The Source: Dan’s fab four reunite to form new corporate advisory firm FMRS Advisory

Four key figures from the Andrews government, including the former Premier’s chief of staff, have got the band back together to launch a new venture.

Members of Daniel Andrews’ all-powerful Premier’s Private Office are banding together. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Putting the squeeze on Victoria’s movers, shakers and headline makers

Dan Andrews’s political band is reforming, albeit without their former frontman.

The most senior members of Dan’s all-powerful Premier’s Private Office have teamed up to establish a new corporate advisory firm that will shake-up the parliamentary precinct on Spring Street.

Foster, McCrone, Ratcliff & Sims – or FMRS Advisory as it will be known – draws on a combined 50 years of experience advising state and federal politicians and business leaders.

On the lead guitar is Lissie Ratcliff, who was Andrews’s most trusted adviser as his chief of staff for the last seven years of his nine-year reign.

Vocals will be shared by former deputy chief of staff Jessie McCrone – who helped shape Dan’s social media strategy – and former media director Adam Sims, who currently leads super giant IFM’s global corporation comms team.

Lissie Ratcliff.

Jessie McCrone.

Andrews’s former director of strategy Ben Foster, who also once worked for former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten, will bang the drums.

The Fab Four, who may have gone by less flattering nicknames during their time calling the shots over Cabinet ministers, are at pains to say they will steer clear of lobbying.

Instead, they describe the opportunity for companies to use their team to “navigate strategy and communications with precision and expertise”.

Ben Foster.

Adam Sims.

Membership of FMRS will be limited to those with their name above the door, with the promise to business that they will be dealing directly with the quartet who helped win three state elections and worked on political campaigns across the country.

No doubt other players in this space, which include The Civic Partnership, Hawker Britton, Headline PR and Nominis, will be watching with interest.

Ratcliff has given an indication of where her group intends to play, of course.

“Organisations need to maintain social license from their customers, shareholders, governments and the broader public, and the right advice at the right time can be the difference between success and failure,” she said in a statement.

“Our clients can expect us to give it to them straight — we will work directly with them and provide the strategies and the tools they need to get the results they want.”

A press release to accompany the announcement leans into the direct insight of the managing partners, who held senior roles during the pandemic, natural disasters, cyber attacks, and even “leadership transition”.

The firm will open its doors on April 2.

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