last word
Leza Raffel
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
I n 1991, the founding year of the
Communication Solutions Group
in Jenkintown, founder and
President Leza Raffel made only $9,000.

But the Jewish Abington resident, 55,
who dubbed herself the “lady to call
when you are in deep doo-doo,” took
the company’s humble beginnings in
stride. Three clients in the company’s first
year soon grew to hundreds, includ-
ing 56 school districts, 40 fire depart-
ments and area Jewish organizations
Federation Early Learning Services
and Gratz College. Communication
Solutions Group has also trained more
than 100 college interns.

In 2009, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed
Rendell named Raffel as one of the
“Best 50 Women in Business.”
Though the business takes on a whole
host of various public relations clients,
Raffel cut her teeth on crises — break-
ing bad news in the most delicate way.

Raffel has tackled environmental
and mold issues, food recalls and acci-
dental deaths, among others. It’s her
job to communicate with the appropri-
ate stakeholders what is going on to put
them at ease or help them take the next
steps. Her job also takes the load of
distracted clients who have to confront
and solve the crisis.

“They are so focused on addressing
the crisis at hand that they’re not
responding to the media inquiries or
communicating out to the parents,”
Raffel said. “And so ... people assume
they’re hiding information, or they
don’t care when, in fact, they’re very
much involved in addressing the
crisis.” Beyond crisis communications,
Raffel has provided PR services to the
Tuskegee Airman, the first Black mil-
itary aviators in the Army Air Corps,
for their 60th anniversary. She coor-
dinated a visit from then-President
George W. Bush to a Harrisburg school.

She’s balanced her role at
36 Communication Solutions with being
a board member at Temple Sholom in
Broomall and Ithaca College Hillel,
where her son is attending college.

For Raffel, who has spent the last
30 years specializing in crisis com-
munications and PR, Communication
Solutions is her pride and joy. But 30
years ago, the founding of the group
came out of necessity.

“My business was kind of born out of
its own crisis,” Raffel said.

Before Communication Solutions,
Raffel was working for a small PR firm
on the Main Line. Her boss would
hand Raffel her paycheck every other
APRIL 28, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
week and specifically tell her not to
deposit it.

“I was making my parents their 25th
wedding anniversary [gift], and I went
to take money out of my ATM to pay
the bill, and there was a negative bal-
ance in the account because all my
checks had bounced,” Raffel said.

With assurance from her attorney
that she hadn’t signed a noncompete
agreement, and advice from her good
friend telling her to start her own
firm, Raffel started Communication
Solutions, taking whatever clients were
able to reach her on her pager.

“I was renting an apartment, I
didn’t have a child at the time, so I
figured, you know, I’ll give it a shot,”
Raffel said.

Later that decade, Raffel hired addi-
tional employees. She tried to match
each person with their specific skill
set. As a businesswoman, she prided
herself on hiring and empowering
women. In the group’s 31-year history,
it’s employed seven men.

Since 1991, more has changed within
the company than its employee demo-
graphics. “When I first started working there,
we all shared one computer that was
located in a closet,” said Beth Drost,
who retired from Communication
Solutions after 20 years as a public rela-
tions specialist.

Though the office eventually became
computerized, shifting technology
continues to change the crisis commu-
nications model.

With the growing role of social
media in breaking news, communica-
tions groups have to put out statements
right away and roll out information as
they get it.

“You’re going to be in a very reac-
tionary mode because it’s out there
for everyone,” Raffel said. “So you
really have to be a lot faster with your
response.” Raffel has also had to adapt to the
economic complications of running a
business. Adapting to COVID was eas-
ier for the company, Drost said. Raffel
was amenable to employees working
from home for the past decade; they
had used Zoom for seven years.

The 2008 Great Recession was more
challenging for the company, Drost
said, when Communication Solutions
lost several clients, and Raffel had to
slowly build back their clientele.

“I could see that being a devastating
event for a company, but she rolled
with it,” Drost said. “And she was able
to grow the business back to where it
was with a bit of a different focus, but
she did a great job.” JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Courtesy of Leza Raffel
TACKLES CRISES