WASHINGTON, DC—Huntsworth, the parent company of international communications network Grayling, has formed a new integrated communications and consulting offering under the Dutko Grayling brand.

The new offer builds on Grayling's expansion into the government affairs-public affairs-public-relations sector in the United States. Dutko Worldwide, a public policy management firm specializing in federal and state lobbying and government marketing and acquired by Huntsworth in December 2009, will be more tightly integrated into the broader Grayling operation.

"The vision is to continue building an integrated public relations, public affairs and advocacy offering, linking the global Grayling communications network with the government affairs prominence of Dutko Grayling at the federal and state levels," says Lord Chadlington, Huntsworth chief executive. He adds that the majority of Grayling's Washington-based clients are either shared with the firm's global network or are conducted with Dutko Grayling's federal and state and local government relations divisions.

The new Grayling public affairs and public relations initiative is being spearheaded by Mark Irion; the Dutko Grayling state & local and government marketing has been put under David Beightol's leadership; the education policy and risk management consulting is now led by Craig Pattee; and the federal lobbying group is co-managed by Dutko veterans Andy Wright and Kim Koontz Bayliss.

Grayling’s other operations in the US include the former Global Consulting Group, with its focus on corporate and financial communications, and the more recently acquired technology specialist Atomic Public Relations.