Mathew Shearman

Mathew Shearman is co-chair of APCO Worldwide’s global Health practice and is based in Washington, D.C. Drawing on his experience building globally integrated communications teams, he guides APCO’s Health practice in empowering clients to promote health and advance health care equity.

Mr. Shearman specializes in developing fully integrated, cross-functional strategic communications campaigns for U.S. and global pharmaceutical, hospital, pharmacy and health technology clients. He uses his unique experience working at the intersection of health care public affairs and crisis, policy, market access and corporate reputation disciplines to advise clients on enhancing their corporate reputation, protecting their license to operate and communicating the value of health care innovations.

Mr. Shearman joins APCO Worldwide from BCW Global (formally Burson-Marsteller) where he was senior vice president, public affairs and crisis. At BCW, he provided strategic counsel to numerous Fortune 500 companies from across the health sector. He has counseled clients to successfully navigate reputational risks during litigation, product recalls, counterfeiting, clinical data readouts and cybersecurity challenges. With deep experience developing both disease awareness and policy-focused campaigns, he has supported patient access to numerous medical and diagnostic products for conditions including cancer, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease and immune-driven diseases.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Shearman was a senior counselor to companies at the forefront of the global public health response, helping to translate complex scientific and business developments to consumer audiences. From early 2020, he supported the first authorized treatment for COVID-19, developed a crisis response strategy for a major Washington, D.C., hospital system and led U.S. advocacy efforts around a client’s vaccine.

Mr. Shearman brings a truly global perspective to his work, drawing on his knowledge of worldwide health care systems. At Ogilvy Healthworld in London, he advised clients on EU and UK policy environments, helping to advance critical conversations on drug pricing and health care system reform. He spent eight months on placement with a Fortune 100 company developing their corporate response to Brexit, advising senior executives on managing the business impact across consumer, medical device and pharmaceutical businesses.

Mr. Shearman holds an Msc International Relations from London School of Economics and BA (Hons) History (MA Oxon) from Oxford University. He has offered analysis on EU and UK politics on BBC News 24, presented at the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum and has written commentary for Vox.com, New Eastern Europe and the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.