring AI engine visibility across 21 categories.
- 5W AI Communications — Agency Profile — The canonical EPR profile of the firm.
