Dear Friends,
I am writing to share some exciting news about the future of The Furman Group. We have agreed to an acquisition by and a merger with BlueWater Strategies. I believe this will enhance our capabilities to serve both current and future clients. With this merger, I will step away from my day to day management responsibilities and serve as Of Counsel at BlueWater Strategies.
Needless to say, this was a big decision. Twenty-six years ago, Sally and I established The Furman Group with the singular goal of providing the highest quality, personalized Federal government relations services exclusively focused on water policy and water related infrastructure. For over a quarter century, we have met our goal and, in the process, have been honored to represent outstanding clients who have contributed much to the development of our Nation’s water related infrastructure. Because of those clients, we have had the privilege to be at the center of California and national water policy debates. It is impossible to express in words how exciting that has been for me or the gratitude that I feel to our clients. Their professionalism and support have made our success possible.
Nor would our achievements thus far have been possible without the people, present and past, who have been part of The Furman Group team. In addition to my wife and partner, Sally, who has kept the ship afloat from the beginning, I have been blessed to work with wonderful and talented colleagues including Tom James, Carole Larkin, Link Browder, Amanda McPherson, Jim Ziglar and, of course, Brian Funk and Mallika Vastare.
Over the years, we have had numerous inquiries about mergers and acquisitions. Until now, either the timing or the fit didn’t seem to be right. However, starting in 2015, The Furman Group began working with McKie Campbell and his BlueWater Strategies team on selected water issues. We found that we worked very well together and that our firms had great synergy. Most importantly we found that our shared focus, knowledge, and contacts produced great results for our clients. McKie has had a distinguished career in government and the private sector. He was the Staff Director of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee under its current Chair, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). He also served as the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. For more background on McKie and his colleagues at BlueWater Strategies, I invite you to visit their website at BWStrategies.com.
BlueWater and The Furman Group have collectively provided advocacy and Federal government relations services in the focused areas of water, energy/power and regulatory matters for over forty years combined. The merger of our firms allows us, under one roof, to bring to bear our team’s three areas of specialties to benefit our clients. We believe that our disciplined focus on energy, water and regulatory issues has been the key to our success as individual firms and now this combined team. Our now-enhanced team of BlueWater and The Furman Group look forward to achieving even greater results alongside our valued clients in the years ahead.
Sincerely,