David Fenton has sold Fenton Communications, a leading progressive PR firm, after a 33-year run.
James Marcus, ex-investment banker and head of Fenton Studios, and Craig Leach, founder of Collegium, and CEO of Graham-Pelton Consulting CEO, are new owners.
Bill Werde, editorial director and eight-year veteran of Billboard, takes the CEO slot.
He expanded the music trade magazine Billboard into the digital/social/TV/video/events platforms and wrote for the New York Times, Rolling Stone and Wired.
Fenton, 62, will continue at the firm as founder and chairman.
He views Marcus, Leach and Werde as "the next guardians of our public-interest mission and values."
Fenton will focus his energy on climate change, which he considers the No. 1 communications challenge.
The firm has more than 60 staffers in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
It is joining the Collegium network of communications firms offering services to foundations, non-profits and corporate social responsibility/sustainability programs.
4media group completes its acquisition of Family Features Editorial Syndicate... Illumination PR, which represents lifestyle brands, influencers and celebrities, launches DR Media Group... EAG Advertising and Marketing acquires pay-for-performance firm INK inc. Public Relations. 
LLYC launches Signs of Pride, a campaign that revives the original protest banners of the first Pride marches... The Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry forms the Public Relations and Digital Marketing Working Group... Circle of One Marketing, a Miami-based, minority-owned marketing agency, is named official agency of record for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami. 
Vogel Group, a DC-headquartered government affairs and consulting firm, forms a strategic partnership with Montreal-based public affairs firm Boléro Stratégies... Matter Communications launches project-based offerings for B2C companies looking to increase brand awareness and visibility... Tucker/Hall, a Tampa-based PR and public affairs firm, opens a new office in Orlando. 
Why investing in public relations is ultimately about building bridges in a connected world.
Edelman is laying off 330 people (5.3 percent of its workforce) to cope with an anticipated eight percent shortfall in 2024 US revenues, and client demand for one-stop shopping for speciality services.
