A Rewired World: Navigating Disruption in 2026

Katie Cissel is a Partner based in Washington, D.C. where she leads the firm’s Research & Insights Division. She has nearly 20 years of experience using research to help clients shape the conversation, navigate complex challenges, and drive meaningful outcomes.

Katie believes insights is a collaborative process. At FGS Global, her work spans the Communications, Government Affairs and Creative teams. She specializes in message development, reputation management, and advocacy programs that ground communications in the experiences of the audience we are looking to target. She has offered counsel on a variety of topics including education, health care, agriculture, consumer products, sustainability, and overall positioning and reputation.

Katie is a RIVA and AMA trained moderator who is experienced at facilitating strategic planning sessions, conducting focus groups with diverse audiences, and interviewing high-level and C-suite stakeholders. Katie got her start in Washington working in campaign politics and advocacy for a leading media consulting firm Shrum, Devine & Donilon.

Margaret Popper is an experienced communications strategist with a broad range of expertise in finance, technology, media relations, internal communications, special situations, crisis communications, digital strategy and content production, media training and corporate narrative development. 

She returns to FGS Global after two years working as an in-house communications executive in the tech sector. Most recently, she was a VP and Head of Corporate Communications and Central Services at Kyndryl, a 90,000 person spin-off of IBM’s technology services division, where she managed media relations and content production and worked with the C-suite to create and execute Kyndryl’s IPO communications strategy. Before joining Kyndryl, she was VP of Narrative and Content at IBM, where she ran a team of 15 and helped shape the corporate narrative around IBM’s hybrid cloud and AI strategy. 

Prior to IBM, Margaret worked at predecessor firm Sard Verbinnen & Co. on a variety of assignments including Trian Partners’ successful effort to put Nelson Peltz on the board of P&G, Perella Weinberg Partners’ acquisition of TPG, Owl Rock’s IPO of ORCC, the rollout of the Commonsense Corporate Governance Principles by a group of 12 institutions organized by Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett, and a variety of crisis situations for corporations, colleges and schools. 

She came to FGS Global after 20+ years as a financial journalist at BusinessWeek, Bloomberg, and most recently, CNBC. 

She began her career in corporate finance on Wall Street. She has a BA in English Literature from Yale University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Julia Phelps leads FGS Global’s marketing and transformation efforts worldwide, with responsibility for expanding FGS’s leading market position, sharpening the firm’s brand identity and marketing initiatives to advance its strategic priorities and drive growth. She also partners with leaders to foster cross-functional collaboration and ensure FGS’s network of clients, ranging from large publicly traded multinationals to private higher education institutions, have seamless access to the full breadth of the firm’s capabilities, expertise and client-first culture.

Prior to joining FGS, Phelps spent 20 years at Paramount Global and its predecessor Viacom, where she played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s corporate positioning, branding and culture throughout a period of sweeping change in the media and entertainment landscape. As Executive Vice President and Chief Communications and Corporate Marketing Officer, she oversaw communications and marketing for the Viacom/CBS merger, the launch of Paramount+ and the rebrand to Paramount Global. Earlier, she served as Executive Vice President of Communications for Viacom International Media Networks, overseeing communications teams supporting 180 countries and territories worldwide