Two Annapolis Firms Enter Into ‘Strategic Alliance'

By Josh Kurtz, Maryland Matters

August 16, 2021

Compass Advocacy, an Annapolis-based lobbying firm and Scarlet Oak Strategies, a Washington, D.C., public affairs and political consulting firm with an Annapolis office, will announce Monday that they are entering into a “strategic alliance” — with a veteran Democratic strategist at the center of it.

Brian Doory, who has been a long-time senior advisor for Scarlet Oak, will become the firm’s managing director, tasked with leading Scarlet Oak’s public affairs business across the country and in Maryland.

Until this move, Doory had been a partner with Compass Advocacy, and will continue to provide services for Compass clients as a senior consultant for advocacy and communications. The two firms have worked together through the years and the strategic alliance takes the arrangement a step further.

Scarlet Oak clients will now have access to Compass lobbying services in the Mid-Atlantic, while Compass can expand beyond its Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C., territory and make use of Scarlet Oak’s team of strategists around the country, executives of both firms said.

“This new strategic alliance expands Compass’ reach to all 50 states through the Scarlet Oak network,” said Hannah Powers Garagiola, president of Compass Advocacy, which includes a separate government relations and public relations business.

Doory has worked in politics, advocacy and the corporate world for two decades. In 2018, he was manager for James L. Shea’s campaign for governor, and later worked as a senior advisor to the Maryland State Education Association. He spent eight years at CLS Strategies, a D.C. public affairs and crisis communications firm, where as managing director he oversaw national and multi-state campaigns around legislative and regulatory issues, as well as crisis communications.

“Having a trusted senior strategist like Brian that knows how to build and manage public affairs campaigns locally and nationally has great value to us moving forward,” said Raymond Glendening, founder and CEO of Scarlet Oak Strategies, which provides public affairs, strategic communications and campaign consulting services to clients nationally and in Maryland. “Brian is one of the most seasoned political operatives in Maryland and has a depth of national and Washington D.C. public affairs experience our clients appreciate.”

Both firms are relatively young: Scarlet Oak Strategies is less than five years old and now has offices in D.C., Annapolis, Trenton, N.J., and Seattle. Annapolis-based Compass is less than three years old and recently opened a second office in Rockville.

jkurtz@marylandmatters.org

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