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Let’s change the conversation

An Untraditional Public Relations Agency Focused on Discrete PR and Sharing Stories That Drive Impact

North Coast Strategies is a strategic advisory firm that helps organizations navigate complex challenges, safeguard their reputations, and drive meaningful change through communications, crisis management, and stakeholder alignment. We operate where institutions fall short, where reputation meets risk, and where conversations have the power to unlock policy, capital, and momentum. At North Coast Strategies, we don’t wait for a seat at the table, we build the table and make sure the right people show up.

We are organized around three pillars:

Strategic communications| Crisis management | Multi-stakeholder Facilitation

ABOUT US

Established in 2005, NORTH COAST STRATEGIES is an independent global strategic communications and public affairs consultancy. We offer a unique blend of strategic communication, crisis management, and transformative facilitation to foster open dialogues, solve complex problems, and effect systemic change.

We manage our clients' communications and media relations while focusing on proactive crisis preparedness, reputation management, and the facilitation of complex discussions around public policy and social issues.

We’ve witnessed the transformative power of strategic public relations in elevating our client’s visibility, attracting additional funding, and positioning them as leaders in solving the world's most urgent environmental issues. Our approach to PR is rooted in crafting compelling narratives that enhance visibility and underscore the tangible impact and innovation brought about by the companies we work with. Our efforts have contributed to securing extensive media coverage in premier outlets like The Economist, Reuters, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal, spotlighting significant investment ventures and propelling our clients to the forefront of the industry. This includes leading the companies we work with to become a finalist for The Earthshot Prize, one of Fast Company’s 10 Most Innovative Companies, Time’s 100 Most Influential Companies, and Inc. Magazine’s Best in Business.

Don't Get Caught Off Guard

What Makes Us Unique

North Coast Strategies is a company of one, working as a strategic advisor, helping you move forward when systems stall, when tensions rise, or when the cost of inaction is too high. I work at my best when business leaders and public officials come to me when the usual playbook isn’t working, the stakes are high, and the path forward is unclear.

I work with leaders navigating complex, sensitive, and often high-risk challenges—from fractured coalitions and reputational threats to policy inertia and public system breakdowns. What I bring is clarity, discretion, and momentum. I cut through confusion, connect the dots across silos, and help the right conversations happen, quietly and strategically.

At my agency, every engagement is senior-led and outcome-driven. No bloated teams. No rigid process. Just deep experience, candid advice, and the right collaborators brought in as needed. I can work behind the scenes to protect your reputations, align stakeholders, and help mission-driven companies and coalitions solve the problems that matter most. Or I can serve as your spokesperson.

From climate tech founders and behavioral health advocates to public institutions and infrastructure leaders, the people I work don’t need noise. They need results. That’s what I deliver.

A STRATEGY BASED ON RELATIONSHIPS
DRIVEN BY IMPACT

We Turn Obstacles into Opportunities

We help organizations and leaders navigate complex challenges, manage reputational risk, and drive meaningful change. Through strategic communications, crisis management, and stakeholder facilitation, we position our clients to shape conversations, build influence, and turn obstacles into opportunities. Whether protecting a reputation, amplifying a message, or fostering collaboration, we ensure that every action leads to a lasting impact.

Strategic Communications. Capturing Attention, Building Influence, Driving Impact.

You have a message that matters, but attention is the most valuable currency in today’s fragmented media landscape. We don’t just secure media coverage—we ensure that every message, interview, and opportunity creates a lasting impact by reaching the right audience at the right time. Through a strategic, multi-platform approach, we turn visibility into influence, helping you shape conversations, build credibility, and drive meaningful change.

Crisis Communications and Discrete PR. Protecting Reputations, Preserving Influence.

Reputational risk is everywhere, and in today’s fast-moving media landscape, a single misstep can escalate into a crisis. I help high-profile individuals and organizations stay ahead of threats with low-visibility, high-impact solutions—knowing when to engage when to hold back, and how to mitigate risk without amplifying the issue. With a background in law, government, and strategic communications, I align crisis response with a legal and reputational strategy to protect your brand, career, or legacy—before challenges become public scandals.

Multiparty Stakeholder Engagement: From Collaboration to Action

Complex challenges require more than problem-solving—they demand real progress. We bring together policymakers, nonprofits, businesses, and community leaders to remove barriers, align diverse voices, and create meaningful change. Instead of chasing broad, abstract solutions, we focus on targeted, strategic shifts that generate momentum and lead to lasting impact. Through facilitation, collaboration, and strategic alignment, we help organizations move from discussion to action.

 
Let's Start The Conversation!
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BOLD + EXPERIENCED LEADERSHIP

Dan is a communications strategist, crisis advisor, and facilitator who helps organizations navigate high-stakes challenges, protect reputations, and drive systemic change. Leveraging his experience as a litigator, Communications Director for the City of Detroit, federal lobbyist for the Detroit Regional Chamber, and founder, he brings a measured, strategic approach to complex and polarizing environments.

His work spans industries and sectors, from climate technology and sustainability to corporate crisis management and stakeholder alignment. He has helped companies announce groundbreaking investments, including:

  • a $100 million investment by Carlyle & Verizon Ventures in Fermata Energy, a vehicle-to-grid technology firm

  • a $50 million investment by Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund in LanzaJet, a sustainable aviation fuel company

  • a $30 million investment by ArcelorMittal in LanzaTech, a carbon capture and transformation pioneer

Dan has also led high-profile product and partnership announcements, including the world’s first laundry capsule made from industrial carbon emissions (Unilever & LanzaTech), tires made from recycled rubber (Bridgestone), and carbon-based fashion collaborations (On, Zara, and lululemon). His expertise extends to government partnerships, working with agencies such as the U.S. Department of Energy and the UK Department for Transport on sustainable aviation and energy solutions.

Crisis Management and Reputation Protection

Reputation is an asset that must be proactively managed—not just repaired in a crisis. Whether helping a CEO navigate an FDA hearing, protecting a university’s transplant program after a critical error, or managing sensitive workplace misconduct allegations, Dan provides high-level, discreet crisis counsel that enables executives to emerge stronger and more resilient.

His crisis experience includes:

  • litigation and regulatory communications to align public messaging with legal strategy

  • workforce crises, workplace misconduct, and executive reputation management

  • navigating NGO and activist campaigns that threaten corporate or organizational credibility

  • mitigating misinformation and political backlash in highly sensitive industries

Dan is known for his calm, strategic thinking in high-pressure environments and his ability to turn today’s threats into tomorrow’s opportunities.

Stakeholder Engagement and Systemic Change

Dan's work is characterized by bringing diverse voices together to create real change. He has built coalitions, facilitated high-stakes negotiations, and helped organizations find their seat at the table—or build a new one when necessary.

Some of his leadership in stakeholder engagement includes:

  • Forming and leading The Collective (formerly MI Behavioral Health & Wellness Collaborative), a coalition of 17 independent community mental health providers serving 80,000 people across Wayne County, Michigan. His advocacy has helped save community-based agencies thousands of dollars while increasing access for underserved populations.

  • Co-facilitating an urban transit strategy that united eight municipalities after a critical opt-out decision by Ann Arbor, affecting 372,000 residents in Washtenaw County

  • Helping nonprofit leaders and executives influence policy and fill service gaps by strategically positioning them in key conversations and decision-making spaces.

A Mindset of Strength, Strategy, and Resilience

Dan’s approach to leadership is shaped by his Midwestern roots, his commitment to direct, candid advice, and his ability to balance strategy with execution. As a trained mediator, he thrives in high-stakes environments that require de-escalation, clarity, and decisive action.

Beyond his professional work, Dan is deeply committed to his community. He serves as a trustee of Detroit’s Music Hall, a board member for a senior living organization and a family services nonprofit, and a past board member of the Small Business Association of Michigan.

Married for 25 years with three grown children, Dan finds balance through strength training, mountain biking, kayaking, grilling, and long road trips with his family. After running a marathon at 50, he has embraced a midlife mindset centered on strength, resilience, and longevity—both in business and life.

A Courageous, Compassionate, Steady Leader!

“I specialize in facilitating critical conversations that bring diverse groups together to tackle challenging issues and protect your reputation. By breaking down barriers and fostering trust, we not only hear every voice but also collaborate on finding sustainable solutions that make a real difference. My approach transforms dialogues into actions, building stronger communities and improving lives. Let’s start the conversation.”

Now, let’s start the conversation!
Brands we have worked with.
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discrete pr & Crisis management

Quiet. Strategic. Effective.

Reputational risk is everywhere. In a world of deepfakes, synthetic narratives, and machine-amplified misinformation, perception can shift in seconds. When the stakes are high, protecting a brand, a legacy, or a career takes more than damage control. It takes judgment, knowing when to engage, when to stay silent, and how to move forward without leaving a trace.

At North Coast Strategies, we don’t chase attention; we manage exposure.

Named Michigan’s Top Crisis Management Firm by Michigan Lawyers Weekly, our practice is built on strategic discretion, quiet, effective solutions designed to protect credibility before, during, and after a crisis.

Led by attorney and former government official Daniel Cherrin, we navigate complex, high-risk environments where legal strategy, public perception, and machine memory intersect. Whether advising a founder under scrutiny, a judge facing media coverage, or a board responding to an investigation, our work balances human judgment, legal precision, and modern information intelligence to control narrative, protect trust, and preserve influence.

Our Approach

We help leaders show up with clarity, credibility, and control in moments that demand discipline and discretion.

Low-Visibility, High-Impact Response
Contain issues quietly — before they become public.

Strategic Legal Alignment
Integrate communications and legal strategy to avoid missteps and escalation.

Proactive Reputation Defense
Establish credibility and preparedness long before scrutiny arrives.

Modern Risk Navigation
Guide clients through political, regulatory, digital, and media environments where one misstep, human or synthetic, can redefine narrative.

Why Clients Choose Us

• Discretion over exposure — quiet action, not public theater
• Legal precision — informed by law, not spin
• Modern foresight — built for misinformation, synthetic media, and machine memory
• Trusted leadership — two decades navigating public and private crises

From founders to public figures to legal teams, we help leaders protect credibility, control narrative, and move through uncertainty with confidence.

Because in today’s world, reputations aren’t destroyed by crisis — they’re destroyed by how crisis is handled. And credibility isn’t managed in public — it’s secured in private.

Contact us for a quick crisis consult

A Crisis collab.
Your crisis Management Team

No individual can be an expert in crisis management. However, a team of professionals, skilled in key disciplines, with an ability to remove themselves from the chaos of a crisis, can be an effective response team. We have created a network of influencers, given the issue, to help steer you through a crisis.

This includes: Lawyers. Accountants. Forensics Specialists. Social Media Professionals, and others.

Let's Start The Conversation!

Shifting from problem-solving to systemic Change

Multi-Party Facilitation

A tabletop conversation with Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence at Louisiana Creole Gumbo on issues impacting small business owners in underrepresented communities.

 

The Path to Transformation isn’t a Straight Line, it’s an Arc.

Too often, the people closest to community problems are the furthest from the decisions that shape them. Public systems are fragmented, government efforts fall short, and progress is stalled by mistrust. This leaves coalitions, nonprofits, and advocacy networks with the responsibility to act—but without the structure, access, or alignment they need to move forward.

When systems stall, communities cannot wait for government to fix itself. Real change begins with what can be influenced and controlled, by focusing on root causes, not symptoms. Our work removes the barriers, builds trust, and creates transparent forums for dialogue that bring all the relevant voices to the table. Through structured facilitation and aligned narratives, mistrust turns into momentum, and small, practical steps compound into lasting systemic change.

Turning Complexity into Collective Progress

Led by Daniel Cherrin, North Coast Strategies helps underrepresented changemakers navigate fractured systems, community nonprofits, advocacy networks, and frontline coalitions. These leaders don’t need another initiative. They need traction.

As convenor, Daniel provides the structure, access, and narrative alignment that turn dialogue into action. The work focuses on removing barriers, unlocking trust, and identifying small but powerful shifts that create lasting impact.

The Impact Arc

This is our framework for systems change, a disciplined yet adaptive model for turning complexity into collective progress. It doesn’t impose solutions; it creates the conditions for stakeholders to co-create them. It doesn’t scale organizations; it scales impact.

Our approach is built around three strategies that drive transformation:

  1. Barrier Removal – Work to identify and eliminate the obstacles that keep systems stuck.

  2. Narrative Alignment – Shape plainspoken, positive, and plausible messages that reveal shared purpose.

  3. Network Building – Create an adaptive, trust-based ecosystems that evolves with complexity and sustain progress over time.

How We Work

Our principles are simple but powerful:

  • Plainspoken: Communicate with clarity to build understanding.

  • Positive: Emphasize possibilities, not just problems.

  • Personal: Ensure the voices closest to the challenge are heard.

  • Plausible: Focus on achievable shifts that compound into lasting change.

Whether reimagining behavioral health policy, aligning cross-sector coalitions, or guiding communities toward common ground, our goal remains constant:

  • Guide diverse stakeholders toward shared purpose.

  • Shift conversations from problems to possibilities.

  • Co-create practical, measurable solutions.

Turning Dialogue Into Impact

Behavioral Health Redesign | Michigan
Facilitated alignment among providers during a Medicaid redesign that threatened access to care. Developed message frameworks, led statewide advocacy, and built a “provider voice” that reframed the debate around outcomes, not bureaucracy.

Transit Coalition | Washtenaw County
Brought local government, business, and community stakeholders together to design a countywide transit plan. Built trust, reduced conflict, and created consensus for action in a politically divided environment.

Collaborative Facilitation | Regional Networks
Guided regional behavioral health collaboratives through alignment processes that built trust, reduced duplication, and amplified impact.

Why Partner with North Coast Strategies to Drive Systems Change?

  • Experience – Two decades facilitating across behavioral health, transit, public health, and education.

  • Trust – Recognized bridge-builder in high-stakes, fragmented environments.

  • Impact – Proven record of helping coalitions move from talk to measurable action.

  • Alignment – Deep understanding of foundation priorities: capacity building, sustainability, and systems change.

We provide:

  • Access – Bringing decision-makers, providers, and communities into shared conversation.

  • Structure – Turning dialogue into frameworks and actionable strategies.

  • Momentum – Removing barriers and creating conditions where progress compounds over time.