Created in 2012, Candor is an award winning PR agency that excels in helping clients elevate their brand, tell their story, and navigate through crisis situations. Founded on the premise of the power of driving authenticity through communication, Candor serves as a client’s marketing department, coming alongside internal partners to provide additional support and expertise in public relations, social media, digital advertising, communications, public affairs and video content.

Founders Seeking Exit To Continue Expansion & Growth 

As a strong female founder, Karen Wicker cares deeply about the Candor family and representing women in leadership. After working at other agencies in a C-suite capacity, Karen decided to pursue building her own agency. As a result, she built Candor from the ground up. After ten years of growing the agency, Karen felt that Candor was in an incredibly strong position to catapult growth and increase the overall size of the agency. In order to further expand, the Candor team required additional support as they were at full capacity. When Karen decided to work with Barney to pursue an acquisition partner, the most important criteria was finding a buyer who embraced and harmonized with the Candor culture, while having the vision and resources to scale the agency.

Leadership With Over 25 Years of Combined Experience

With a cumulative total of over 25 years experience, Candor’s leadership team is comprised of experts in the field, providing industry insight and knowledge to their team and clients. Candor’s culture has yielded an environment of respected employees with a people-first mentality, resulting in an average employee tenure of over 7.5 years.

Seeking A Partner To Fuel Growth & Leverage Geographic Expansion 

Salient Global is an advisory platform company that leverages data and technology to deliver sustained growth. The leadership team at Salient Global is composed of many thought-leaders in the marketing & digital agency space, using their robust knowledge and connections to outfit the company for success. Salient Global was seeking an agency that was inclusive of industry leaders to bolster their portfolio and increase the marketing, digital, and PR expertise of their team. Candor had the capabilities and brand recognition in the market, coupled with an impressive and tenured leadership team, making it a seamless fit within Salient Global’s ecosystem. 

“Candor came to Barney seeking an acquisition that would allow the agency to grow and prosper, while preserving the outstanding reputation and culture that they built. In partnering with Salient Global, the legacy and culture that Candor has instilled within the organization will continue to flourish post-acquisition. Salient Global provides an impressive leadership team that can provide data & insights to further strengthen Candor’s capabilities. Working with the Candor team has been a dream. Karen and Jim are ideal clients – they were open and trusting of the entire process, and as a result, they found their perfect partner!” 


Molly McCartan, Director at Barney