WASHINGTON — Sard Verbinnen & Co. has launched a public affairs practice to provide support to clients dealing with situations that affect reputation and value, such as M&A, crises, government oversight and policy.

The new practice, called SVC Public Affairs, will be led by two managing directors and vice-chairs: ambassador Miriam Sapiro, a former deputy US trade representative, and Bruce Haynes, co-founder of the communications firm Purple Strategies. They will both head the company’s new Washington office.

Sapiro joined SVC earlier this year and has helped plan the formation of SVC Public Affairs. She has more than 25 years' experience in government and the private sector, including with the Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Obama administrations at the State Department, National Security Council and White House. As an ambassador, she served as deputy US trade representative and as the acting US trade representative.

Haynes has more than two decades of strategic communications experience in the public and private sector. His work has included efforts to reposition companies and trade associations and provide reputation management and crisis communications for telecommunications, energy, financial services and healthcare brands.