At the UN, we hired Anne Folan & Associates on a competitive basis to help form, launch, and then lead communications for a Secretary-General’s Task Force whose membership included heads of UN agencies, central bank governors, CEOs of global finance and technology companies, as well as innovative fintech firms. The role required someone who could not only command credibility from global leaders but who could also act as interlocutor between two worlds--the public and the private sectors--who need to collaborate effectively but do not always understand each other's ways. Anne is one of the rare crossover consultants with clients, large and small, from both worlds. Her skill at managing relationships with people who came to the project with very different expectations and even worldviews was a major contributor to the work's success. Anne and her team designed the Task Force's communications strategy and then beautifully executed a diverse range of deliverables: website, social channels, videos and animation, long- and short-form writing, earned media, and high-stakes meetings all over the world. I also admired how she treated everyone--colleagues at every level, vendors, subcontractors--with kindness and respect, taking extra care to ensure that anyone she had to push hard to get things done right (often needed on my or the Co-chairs' behalf) felt appreciated.

I relied on Anne’s team for the better part of a decade to produce some of our most important and high-profile deliverables: the corporate annual report, the global leadership team meetings, all of our corporate advertising, the investor meetings, and much more. Along with being brilliant writers and creatives, Anne and her team deliver peace of mind. Once a project was in her hands, I did not have to worry about anything.

I first met Anne in 2018 when I was a member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Task Force on Digital Financing, and she was the Task Force’s head of communications. I immediately recognized her as a uniquely gifted strategist, creative, and thinker, and was incredibly impressed with the quality of her work–so much so that I have hired her repeatedly for projects of my own.

We have relied on Anne since 2011 for our major projects. Most recently, we brought her in to manage communications around a high-profile merger, a pivotal moment in our organization’s growth, and her impact was nothing short of transformational. She elevated our professionalism in ways we hadn’t imagined, and her insights added great value to our board and strategy meetings. Anne’s professional expertise and thoughtful guidance were instrumental in shaping our direction. And along with her own skill, she brings a positive energy to all her interactions that brings out the best in others.

Over the years Women’s World Banking has hired Anne and her team for multiple projects: communications strategic planning, project management, writing and editing, advisory services. Anne knows our industry and its players so well that we avoid the usual “learning curve” time and costs associated with most consultancies. She works really well across all departments in our organization. I admire Anne’s talent. And as president of the world’s largest network of woman-focused microfinance institutions, I also greatly appreciate Anne’s commitment to women’s economic advancement.

My senior team and I came to think of Anne Folan as our secret weapon. Her combination of creativity and business sense is rare, and valuable. She is proof that investing in communications pays off. Thanks to Anne’s work, MFO’s research got much greater exposure and had a bigger impact. I also admire people who keep their word, follow through, and “under-promise, over-deliver.”

Anne worked for us on assignments in Indonesia and Philippines, designing communications strategies for multiple business units. She also recruited new staff, trained the teams in presentation and public-speaking skills, and perhaps most important, instituted internal communications that significantly improved efficiency. Anne works well cross-culturally and brings out the best in team members at all levels.

I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with Anne on many high-profile publications. She brings subject-matter expertise to the table and I especially appreciated her skill at working with our team to shape our ideas. She possesses a gift for turning research findings into clear and compelling narratives and getting them in front of the right audiences through the right channels. Most of our projects had tight deadlines and multiple authors, and Anne’s collegiality and sense of humor were real assets that helped keep the team on track. She is one of the most talented writers I know and she greatly improved the look of our publications. I highly recommend her.

Anne handled communications, public relations, and change management for the acquisition and re-branding of our bank by an international investor. I was amazed by her ability to spend six months on the ground in Pakistan and immediately immerse herself in the project. Not only was she able to learn the local context of marketing & PR very quickly in a completely new environment, she also delivered by working round the clock under very tight timelines. The acquisition, re-branding and integration all went very smoothly. It really was an incredible achievement and could not have happened without Anne.

Anne worked closely with me and my team in Kabul to build our communications strategy from scratch. It was a complex project with a lot of stakeholders, local and international. She grasped our business and its needs immediately, worked really well with everyone, and produced a strategic plan, tactical plan, and budget that our team could implement and that produced the desired results. Anne also created beautiful, effective marketing collateral. I appreciated her work and recommend her highly.

Anne brings an unusual combination of creativity and analytical skill to the challenge of turning data into story. The publications her team produces beautifully capture what FINCA is all about.

Anne has provided writing and editorial services to several YouthSave publications. She has a real talent for sifting through a mass of research findings to spot what is genuinely compelling. and for structuring narratives so those gems are highlighted. Even when things are “down to the wire,” Anne always delivers clear-eyed and supremely capable input.