John Larsen

John Larsen is General Manager (Calgary) and Executive Vice President (Crisis & Reputation Risk) with Edelman Canada. Prior to joining Edelman, John was President of Zero Hour Strategy, a crisis communications and reputation management consultancy. Before that he was Senior Vice-President of Global Public Affairs. John also sits on the Advisory Board for Welund Corporation, a global security intelligence firm.

John is the former President and owner of Corpen Group, Canada's largest independent crisis communications agency. He is the 2012 Canadian recipient of the prestigious International Association of Business Communicators 'Master Communicator' designation. He has also held senior communications positions with various orders of government and in international consulting. John is the former head of the Canadian Forces Reserve Public Affairs Branch, and is currently serving with the Canadian Forces Liaison Council.

John holds a formal designation through the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D), holds the international designation of Accredited Business Communicator (ABC), has a Masters Degree in communications, has completed the Harvard University (John F. Kennedy School of Government) Executive Education program in leadership, and is a graduate of the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College. He also holds formal United Nations status as an International Permanent Observatory (IPO) Expert on Major Event Security.