By Greg Hazley
Five-year-old Washington-based PR and public affairs shop Gibraltar Associates has merged with D.C. research, lobbying and advisory firm McBee Strategic Consulting, leaving Gibraltar as the strategic communications business unit of McBee.
That unit, known as McBee|Gibraltar, is headed by Gibraltar co-founder and CEO, Eric Bovim, who takes a managing director title. Tom Pernice, another Gibraltar co-founder, takes a senior advisor role and remains in Los Angeles.
Bovim, a former Senate aide and journalist, said the move "is a way to stay ahead of the consulting trend lines and capture a bigger share of the market.”
Gibraltar clients have included Teva Pharmaceuticals, GeoEye, Xe Services (formerly Blackwater) and Dole Food Company, among others.
Steve McBee, president and CEO of 10-year-old McBee and a former aide to ex-Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), added that government risk is at an all-time high for business leaders, noting the "failure to anticipate, shape, and adapt to Washington trend-lines can cost billions of dollars."
Gibraltar, which had revenue of nearly $5M in 2011 with about 20 staffers, has relocated its team to McBee’s D.C. headquarters at 455 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.
McBee has worked with FedEx, Boeing, Solyndra, Citigroup and ViaSat, among others. |