Gordon Hensley, the principal of Strategic Media, Inc., began his political career in 1980 as a $40 dollars per week deputy town chairman coordinator on Ronald Reagan’s New Hampshire presidential campaign. After Reagan’s election, Hensley went on to serve for over a decade on Capitol Hill as a press secretary and speechwriter for U.S. Reps. Joe DioGuardi (R-NY), Jim Courter (R-NJ) and Sam Johnson (R-TX); as communications director to Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer; and in a variety of statewide and presidential primary and general election campaigns -- including that of Pete du Pont in 1988 and George H.W. Bush in 1992.

Hensley then founded Strategic Media, Inc. in 1993 with a specific niche focus on integrating candidates’ daily stump message with all paid and earned media efforts, maximizing campaign message discipline, and developing an aggressive communications agenda that drives news and takes the offensive. That general focus remains the same today, and is more applicable than ever to today's public affairs challenges.

Following his new firm’s communications work in several statewide campaigns -- including George Pataki's 1994 gubernatorial effort in New York against incumbent, Mario Cuomo -- Hensley was appointed by U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) to serve as communications director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), from 1995-'97. In this capacity, he served as the senior NRSC spokesman and writer, and was responsible for all aspects of the Committee's national and state media communications strategy for 34 U.S. Senate races.

Concurrent with his NRSC work, Hensley maintained his business and also worked as a communications consultant for Senator Bob Dole’s '96 GOP presidential primary campaign. He was also selected that year to write South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond’s final campaign announcement speech, and spent several months on the ground in Oregon as a senior communications advisor to help elect Senator Gordon Smith.

It was then that Hensley began to be recognized for his expertise in news management tactics, operations and strategy – and was cited by the Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, as one of its “Fabulous Fifty” most influential on Capitol Hill. In addition to being invited to serve on National Press Club campaign newsmaker panels, he also made several appearances as a guest lecturer on campaigns and politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

In 1997, his firm was retained by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) to help elect U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY) in a highly-competitive NYC special election, and was also retained by the reelection campaign of U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell (R-GA), the Republican Leadership Council (RLC), the New York State Republican Party, and several other politically-oriented entities.

Strategic Media remained strictly campaign-oriented until 1999, when the firm took a more non-partisan, private sector path and began collaborating with larger public relations firms on major corporate accounts. The firm did no additional political work until 2006, when it was utilized late in the cycle by the Bob Corker for U.S. Senate campaign to help re-tool the campaign communications operation in the closing weeks of his high profile Tennessee victory against U.S. Rep. Harold Ford, Jr.

Now in its 14th year, Strategic Media has an established track record of working successfully with a number of the nation's major Republican and Democratic media consultants, polling firms and public affairs professionals. The small firm has declined several opportunities since 2004 to be absorbed as a strategic communications and writing unit within larger public affairs firms, and enjoys the creative and intellectual freedom associated with choosing for whom to work.