Whenever a name in Harrison is spotted in boldface, Heidi Davidson’s friends start calling. They want to know if Davidson, owner of Galvanize Worldwide, a marketing-and-communications consulting firm, is helping that famous person through some soon-to-be newsworthy scandal.
Davidson says her business is about “building things and fixing things.” The building part involves promoting startups. But the fixing part, otherwise known as crisis management, is what people are most interested in. “It’s the celebrity factor of arrests and high-profile divorces,” she says. “When I walk in the door, it’s because there’s a problem.” And Davidson, who calls herself an “adrenaline junkie,” loves fixing problems. “I am calm in a storm,” she says. “A lot is trusting your gut and being a good listener, and I have the ability to see the picture clearly and get things back on track.”
“People inherently trust her,” says Marty Mallick, a former colleague at BlackBerry — which Davidson helped launch and then returned to fix a few years ago. “Her intelligence and judgment make people go to her for advice, even if they didn’t have to.”
Just don’t ask her for the dirt. “I wouldn’t be in business very long if I shared that,” she laughs.
