PALM SPRINGS, CA—Veteran corporate communications executive Donald Ferguson, who held senior in-house roles with companies including Manville and Waste Management, has launched his own consulting firm, Ferguson Public Relations.

The new firm will offer a range of services including crisis and litigation communications, employee and government relations, and professional development and presentation training, across a wide range of industry sectors.

Ferguson had experience dealing with a broad range of litigation, health, environmental, and government affairs issues during his time as vice president of corporate affairs at Manville, which was forced into bankruptcy following a giant class action suit stemming from its role in the asbestos industry.

Most recently, he was a senior consultant and former partner and senior vice president with Fleishman-Hillard in San Francisco. Before that, he served as a partner at Geduldig & Ferguson, a New York public relations and consulting firm that merged into Fleishman Hillard in March, 2004.

He has worked with clients including Avaya, Baxter, Bayer, Chevron, CompassLearning, the Free Trade Lumber Council, General Motors, Hoechst Marion Roussel, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Levi Strauss, MacMillan Bloedel, Mattel, NASD/Nasdaq, Oracle, Prudential Financial, Shell Oil, StorageTek, Tetra Pak, Visa, Westinghouse, WMX Technologies.