Karina Byrne

Karina specialises in strategic communications, crisis management, issues response, and internal and external stakeholder engagement. She brings decades of experience advising senior leaders and organisations through high-stakes situations including enforcement actions, litigation, and organisational change. Her sector expertise spans financial services – including wealth management, investment banking and asset management – as well as fintech, insurance, payments, technology, industrials, infrastructure, mining and pharmaceuticals.

Before joining Abernathy, she was a Senior Managing Director at Teneo. She previously held senior communications roles at Credit Suisse, UBS and Barclays, leading global and U.S. communications strategies across corporate, wealth and asset management divisions. She began her career in journalism, working as a reporter, editor and columnist at outlets including The Winnipeg Free Press, The Winston-Salem Journal and Thomson News Service. Her experience across the U.S. and Canada, combined with deep sector knowledge and global perspective, enables her to support clients navigating complex, high-profile challenges.