Claire Doan
Managing Director
As a managing director at Burson Buchanan, Claire Doan is a trusted strategic adviser to C-suite executives and board directors, partnering with them through high-stakes challenges and opportunities spanning litigation, crisis response, media affairs, and corporate positioning. Claire’s deep communications expertise is rooted in a multifaceted career encompassing roles as a senior consultant for global organizations, an in-house external relations executive for California’s second-largest employer, and an award-winning investigative journalist.
Before joining Burson Buchanan, Claire was a managing director and head of litigation at H/Advisors Abernathy, where she also played a leading role in the firm’s cybersecurity practice. In that capacity, she counseled clients across diverse industries on complex litigation, government investigations, corporate crises, cybersecurity incidents, and media strategy, among other matters. Previously, Claire served as the chief communications architect for the University of California (UC) system, with a $52 billion operating budget, overseeing enterprise-wide strategic communications and media relations for its campuses and medical centers. While in this role, Claire also served as press secretary for former UC President and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and as primary spokesperson for the UC system, representing more than half a million staff and students. She directed communications strategy for highly sensitive matters, including litigation, medical malpractice, sexual harassment, COVID-19, labor disputes and admissions controversies such as Varsity Blues.
Claire’s background as an Edward R. Murrow- and Emmy-Award winning investigative reporter for television stations in Arizona and California provides invaluable media engagement expertise to her client counsel.
Claire holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Science in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
