TPG re-staffs public affairs team

TPG Capital has re-staffed its public relations team after firing former global head of public affairs Adam Levine last December. The firm added crisis communications expert Adam Mendelsohn as managing director and head of external affairs, Luke Barrett as director of external affairs and Georgia Gonder as an associate.

Mendelsohn joined as Levine’s replacement in February from public relations firm Mercury. He has served as public relations advisor to basketball star LeBron James and was spokesman for Arnold Schwarzenegger during his tenure as governor of California.

Barrett, who will report to Mendelsohn, joins from Abernathy McGregor where for eight years he focused on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. He will be based in New York.

Gonder, who will be based in San Francisco, previously worked at such public relations firms as The Hatch Agency and Edelman.

After firing Levine in December, TPG filed a lawsuit in January claiming that Levine, sour after being denied a promotion, had leaked false stories about the firm to the press. Levine responded with a lawsuit of his own, claiming his dismissal from TPG and the firm’s subsequent complaint was whistleblower retaliation for his reporting of questionable fee and expense policies to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.