Wyatt Messinger

Above all else, Wyatt considers himself an action-oriented leader. Since its founding, Wyatt has been with Purple Strategies, serving in multiple client leadership and operations roles. His understanding of reputation management and communications benefits his clients as well as the philanthropic and academic boards he supports. At Purple, Wyatt develops insight-based strategies and activates campaigns to drive impact, shape opinion and manage reputation for Fortune 500 companies, globally recognized trade associations and non-profits. He leads client teams working across a number of industries including energy, pharmaceutical, technology and tobacco. Wyatt also held a leadership role on Purple’s operations team for two years where he focused on resourcing, performance management and growth and development initiatives. Outside of Purple, Wyatt serves on the advisory boards of the George4 Foundation and Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic. He is a graduate of Furman University and also holds an MA from American University.

“Active listening is essential to the work we do. Whether it’s for a client or an internal project, nothing gets you to the true nature of an issue, or to the best solution, like intensive, thoughtful listening.”

“Interrogating a problem from multiple angles and never being satisfied with the first answer is why the work at Purple is so intellectually rigorous and incredibly rewarding.”

“The most fascinating part of my job is bringing creative and critical thinking to mentorship, coaching and collaboration to up everyone’s game. That’s a terrific feeling.”

“I’d tell someone just starting out in their career that it’s better to be invaluable than to be irreplaceable. Someone who’s irreplaceable is easy to keep in one role. When you’re invaluable, an organization’s leadership will want to challenge you with new and greater responsibilities. So make yourself invaluable.”