NEW YORK: Fenton has acquired PR & Company, a Bay Area firm specializing in education, nonprofit, and philanthropy work.
PR & Company founder and CEO Pat Reilly will serve as senior strategic consultant at Fenton alongside her role as principal at Change Research, a polling shop she cofounded with Jonathan Goldman and Mike Greenfield this year. PR & Company did not have full-time staffers, but its four consultants will likely continue to work with clients for Fenton on a project basis, said Fenton CEO Ben Wyskida.
The deal took place after Reilly reached out to Wyskida this year looking for an agency to take over PR & Company as she launched Change Research, he said. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
"One of Fenton’s strongest practice areas and areas of expertise is education and [Reilly] also had a set of clients that were very appealing to us," Wyskida said. "What we get is a chance to expand our footprint in education, philanthropy, and edtech."
Fenton has been staffing its office in San Francisco, where PR & Company is based, which made it easier for the firm to take on clients from the acquisition, Wyskida added. PR & Company’s client roster included The Stuart Foundation, EdSource, WikiEducation, Teachers Pay Teachers, Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation, and the Kaufmann Fellows. The firm was founded in 1997.
Wyskida replaced Michael Huttner as Fenton’s CEO in May. Huttner stepped down to become CEO of Powerplant Strategies in Denver.
Fenton has offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC.
