Finding the right partner in a new venture can be a challenge but Joe Armendariz didn’t have to look far when he decided to create a strategic public affairs company: He and his wife, Karla, have joined forces to form Armendariz Partners.

“I am thrilled to make official what has always been true, Karla was my first strategic partner and is my absolute best asset,” he said in a statement. “With Karla’s active involvement in the new company, I can focus on what I do best, which is business development.

“The best part is we complement each other extremely well. Where she is strong, I am not, and where I am strong, she is not.”

Armendariz said the business will tap into the “strategic alliances” he has forged over the last 15 years in business, politics and nonprofit organizations.

The Carpinteria city councilman and executive director of the fiscally conservative Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association said his new business will help private-sector businesses and nonprofit organizations “recognize and assess state and local trends in business, politics and government.”

“After working with several public policy-centric organizations and serving on a local city council as well as on regional boards and commissions, I have come to understand today’s information-driven world and the subtle nuances that can shape local public policy,” he said.

“Joe’s experience working with business-oriented nonprofit groups will be a great asset to organizations on the Central Coast,” said Brandon Edwards, president and chief operating officer of Davies Communications, and a strategic partner of the new Armendariz firm. “We expect to work collaboratively with Joe on a number of future projects. We see that the type of work Joe does is unique and fills an important niche that adds value.”

In 2007, before forming Armendariz Partners, Armendariz was director of institutions at Paladin Principle LLC, a regional public affairs startup headquartered in Oxnard. At Paladin, he was responsible for public affairs and government relations for the firm’s institutional clients, which included the County of Santa Barbara Industrial Association, the World Affairs Council of America and Zona Seca Inc.

Click here for more information on Armendariz Partners.