Lighthouse Public Affairs was founded in 2016, the result of a merger between two leading Bay Area strategic consultancies: Barbary Coast Consulting and Goodyear Peterson Hayward. In 2003, Alex Clemens founded Barbary Coast Consulting. In 2009, the San Francisco-based strategic communications shop had become the Bay Area’s largest independent full-service public affairs firm. In 2010, Rich Peterson co-founded his own consultancy, and in collaboration with his partner Boe Hayward, steered Goodyear Peterson Hayward to become San Francisco’s top lobbying firm in 2015. With the hard-earned mutual respect gained from a half-decade of fierce competition, and with a keen understanding of their similar business models of aggressive, ethical advocacy, the principals of the two firms agreed they’d better serve their clients as partners than as competitors. On June 1, 2016, Goodyear Peterson Hayward and Barbary Coast Consulting merged and became Lighthouse Public Affairs. Lighthouse Public Affairs has offices in San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland, Palo Alto, and San Rafael.