Forty years ago this month, George K. Regan Jr. opened up a public relations agency focused on crisis communications with three full-time staffers working out of a small condo in the North End.
Today, Regan Communications is going as strong as ever, and the founder says he is not backing down from taking controversial positions that he believes will lead to a greater good for the entire community.
“This place is not for everybody, it isn’t,” Regan told the Herald on Friday, reflecting on his company celebrating 40 years in business. “It is not a 9-to-5 job. It is a career. I am so into this.”
Regan’s labor of love is now headquartered along the North End waterfront and has grown to be New England’s largest privately owned public relations firm and the sixth-largest in the country.
Aspiring to be a so-called “grand Bostonian,” Regan takes pride in having first served as a press secretary for former Mayor Kevin White and then as the city’s director of communications. But he gushes just as much over the work he and his company are conducting today.
The full-service agency has recently worked with the Harvard Hillel, ensuring Jewish students feel comfortable to share their voices over how they’ve dealt with rampant antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war.
In October, Regan instituted a ban on hiring Harvard students whose organizations signed on to a letter blaming Israel solely for the deadly attacks by Hamas and a ban on those who protest against Israel. Earlier this month, Claudine Gay stepped down as Harvard’s president.
Through relationships with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and officials at the Anti-Defamation League, Regan said he’s developed a strong ‘pro-Israel’ stance.
“What really upset me is we have all of these young kids who go to Ivy League schools, and God has been good to them,” Regan said. “How dare they come out with a position favoring Hamas.”
“At one time there were a lot of strong leaders in the city, they’ve either moved on or they’re just afraid to do something,” he continued. “I think we kind of have an obligation. If I played a big role in helping the city become what it is today, you’ve got to nurture it.”
Regan Communications also led a campaign to “overthrow morally corrupt” city councilors Ricardo Arroyo and Kendra Lara from the Boston City Council, the founder said.
Arroyo, who paid a $3,000 fine for a state ethics violation and faced criticism for his alleged involvement in the Rachael Rollins scandal that forced the then-U.S. Attorney to resign, and Lara, who faces a slew of motor vehicle-related charges after crashing her car into a Jamaica Plain home last June, both lost in preliminaries before November’s election.
“I take a lot of positions that are not popular,” Regan said. “It doesn’t help my company by doing the right thing. I’ve been stabbed so many times. I get it.”
Regan Communications has expanded its footprint outside of Boston over the years, with offices in Cape Cod, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Washington D.C., Charleston, SC and Florida.
The company works with around 200 clients, with certain players like footwear company New Balance, car dealership Herb Chambers and law firm Mintz Levin being clients for at least two decades.
“Twenty five years ago, our company, today, would be dead,” Regan said. “That’s why we needed other areas and offices. Honestly, I never would have thought we’d be where we are today.”
