I am a professor, researcher, consultant, entrepreneur, columnist, and commentator. For more than three decades, I have worked at the intersection of academic research, strategic communication, entrepreneurship, public debate, and institution building.
As a professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, I study how organizations communicate, how trust is created, and how ideas influence the behavior of individuals, organizations, and societies. My primary interests are public relations and strategic communication, as well as the impact of artificial intelligence on communication and decision-making.
I earned my doctorate from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). I was a Fulbright Scholar in the United States and have served as a visiting professor and researcher at universities across Europe, North America, and Asia. Throughout my career, I have lectured, conducted research, or spoken in 41 countries on five continents. A recently published bibliometric analysis ranks me among the ten most-cited public relations scholars in the world and second among the most-cited researchers in global public relations.
I am the author and editor of more than twenty books and over two hundred academic and professional articles and book chapters on strategic communication and public relations. My recent publications include AI and Strategic Communication (2026), Internal Communication and Employer Brands (2023), The Global Public Relations Handbook(2020), Future Directions of Strategic Communication (2020), and Communication Excellence (2017).
In addition to my research and consulting work, I regularly contribute to public debate as a columnist, commentator, and speaker. My columns are published in the Slovenian daily Večer and on the Croatian platform
https://sest.hr. I am particularly interested in issues of social development, the role of institutions, communication, leadership, technology, and the future of democratic societies. Some of these reflections are collected in Normality Is Not Self-Evident, a forthcoming collection of essays and columns on society, politics, institutions, and everyday life in a time of uncertainty and rapid change, scheduled for publication in autumn 2026.
Alongside my academic work, I collaborate with organizations in addressing communication and leadership challenges. Over the past decades, I have advised companies, public institutions, governments, and international organizations, including the European Union, the OECD, UNDP, and the World Bank.
I have been involved in founding and developing numerous organizations and initiatives. In 1991, I led the establishment of the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) as its first director. Later, I contributed to the development of the communication group Pristop, and today I am a partner at Herman & Partners. I also helped establish the Slovenia Biotech Hills initiative, which brings together companies, research institutions, universities, and investors to strengthen Slovenia’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical ecosystem.
Since 1994, I have organized the international research symposium BledCom, one of the world’s leading gatherings in public relations and strategic communication. I also contributed to the creation of the European Communication Monitor, one of the largest international studies of strategic communication. In addition, I chaired the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) expert panel that developed recommendations and ethical standards for the use of artificial intelligence in public relations.
For my work, I have received numerous national and international awards and honors, including the Alan Campbell-Johnson Medal of the Chatered Institute for Public Relations (UK), the Pathfinder Award from the Institute for Public Relations (USA), the Distinguished Scholar Award from EUPRERA (the European Public Relations Education and Research Association), and the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award of the Slovenian Public Relations Society.