Key Takeaways
- • The Crisis Communication Hedge Fund, a "Shark Tank"-style competition now in its second year, pairs graduate student teams with industry executives to develop crisis communication strategies and research proposals grounded in theoretical frameworks.
- • On April 14, 2025, student teams at the University of Georgia's Grady College competed by developing crisis management strategies for Yosemite National Park, responding to federal funding cuts and operational safety challenges.
- • The competition is funded by industry leaders and judges include five executives, including "Head Shark" Jason Anthoine (ABJ '89), a core partner of the Crisis Communication Think Tank (CCTT) and Grady College Board of Trust member.
- • Winning teams receive funding to execute research projects through the Crisis Insights & Analytics Lab at the CCTT, directly applying academic strategy development to real-world crisis scenarios.
Summary
The Crisis Communication Hedge Fund represents an innovative bridge between academic research and industry practice, leveraging a venture-style competition model to advance graduate-level crisis communication scholarship. Now in its second year, the program pairs student teams with established industry professionals who serve as both judges and investors, evaluating both the quality of crisis strategy development and the research methodologies proposed by competing teams.
The April 14, 2025 competition at Grady College tasked student teams with developing evidence-based crisis communication strategies for Yosemite National Park, a scenario grounded in the practical challenge of federal funding reductions and their operational implications. Beyond strategy formulation, teams were required to design research questions and plans identifying what new insights would prove most impactful given the crisis context. This dual-layer evaluation—assessing both strategic thinking and research design competency—reflects the program's emphasis on theory-informed problem-solving relevant to professional practice.
The competition framework engages five industry executives as evaluators, with Jason Anthoine serving as "Head Shark." Anthoine, an Advertising and Public Relations alumnus (ABJ '89), holds senior standing as a core partner of the Crisis Communication Think Tank and as a member of Grady College's Board of Trust, establishing credible industry leadership in the evaluation process. The funding model—supported by a consortium of industry leaders—ensures that winning teams obtain resources to execute their proposed research through the Crisis Insights & Analytics Lab at the CCTT, operationalizing academic insights into structured research initiatives.
The April 14, 2025 competition at Grady College tasked student teams with developing evidence-based crisis communication strategies for Yosemite National Park, a scenario grounded in the practical challenge of federal funding reductions and their operational implications. Beyond strategy formulation, teams were required to design research questions and plans identifying what new insights would prove most impactful given the crisis context. This dual-layer evaluation—assessing both strategic thinking and research design competency—reflects the program's emphasis on theory-informed problem-solving relevant to professional practice.
The competition framework engages five industry executives as evaluators, with Jason Anthoine serving as "Head Shark." Anthoine, an Advertising and Public Relations alumnus (ABJ '89), holds senior standing as a core partner of the Crisis Communication Think Tank and as a member of Grady College's Board of Trust, establishing credible industry leadership in the evaluation process. The funding model—supported by a consortium of industry leaders—ensures that winning teams obtain resources to execute their proposed research through the Crisis Insights & Analytics Lab at the CCTT, operationalizing academic insights into structured research initiatives.
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