Strategic Communications — Dana Davis

Dana Davis is a senior strategic communications executive who specializes in reputation management and storytelling. She is, in equal measure, a narrative builder and a crisis expert — the person leaders bring in to define what their company stands for, and the person they call again when that reputation comes under pressure.

Dana got her start in healthcare PR, where she developed a knack for crisis comms, counseling execs at Fortune 100s like Mylan, Pfizer and Merck through everything from regulatory issues to online community organizing to Congressional hearings.

She then joined ridesharing giant Lyft, where she was responsible for safety and crisis communications. Dana was early to recognize that the most consequential communications work often happens before there is anything to actually say – helping leaders understand how decisions about products, policies and priorities will ultimately shape the company's reputation. At Lyft, Dana helped drive some of the company's most consequential safety initiatives, championing the creation of its Safety Advisory Council and the development of its first Safety Transparency Report while establishing communications as a critical voice in those decisions.

Dana then served as Head of Communications at Unqork, a Series C, $2B enterprise SaaS unicorn, where she helped the company craft their narrative and establish an outsized presence in the media. She led internal and external communications, analyst relations and social media, bringing them together around a clear story about who Unqork was and why it mattered.

At Steelwire, clients rely on Dana to build a sharp, consistent narrative — the through-line that connects what a company does to why it matters, and that holds up whether it appears on a homepage, a funding announcement, or a reporter's third follow-up question. She pairs that narrative discipline with unmatched media training, helping executives anticipate tough questions, pressure-test their messages, and prepare not just for the questions they're expecting but for the ones they aren't. And in a media landscape where landing the story no longer guarantees anyone will see it, Dana thinks as much about reaching the audience as she does about getting the narrative right — where people get their information, what they pay attention to, and what will make them care.

Dana's expertise in crisis communications has been recognized by media including Forbes. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University and resides in Brooklyn, NY.