PR Consultants Group Expands Nationwide Public Relations Expertise from Pacific Northwest to the Northeast

PR Consultants Group Expands Across the Country

Independent network of award-winning PR firms extends crisis communication, media relations, and AI search influence expertise

LAS VEGAS, NV, UNITED STATES, October 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- PR Consultants Group, the exclusive nationwide network of senior-level public relations, strategic communications and marketing specialists in more than 50 U.S. markets, today announced that 13 independently owned public relations firms across 13 markets and 12 states have joined the network so far in 2026. The growth follows the network's 25th anniversary in 2025.

Today's decision-makers need a partner whose menu covers the full range of modern communication, from strategic counsel and crisis communication to public affairs and AI search influence, and whose reach extends wherever the business needs it next. A PR Consultants Group member firm gives clients a senior-level partner at home and, through that firm, a direct line to a peer practitioner in nearly every major U.S. market.

This year's additions extend that reach from Portland, Oregon, and Silicon Valley to Boise, Oklahoma City, Dallas–Fort Worth, Memphis, the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic and New York's Hudson Valley. Each firm is led by an award-winning principal and holds exclusive representation of its market within the network.

“Choosing a public relations partner is one of the most consequential decisions an organization makes, and it is harder than it used to be,” said Elizabeth Edwards, president of PR Consultants Group and founder of Volume PR and Engagement Science Lab. “There are more firms to sort through, more disciplines that belong on the menu, and a new layer of AI systems deciding how a company is described before anyone ever picks up the phone. What most organizations underestimate is how much of their future communication needs will happen somewhere else. No business knows where its next opportunity or its next crisis will surface, or what kind of expertise it will demand. That is why the smartest choice is a firm that is connected to a national network of senior practitioners. You get the counsel, creativity and accountability of an independent agency in your own market, and behind it, a peer with the same standards on the ground in nearly every market in the country, with all the specialized expertise that comes with them. The firms that have joined us this year make that promise true in more places, across more disciplines, than at any point in our 25+ years.”

Newest Member Firms by Region
Pacific Northwest and Northern California
AMICO pr + Strategic Engagement | Portland, Oregon | Kelliann Amico, APR, Fellow PRSA, President
Founded by Kelliann Amico in 1997, AMICO pr + Strategic Engagement amplifies the stories of organizations shaping their communities, with particular strength in public infrastructure and civic engagement. Amico served as a press lead in the Clinton White House, is the 2026 President of PRSA Oregon and co-chairs the network's Education Committee.
Areas of expertise: Media relations, strategic engagement, social media, content strategy, public infrastructure and built-environment communication
Learn more: https://www.amicopr.com

Tanis Communications | San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, California | Michele Landry, CEO and Owner
Tanis Communications brings two decades of Silicon Valley technology PR experience in semiconductors, AI infrastructure and enterprise technology. The firm led media relations for Ambiq's IPO, work recognized with a MarCom Award and a Gold Stevie and covered by CNBC and Bloomberg, and was named a top U.S. agency by PRovoke Media.
Areas of expertise: Technology and deep-tech public relations, media relations, IPO and financial communication, thought leadership, generative engine optimization
Learn more: https://www.taniscomm.com

Mountain West
Full Swing Public Relations | Boise, Idaho | Caitlin Copple, Founding Partner
Full Swing PR helps overlooked founders and professional services companies earn their place in the spotlight and convert visibility into revenue. Founding Partner Caitlin Copple, a former journalist and political consultant, has placed clients in CNN, TIME, Fast Company and Forbes and helped them pass legislation and publish bestselling books. Full Swing was named among Inc.'s fastest-growing Rocky Mountain companies in 2024 and 2025.
Areas of expertise: Crisis communication, media relations, strategy and planning, public affairs and government relations
Learn more: https://fullswingpr.com

Midwest
Wixted & Company | Des Moines, Iowa | Eileen Wixted, Founder
Founded more than 30 years ago as a media training practice, Wixted & Company is now a full-service advisory firm specializing in communication strategy, crisis communication and executive training. It has been named to PRNews' Agency Elite Top 120 for five consecutive years, and Wixted has coached executives for TODAY, Good Morning America and The Wall Street Journal.
Areas of expertise: Crisis communication, communication strategy, executive and media training, high-stakes media relations
Learn more: https://www.thinkwixted.com

COM 616 Public Relations | Grand Rapids, Michigan | Adam Russo, Owner
COM 616 connects people and brands through a mix of earned, owned and paid media. Owner Adam Russo's experience spans global brands including Haworth and Amway and regional organizations including Varnum and Comcast. He is a three-time Grand Rapids Business Journal “40 Under 40” honoree and a former adjunct public relations professor at Grand Valley State University.
Areas of expertise: Media relations, social media, strategy and planning
Learn more: https://com616.com

Irvin PR | Cleveland, Ohio | Dan Farkas, MBA, Owner
Irvin PR brings senior-level counsel in earned media, social media strategy and video production to Cleveland. Dan Farkas has more than two decades of media experience in front of and behind the camera, more than two dozen awards, and work featured on CNN and MSNBC. He co-chairs the network's Education Committee.
Areas of expertise: Media relations, public relations, social media strategy, video production
Learn more: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfarkasinteractive

South and Southwest
Koch Comm | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | Kym Koch Thompson, Founder
Koch Comm is the network's only affiliate firm in Oklahoma. Founder Kym Koch Thompson established the firm in 2005 after serving as Press Secretary to Gov. Brad Henry. The team has managed crisis communication for state government and Fortune 100 companies and recently generated more than 200 news stories for the launch of OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark.
Areas of expertise: Crisis communication, public affairs, media relations, content marketing, digital and social media strategy
Learn more: https://www.kochcomm.com

Sunwest Communications | Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas | Crayton Webb, Owner and CEO
Founded in Dallas in 1982, Sunwest Communications is a public relations and public affairs firm. Owner and CEO Crayton Webb previously led global corporate communications for Mary Kay Inc. and served as chief of staff to Dallas Mayor Laura Miller. Sunwest also includes Spaeth Training and LuncefordWEBB Government Affairs.
Areas of expertise: Public affairs and government relations, crisis communication, corporate communication, media relations, spokesperson training, corporate social responsibility
Learn more: https://sunwestpr.com

Cherry and Company Public Relations | Memphis, Tennessee | Kim Cherry, APR, Founder and CEO
Cherry and Company builds, enhances and repairs organizational reputations through employee communication, media relations, community investment and crisis communication. Founder and CEO Kim Cherry, a lifelong Memphian, previously served as executive vice president of corporate communications at First Horizon, overseeing communication, crisis and issues management and the company's foundation.
Areas of expertise: Reputation management, crisis communication, employee communication, media relations, corporate social responsibility and community engagement
Learn more: https://www.cherrypr.co

Mid-Atlantic
Rhudy & Co. Strategic Communications | Richmond, Virginia | Jonathan Rhudy, APR
Founded in 2003, Rhudy & Co. helps organizations navigate complex challenges, engage key audiences and elevate their reputation. Its team of consultants, writers and designers serves Fortune 500 companies, mid-sized businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofits with corporate communications, employee engagement and creative storytelling.
Areas of expertise: Crisis communication, media relations, corporate and employee communication, event management, strategy and planning
Learn more: https://www.rhudy.biz

Markowitz Communications | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Saul Markowitz, President
Markowitz Communications is a Pittsburgh public relations and marketing agency focused on proactive, integrated storytelling. President Saul Markowitz brings more than three decades of media strategy experience, including handling global media relations after the Tree of Life shooting, and served as the inaugural director of marketing and public relations for the Pittsburgh Zoo.
Areas of expertise: Crisis communication, media relations, social media, event management, strategy and planning
Learn more: https://markowitzcommunications.com

PRworks Inc. | Harrisburg–Lancaster–Lebanon–York, Pennsylvania | Jason Kirsch, APR
Grounded in strategy and integrity, PRworks is a branding, marketing and public relations firm with more than 20 years of experience serving Central Pennsylvania and beyond.
Areas of expertise: Media relations, social media, digital marketing, branding, strategy and planning
Learn more: https://www.prworksinc.com

Northeast
Impact PR & Communications, Ltd. | Hudson Valley and Albany, New York | Filomena Fanelli, CEO and Founder
Founded in 2014, Impact PR & Communications is an award-winning strategic public relations and marketing firm with a national client roster and a tri-state presence in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Impact PR was named the “Nation's #1 PR Agency” by CommPRO in August 2025 and the SBA's “Women-Owned Small Business of the Year” in 2024.
Areas of expertise: Media relations, thought leadership, reputation management, crisis communication, community engagement, financial services and real estate PR
Learn more: https://www.prwithimpact.com

“Most companies choose a PR firm for the problem in front of them today, and then the business does what businesses do,” said Denver Peacock, founder and principal of The Peacock Group in Little Rock, Arkansas, and co-chair of the network's Membership Committee. “A company may expand into a new state or an acquisition in another market. It gets a call from a reporter in a city where nobody on the team has a single relationship. When we evaluate a firm for membership, the question we ask is whether that principal is someone every other member would trust with their own client in that moment. That is a high bar, and it is the reason a client of any PR Consultants Group firm can count on the same caliber of counsel in Memphis or Boise or Pittsburgh as they get at home. The 13 firms that have joined this year cleared it.”

The Forms of Expertise Clients Can Now Access
Beyond geographic reach, the 2026 additions deepen the network's bench in crisis communication, media relations, thought leadership, brand building and public affairs, and in the discipline now reshaping the profession:

AI search influence. The new job of public relations is to make an organization part of the answer: the company AI assistants cite, the expert voice they draw on and the name they recommend. Every member firm pairs the relationship-building skills that have always driven the profession with the discipline of ensuring those signals reach AI systems.

“When you hire an independent firm in this network, you are not buying a smaller version of a national agency,” said Steve Bumgarner, owner of Capture Public Relations & Marketing and co-chair of the network's Membership Committee. “You get the principal's own judgment and creativity on your account, and behind that person, a bench of peers in more than 50 markets who work the same way. There is no handoff to a regional office and no junior team learning your business at your expense. That combination of direct senior counsel and national reach is exactly what organizations say they want when they go looking for a communications partner, and it is what the firms that have joined us this year deliver in their markets.”

Expanded Capability Without Expanded Complexity: How the Network Works for Clients
The PR Consultants Group network lets organizations hire one trusted agency and, through that firm, access a nationwide bench of senior-level specialists—without the cost, ramp-up time or fragmentation of hiring multiple agencies. When needs expand—a crisis in another city, a political dimension, a product launch across a dozen markets—senior specialists step in without re-onboarding, new contracts or lost strategic continuity.
The network also functions as a standing faculty: principals train one another, so each independent firm keeps pace with the most advanced practice in the profession, from AI search influence to crisis protocol.

Why AI Changes What Organizations Need from Strategic Counsel
More than 40 percent of search queries in 2026 now flow through AI-powered answer engines such as ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini and Perplexity, reshaping how organizations are discovered and how reputations are formed before a prospect ever makes contact.

Research published in late 2025 found that 96 percent of the content cited by AI assistants originates from PR-generated material—press releases, thought leadership, editorial coverage, and expert commentary. Press release citations in AI-generated answers increased fivefold between July and December 2025. AI-referred traffic converts at three to four times the rate of traditional organic search, and Gartner has projected that traditional search engine traffic will decline 25 percent by the end of 2026.

The quality of an organization's earned media and content now directly determines whether AI systems recognize, recommend and accurately describe it—making a network of senior practitioners producing credible earned media in more than 50 markets a structural advantage.

Frequently Asked Questions
How should a company choose a public relations firm?

Look for three things. First, senior-level counsel: the person who wins the business should be the person doing the work. Second, a complete service menu, so the firm can handle everything from strategy and crisis communication to AI search influence without handing the client off to another vendor. Third, reach beyond the home market, because every business will eventually face an opportunity or a crisis somewhere it has no relationships. An independent firm that belongs to a national network of peer-level practitioners delivers all three.

What is the difference between a PR agency network and a national PR agency?

A national or holding-company agency delivers reach through centralized offices and layered staffing, which typically moves a client's day-to-day work to junior teams. A PR agency network such as PR Consultants Group delivers reach through independently owned firms, each led by a senior principal who is accountable for the client relationship and can call on peers in other markets when needed.

What is AI search influence in public relations?

AI search influence is the discipline of shaping how AI-powered platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini and Perplexity find, interpret, describe and recommend an organization. It combines generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO) with the earned media, thought leadership and authoritative content AI systems draw on when composing responses. Because the large majority of what AI assistants cite originates from public relations material, the quality of an organization's PR now directly determines how it appears in AI-generated answers.

About PR Consultants Group
PR Consultants Group is an exclusive nationwide network of independently owned, senior-level public relations, strategic communication and marketing firms in more than 50 U.S. markets. Founded in 2000, the network lets organizations hire one trusted agency as their primary strategic partner and, through that firm, access a national bench of senior specialists — from crisis communication and public affairs to media relations, digital PR and AI PR. The result is the national reach of a large agency with the senior-level accountability, responsiveness and cost discipline that only independent firms deliver. Expertise. Everywhere. Learn more at https://www.prconsultantsgroup.com.

Elizabeth Edwards
PR Consultants Group
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