whether participating in glittery dinners with heads of state, or t<u+00ea>te-<u+00e0>-t<u+00ea>tes in the oval office, andrew liveris, the chief executive of dow chemical, has regularly visited the white house. he served as co-chairman of president obama<u+2019>s advanced manufacturing partnership. he stood beside the president onstage at events. many of these washington appearances by mr. liveris <u+2014> which have totaled more than two dozen since 2009 <u+2014> were arranged with the help of teneo, an advisory firm with close ties to the democratic establishment. dow is teneo<u+2019>s biggest and most lucrative account, paying millions of dollars a year in fees, according to a 2014 lawsuit filed against dow and interviews with two teneo employees. teneo bills itself as the chief executive<u+2019>s best friend. its pitch is that, with teneo<u+2019>s help, c.e.o.s can become not just business leaders but <u+201c>thought leaders and global ambassadors,<u+201d> according to its website. to achieve that, teneo hires influential political and corporate figures to advise clients. last month it added its latest superstar, william j. bratton, the former top police official in new york, los angeles and boston, who will head a new security unit. other prominent employees have included former president bill clinton and huma abedin, who, starting in 2012, briefly worked at teneo while employed at the state department under secretary hillary clinton . at the same time, ms. abedin held a paid position at the clinton foundation, the family-founded charitable organization. last year, teneo declined to answer questions from the senate judiciary committee regarding ms. abedin<u+2019>s employment. mrs. clinton is now, of course, the democratic candidate for president. and in an election year defined by voters<u+2019> anti-insider sentiment, teneo <u+2014> a firm whose business plan is premised on putting its clients, not the firm itself, in the limelight <u+2014> has found itself in the public eye for its relationship with the clintons. interviews with more than a dozen current and former teneo employees <u+2014> most of whom asked not to be identified because of confidentiality agreements or concerns about endangering their relationships with teneo <u+2014> shed light on the inner workings of power and politics in the nation<u+2019>s capital and beyond. one of teneo<u+2019>s three founders, declan kelly, was a fund-raiser for mrs. clinton and also served as an envoy to northern ireland during her tenure as secretary of state. a second founder, douglas j. band, was a close adviser to mr. clinton during and after his presidency. more recently, in mid-october, emails released by wikileaks involving mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign chairman, john d. podesta, included several written in late 2011 by chelsea clinton to mr. podesta, in which she accuses teneo employees of <u+201c>hustling<u+201d> for business at the annual clinton global initiative, the annual symposium that brings together politicians, business chiefs and heads of nonprofit organizations to discuss and debate global issues. chelsea clinton also accused teneo employees of using her father<u+2019>s name to set up meetings with london lawmakers for teneo clients. at that time, chelsea clinton and mr. podesta were involved in an effort to formalize the relationships between mr. clinton<u+2019>s personal office, the clinton foundation and other initiatives to, among other things, avoid any perceptions of conflict of interest. in the email chain, mr. band responds to mr. podesta denying any connection between teneo and the clintons. in one note, he writes that chelsea clinton is <u+201c>acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do but create issues.<u+201d> teneo, through a spokesman, called chelsea clinton<u+2019>s accusations in the emails <u+201c>completely false.<u+201d> a spokeswoman for chelsea clinton did not respond to an email seeking comment. a spokesman for hillary clinton<u+2019>s campaign, which mr. podesta is running, said it would not authenticate any of the hacked podesta emails. hacked emails reflect only one challenge facing the fast-growing firm. within teneo, some have expressed concern that if mrs. clinton is elected in november, the firm may find it harder to arrange white house meetings for its clients, perhaps because of sensitivities about perceived conflicts of interest. in an effort to become more of a one-stop shop well beyond washington power circles, teneo has been rapidly expanding to include investment banking services, executive recruiting and now risk assessment and response (tapping mr. bratton<u+2019>s expertise). <u+201c>i<u+2019>m part of that growth plan,<u+201d> mr. bratton said in an interview. in fact, the growth has been so fast that last year employees made a tongue-in-cheek video in which they tried, and sometimes failed, to name all 12 of teneo<u+2019>s divisions. but the firm<u+2019>s rapid growth and election-year tumult have fed speculation over how soon its private equity investors may want to cash out. in mid-september, an article in the wall street journal suggested that a public offering of stock was on the horizon, an idea the private equity owners vigorously disputed. <u+201c>we and the company are under no pressure to do anything with regard to the company<u+2019>s future, and any suggestion to the contrary is completely false and baseless,<u+201d> bc partners, the private equity owners, said in a statement. in an emailed response to questions, teneo said it did not sell access to its corporate clients and that <u+201c>any suggestion otherwise is false and misleading.<u+201d> the statement said, <u+201c>the firm is fortunate to represent many of the largest and best known companies in the world,<u+201d> and emphasized that <u+201c>teneo operates at all times to the highest ethical and professional standards.<u+201d> rebecca bentley, a spokeswoman for teneo<u+2019>s major client, dow, said that the firm<u+2019>s fees had never totaled more than $1 million a month and that teneo provided a range of advisory services around the world, including investor relations and digital and crisis communications. as for mr. liveris<u+2019>s visits to the white house, she said that not all of them had been arranged by teneo. a white house official said in a statement <u+201c>the office of public engagement routinely meets with hundreds of private sector stakeholders<u+201d> on a monthly basis. but former employees said what made teneo special was that it offered a constellation of influencers, such as mr. bratton and others, to counsel its clients, make connections with their contact lists or simply help amplify a c.e.o.<u+2019>s stature by attending a dinner or event. ed rollins, a veteran republican strategist who ran ronald reagan<u+2019>s 1984 re-election campaign and who was a consultant with teneo until this year, said, <u+201c>the ability to bring business and political leaders together to meet the c.e.o.s was all part of the selling point.<u+201d> insiders and email the office of mr. band, a teneo co-founder and longtime aide to mr. clinton, offers a reminder of the firm<u+2019>s roots. one photograph pictures mr. band, mr. clinton and president obama playing golf. another shows mr. band and mr. clinton in 2009 after they negotiated the release of journalists from north korea. teneo was formed in june 2011, when mr. kelly, the former fund-raiser for mrs. clinton, joined with mr. band and paul keary, who worked with mr. kelly at another communications firm. mr. keary and mr. kelly are members of a rock band at teneo, insane asylum, which performs rolling stones covers, former employees say. early on, mr. clinton was named to teneo<u+2019>s advisory board. a search of linkedin profiles shows that a number of former aides to the clintons or employees of the clinton foundation have worked there or acted as consultants, including justin cooper, an assistant to president clinton who helped set up the family<u+2019>s private email server. one employee who has faced particular scrutiny is ms. abedin, who worked as a consultant at teneo in late 2012 while simultaneously working as mrs. clinton<u+2019>s aide in the state department. late last year, a letter sent to teneo by senator charles e. grassley, republican of iowa, chairman of the senate judiciary committee, asked for details of ms. abedin<u+2019>s agreement and whether the arrangement had resulted in undue influence on mrs. clinton<u+2019>s diplomatic work. teneo declined to provide the information and said it had provided the necessary details, including ms. abedin<u+2019>s contract, to the state department office of the inspector general, which was conducting its own inquiry into ms. abedin<u+2019>s work status. <u+201c>out of respect for the independence and integrity of that review, i respectfully refer your office to them for any other questions you might have,<u+201d> mr. kelly wrote last october. the state department office of the inspector general declined to comment on the inquiry. about the same time, teneo changed its retention policy. in a june 2015 email to staff members that was reviewed by the new york times, teneo said that nearly all emails older than one year would be <u+201c>automatically removed<u+201d> from its system. the firm cited cybersecurity concerns. when asked about the new email retention policy, teneo said in a statement that it was <u+201c>well aware of its obligations under the law in terms of retention and preservation of electronic communications and any insinuation that it has not met these obligations is totally false.<u+201d> beyond the clintons while several former employees said teneo<u+2019>s connections to the clinton family had given the firm its jump start, others noted that there were prominent employees who had nothing to do with the clintons. besides mr. rollins, teneo also has within its ranks a former democratic senator from maine, george j. mitchell, and harvey pitt, a former chairman of the securities and exchange commission appointed by president george w. bush. mr. mitchell, a partner at the law firm dla piper, spoke about his work in an interview. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s not a major part of my time,<u+201d> he said, adding that he had spoken at teneo<u+2019>s annual event and at functions in london and toronto. he said he had also reviewed the practices of two multinational corporations, advising their chief executives and boards on how <u+201c>to improve their risk assessment procedures and legal compliance.<u+201d> beyond the ties to the clintons, longstanding relationships with crucial clients <u+2014> dow chemical and coca-cola (a vintage coke machine stands in teneo<u+2019>s lobby) <u+2014> also provided a big push. teneo<u+2019>s growth over the last five years has been remarkable, and it now has 550 employees in 14 offices around the world. teneo has acted as counsel to many of the world<u+2019>s superstar chief executives, including virginia m. rometty of ibm, ursula burns of xerox, sergio ermotti and robert mccann of ubs, and klaus kleinfeld of alcoa. its fees can be high compared with those of its peers, ranging from $150,000 to more than $1 million a month. teneo helped dow chemical defend itself against various barrages from the activist investor daniel s. loeb and respond to negative reports over a lawsuit filed by an internal fraud investigator who claimed she was fired after alleging fraudulent expenses by mr. liveris. the suit was settled, and a dow spokeswoman denied any wrongdoing. teneo also helped shape mcdonald<u+2019>s campaign against raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and it assisted boston in the city<u+2019>s unsuccessful bid to host the 2024 summer olympics. teneo frames its offerings to c.e.o.s like this, according to several former employees: you can<u+2019>t trust your board of directors, who could fire you. you can<u+2019>t trust your lieutenants, who want your job. which is why you need teneo. some pitches also included what three former teneo employees called the fear factor approach. a team of teneo internal data analysts would provide a prospective client with a list of companies at risk of attack from activist investors, highlighting the risks to that person<u+2019>s company. once an executive is signed as a client <u+2014> and depending on his or her needs <u+2014> teneo will occasionally organize what it describes as a salon event for the client<u+2019>s benefit. typically casual get-togethers, these dinners have been held in a private room at the <u+201c>21<u+201d> club or the restaurant marea in new york, or at private residences. for instance, heather bresch, the chief executive of the pharmaceutical company mylan, was given two salons by teneo in 2011 <u+2014> one in a new york city apartment and a second at a private home in washington that attracted a mix of media, finance and political elite. then, in 2012, a teneo employee and ms. bresch met with president obama<u+2019>s senior adviser valerie jarrett at the white house, according to white house records. this year ms. bresch was thrust into the spotlight after mylan increased the price of its epipen, a lifesaving allergy treatment, sixfold. a mylan spokeswoman, nina devlin, confirmed that the company had been a client of teneo, saying the relationship ended in 2012. she declined to address specific questions about the dinners. in washington, teneo salons <u+2014> often home-cooked dinners that occasionally include homemade ice cream <u+2014> are sometimes held in the home of margaret carlson, a columnist for bloomberg view. guests have included united states senators kirsten gillibrand, democrat of new york, and joe manchin, democrat of west virginia, according to several former teneo employees. social interactions have long been a lubricant of both politics and business. however, some former teneo employees said they felt it was not made clear to participants that the salons were being held on behalf of teneo or its corporate clients. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t think they made it to be a sponsorship of teneo,<u+201d> said mr. rollins, the former teneo senior adviser. <u+201c>margaret would do the invite.<u+201d> in a statement, teneo said mr. rollins had been terminated for <u+201c>egregiously breaching<u+201d> his employment contract, adding that his comments on salon dinners or anything else relating to teneo were <u+201c>categorically false, uninformed and made with malicious personal intent.<u+201d> mr. rollins denied that he had been fired. he said mr. kelly was upset when he learned that mr. rollins had taken a job at a different communications firm this year. (mr. rollins is also the chairman of a super pac for the republican presidential nominee, donald j. trump.) <u+201c>he came in, got furious,<u+201d> mr. rollins said. <u+201c>from his perspective, i was his token republican. he saw it as a defection,<u+201d> mr. rollins said, adding, <u+201c>it was not a comfortable place to be for a republican.<u+201d> still, spokesmen for senator gillibrand and senator manchin said the lawmakers had been unaware that any dinners they attended at the home of ms. carlson were connected to teneo. jonathan kott, the spokesman for mr. manchin, said, <u+201c>he doesn<u+2019>t know what teneo is.<u+201d> in a statement, teneo said the salon dinners were an <u+201c>extremely small part<u+201d> of its operations and that they were <u+201c>information thought leadership events<u+201d> that were typically attended by heads of leading think tanks and nonprofit organizations, public officials and members of the media, including journalists from the new york times. an individual inside the firm also said that all appropriate disclosures to participants were made. strict laws govern the activities of registered lobbyists in the american political system. teneo has no registered lobbyists in its ranks and, in its statement, denied that any lobbying occurred at the salons. ms. carlson declined to comment for this article or to respond to questions about whether she was paid by teneo or reimbursed for the costs associated with the salons. teneo declined to comment on whether there was payment or remuneration for the parties. still, individuals inside teneo said the salons were valuable to the participants. often they involve eight to 12 people, said gen. raymond t. odierno, who became a senior adviser to teneo in december after retiring as the army<u+2019>s chief of staff last year. <u+201c>they<u+2019>re always very casual, close, interesting conversations that you<u+2019>re able to have,<u+201d> he said. a version of this article appears in print on october 23, 2016, on page bu1 of the new york edition with the headline: teneo<u+2019>s constellation of influencers. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
a constellation of influencers: behind the curtain at teneo
julie creswell j. david goodman