Fouad provides strategic communications counsel to companies on a wide range of special situations, including mergers and acquisitions, shareholder activism defense and management changes. He also assists clients with ongoing investor relations, corporate communications and crisis preparedness and management. His areas of expertise include:

Mergers and Acquisitions

He has advised clients on a number of friendly transactions, including: Mailchimp in its acquisition by Intuit; Labcorp and its spin-off of its Clinical Development Business; Grubhub in its acquisition by Just Eat Takeaway; Thoma Bravo in its acquisition of Anaplan; Aerojet Rocketdyne in its pending sale to L3Harris; Herman Miller in its acquisition of Knoll; Cornerstone OnDemand in its acquisition by Clearlake Capital; International Flavors & Fragrances in its acquisition of Frutarom; Dun & Bradstreet in its take private transaction; Parker Hannifin in its acquisition of LORD; Exact Sciences in its acquisition of Genomic Health; and Achillion in its acquisition by Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

He also has experience advising on unsolicited transactions, including CIRCOR in its defense against an unsolicited offer from Crane Co. and Prologis in its successful acquisition of Duke Realty.

Shareholder Activism

He has supported a number of companies in public activism situations as well as proxy contests. In his experience, he has advised companies facing Elliott Management, Engine Capital Management, JANA Partners, Sachem Head Capital Management, Sarissa Capital Management, Starboard Value, ValueAct Capital, Corvex Management, Gabelli Asset Management and Icahn Enterprises.

He has also advised clients in situations where an activist agitates privately, helping them develop preparedness plans around escalating scenarios, including public attack.

Crisis Management

He assists management teams and boards of directors on a variety of crisis situations, including unplanned leadership changes, cybersecurity breaches, environmental issues, regulatory inquiries, internal / Board investigations, earnings surprises, financial restatements and reputational attacks. Recently, he has also worked with clients on a variety of issues related to COVID-19, including workforce-related actions and financial and operational updates.

Investor Relations & Public Relations

He works with public companies to enhance their overall communications strategy, including corporate positioning, quarterly earnings preparation, thought leadership activities and employee communications.

Fouad joined Joele Frank in 2017. He received a BA in Communication from Boston College.