Two former advisers to President Obama, Robert Gibbs and Ben LaBolt, are forming a strategic communications firm aimed at leveraging their political experience in Washington for corporate and nonprofit clients.
The pair, the latest in an exodus of Obama aides who have traded White House connections for lucrative new careers, announced on Thursday the formation of the Incite Agency, which they say will help clients with brand development, media relations, crisis communications and engagement with social and digital media.
Mr. Gibbs, a longtime confidant of Mr. Obama, was White House press secretary for the first three years of the president’s term. Since leaving the White House, he has advised Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign, become a political contributor for MSNBC and given speeches, including one for five figures last month at a conference in Azerbaijan.
Mr. LaBolt was an assistant White House press secretary and a national press secretary for Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign. He was also communications director for Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff, during his successful bid to be mayor of Chicago.
Incite will be part of New Partners, a consulting firm created four years ago mostly by veterans of Mr. Obama’s first campaign. Mr. Gibbs will also be a partner at New Partners.
Adam Fetcher, a former deputy national press secretary on the president’s re-election campaign, will join Mr. Gibbs and Mr. LaBolt as a managing director at Incite.
