Situation: A 50-year-old, privately held distribution company faced severe liquidity pressure after prolonged industry consolidation eroded its ability to compete at scale. As the lender tightened funding, leadership was forced into immediate workforce reductions and an accelerated transition to an orderly wind-down. The situation carried significant risk: managing layoffs, retaining a critical operating team, and navigating sensitive vendor and customer relationships under extreme time pressure and legal constraints. 

Action: I designed and led a crisis communications strategy to support a lender-driven wind-down. My work focused on creating strategic messaging across audiences, including companywide employee communications, retention messaging for a reduced operating team, and frontline scripts for vendors and long-standing customers. I worked closely with restructuring advisors, legal counsel, and the CEO as decisions evolved.