Growing Fort Worth-based firm connects city with national agenda

by Bob Francis March 1, 2022

While they remain fairly low-key and behind the scenes, a Fort Worth government affairs firm with national reach is making a big move of its own.

Corley Pipes Consulting, long an adviser on government affairs to the city, Tarrant County and JPS, among many others, is merging, expanding and rebranding as High Water Strategies. 

That name comes from High Water Strategies and its founder, Colby Hale. While Corley Pipes focused on government relations, High Water had focused on communications, grassroots marketing, public relations and crisis communication. 

Now the two firms have merged, creating a full-service public affairs firm with offices in Fort Worth and Washington, D.C. 

“We’re merging the two into one and calling it High Water Strategies,” said Kasey Pipes, co-founder and partner. “We’ll still do the lobbying in Washington, but we’ll also do crisis communications, PR, media training, digital, the whole gamut. We’ll do it all.”

Most of the work in the Fort Worth office will focus on PR work for corporations, crisis communications, managing brands, reputation management, digital strategies and content strategies. 

“That’s grown exponentially over the last three years. And so we’ve had to add staff, open an office, a new office, a bigger office, and really spend more time on that side of it,” said Pipes. 

Hale said the two firms have worked together many times over the years as Corley and Pipes both offered him advice as he began his company. 

“Traditionally, when we get a client, a lot of times they don’t know what they need until we start working with them, so we’ve often had to call on the skillset from Corley Pipes,” he said. 

“And we’ve had to do the same,” chimed in Pipes. 

Merging the two firms made sense, Hale said. 

High Water will also perform its services from new offices in the Fort Worth Club building, where the company has taken about 2,000 square feet on the fifth floor. 

“With the expansion there are four of us in the Fort Worth office, four in the D.C. office, but we’re headquartered here,” Pipes said. 

Because of the large volume of business the firm does with energy firms, it is likely to add a Houston office as well. 

“The big ticket items for us are — we have a number of energy clients, both national and international,” said Pipes. “Our D.C. office does a ton of tech work. We’ve done Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, HP, all those guys. We do a ton of corporate immigration, H-1B visa work, helping companies get skilled scientists, engineers from overseas. And those are probably the big items. Then we do just a ton of Fort Worth specific projects.”

That Fort Worth connection is key, Pipes said. 

“That’s our interest, too. Right? We live here. We want the best for here,” he said. “I really do think about that a lot. That makes us unique. All of our buddies in this business are D.C.-based. They can’t say that.” 

For Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, the fact that the city can call on a government affairs firm that has a unique understanding of the area is key.

“They get it,” she said. “They understand their city and they know D.C., Austin as well as Fort Worth.” 

Corley Pipes Consulting longtime website branded the company as a “Washington government affairs firm with a Texas accent.” 

Those accents come naturally from a firm that began as a partnership between two local friends and fellow Southwest High School graduates, Scott Corley and Kasey Pipes, in 2010.  Both had extensive experience in politics. 

 Corley  was a key staff member for Rep. James Rogan, R-California, and Sen. George Allen, R-Virginia, and spent several years as director of government affairs for Microsoft Corp.

Pipes started with U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, about 25 years ago. He was her communications director and senior legislative assistant from 1997 to 1999. He then worked for the George W. Bush campaign and joined the administration as a speechwriter and policy analyst. Stretching out beyond Texas, in 2006, he was senior communications adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has also written several highly regarded history books, including a 2007 biography of Dwight Eisenhower, Ike’s Final Battle: The Road to Little Rock and the Challenge of Equality, and  After the Fall: The Remarkable Comeback of Richard Nixon, a book that chronicles Nixon’s life after his resignation. 

While they have experience working for many Republicans, Pipes notes they also work with Democrats, citing Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, as one of their main contacts. 

“Fort Worth has a very strong congressional delegation,” said Pipes. “No matter what happens in November, Granger, Veasey and Williams (Rep. Roger Williams, R-Austin) will wield a lot of power.” 

Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

Consultant Kasey Pipes' Office Could Double as a History Classroom

A walk through the downtown Fort Worth office of the co-founder of Corley Pipes is a veritable stroll through history and some priceless mementos.

Kasey Pipes serves as a public affairs specialist who focuses on media relations, crisis communication, and issue management. Before that, he spent 10 years in politics as a communications and policy adviser working for U.S. Rep. Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth), in the George W. Bush administration, as well as California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Pipes is also a historian, authoring two books on former presidents. One was a biography of Dwight Eisenhower, Ike’s Final Battle, an examination of the president’s role in race relations and desegregating Little Rock Central High School. The other was titled After the Fall, detailing the public rehabilitation of former President Richard Nixon. Both books were critical successes.

Along the way, Pipes has picked up some historic mementos. We explore it.