ON THE MOVE

People

by Gregg Sangillo and Winter Casey

Sat. Jun 28, 2008


Lobby Shops

The Recording Industry Association of America has hired Alexandrine De Bianchi as a director of federal government relations. She joins Michael Platt, another recent government-relations hire. The pair will work as advocates for the music industry on intellectual-property rights and telecommunications issues with Congress and the executive branch.

Previously, De Bianchi worked as a senior legislative assistant to Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., a member of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. She also served as a research analyst at Dittberner Associates and an intern at the Federal Communications Commission.

De Bianchi grew up in Maplewood, N.J. While earning her undergraduate degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology, she interned at a Washington lobbying firm for a semester. Out of college, she was a fundraiser for Pennsylvania Democrat Peter Kostmayer's brief Senate campaign in 2000. De Bianchi came to Washington as a legislative assistant for Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., and earned a master's degree in telecommunications from George Mason University while working in his office.

Platt, 34, comes from TechNet, where he was vice president of government and political affairs since February 2007. Earlier, he served as legislative director for Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and as an aide to then-Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark. --Winter Casey

At the Bar

Former District of Columbia Attorney General Linda Singer is now a counsel with Zuckerman Spaeder. She is launching a public client practice at the law firm to help represent state and city governments. She was most recently at the Public Welfare Foundation.

Singer grew up mostly in Miami, and she earned a bachelor's and a law degree from Harvard. "I went to law school because I didn't want to be an investment banker," she says. After working as a public defender in New York City, she came to D.C. in 1993 to head the Appleseed Foundation. Singer spent 13 years as executive director of the nonprofit network of public-interest law firms before becoming D.C.'s attorney general under Mayor Adrian Fenty. She left the office in December, reportedly frustrated over losing clout to the city's general counsel, Peter Nickles. Singer declined to comment on the matter. Before she resigned, Singer rounded up amicus briefs to support D.C.'s gun control law; the case was argued before the Supreme Court in March.

Singer, 41, says she has always enjoyed being a mentor. "I think one of the things that's been most fulfilling to me in all of the different jobs has been a chance to develop young lawyers, and that's something that really matters to me," she says. Singer, who has two children, also does volunteer advocacy work for gun control, serves on the board of the regional Anti-Defamation League, and will be a fellow in law and government at American University this year. --Gregg Sangillo

Image-Makers

The New York City-based firm Ricochet PR, which is opening a Washington office, has hired Banks Willis as vice president of public affairs and Emily Flynn as associate director of public affairs.

"I get such a high when I get a [client] placement," says Willis, who grew up in Aiken, S.C., and interned in the Legislature for then-state Rep. Lindsey Graham. Her boss, Graham's chief of staff at the time, was once Willis's baby sitter. After Willis graduated from Lander University, she came to Washington in 1998 to work for the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., on the Armed Services Committee. She later moved to Milwaukee as a PR and marketing manager for General Electric, and recently spent time at Dittus Communications. She enjoys Washington, she says, because in some ways it's a small town.

Willis, 33, is looking forward to vacationing with a friend in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. She likes hanging out at the pool in her condo building in Arlington, Va., and she enjoys the local art scene, live music, and going out for great food and wine. Her TV favorites are A&E's Intervention and the Discovery Health Channel.

Flynn, 25, spent the past two and a half years in the public-affairs and crisis communications practice areas at Dittus. --W.C.

Lobby Shops

Elizabeth VanDersarl, the new vice president of government affairs at the American Forest & Paper Association, enjoys Notre Dame football. "I've had to eat a lot of crow lately because the team hasn't been doing so well," she says.

VanDersarl, who joined the trade group in 2005, has served as director of congressional affairs and as executive director of public affairs. Earlier, she worked for the Office of Management and Budget, for then-Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and as an assistant state's attorney in Illinois.

VanDersarl, 37, holds an undergraduate degree from Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, and a law degree from the University of Notre Dame. She lives in Washington's Cleveland Park neighborhood.
--W.C.

Rich Thomas is joining the Monument Policy Group as vice president of government relations. He says he is excited to be focusing on international trade and homeland-security issues.

Thomas was an aide to Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., for the past eight years and also worked on election campaigns for Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., and Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill. "I have interacted with lobbyists for years, so it is going to be interesting to see what it is like to be one," Thomas says. "Many of the lobbyists I have met over the years have [represented] good, worthwhile projects that were positive for communities."

Thomas, 31, holds an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin (Madison). He was attracted to Washington because "this is Disneyland for someone who likes politics and government."

He likes to listen to Bruce Springsteen and enjoys running and working out. He frequently can be found reading political biographies, recently finishing Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century: A Biography.

The Monument Policy Group, which was founded by former Homeland Security Department official Stewart Verdery, also includes Tim Punke, a former chief international trade counsel for Democrats at the Senate Finance Committee. The firm recently brought in Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, a former staff director for the House Homeland Security Committee. --W.C.

Consulting Game

Bill Hartwig, who spent three decades working on land acquisition and management for the Interior Department, is a new senior adviser with Dawson & Associates, a lobbying and consulting firm that deals with water and natural resources issues. At one point, Hartwig helped to convert to other uses surplus properties that were once boarding schools for Native Americans, including one in downtown Phoenix. The children at the schools "would be taught how to be regular 'white Americans,' " he says. "Well, that policy failed, obviously. And the tribes basically said, 'We kind of like living on a reservation. We like educating our own children.' "

In the 1980s, Hartwig worked on environmental land exchanges between the Collier family and the state of Florida. The family members who were negotiating the land swap with the government wouldn't even speak to each other. "We had to bring these two sides of the family together," he says about the hassling over legal matters. "I stuck with it for eight years until we saw it done."

From 2003 to 2006, Hartwig was chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System at the Fish and Wildlife Service. Before that, he was regional director for the agency in Minneapolis; his territory included the Great Lakes and the Ohio River.

Hartwig, 61, is a Vietnam War veteran who served as an Army field artillery officer and as a ranger adviser to the South Vietnamese army. A striking difference between yesterday's and today's military, he says, is the age of the average soldier, which in his unit was 18 or 19. "In 1971, I was 25 years old and I was referred to as the old man," he says.

Hartwig, a native Californian, has a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University and a master's from George Washington University. An Eagle Scout, he developed a passion for the outdoors as a kid.

Also joining Dawson & Associates is Estus Whitfield, a former policy coordinator and chief environmental adviser to four Florida governors. --G.S.

Around the Agencies

Indiana native Christina Lucas's new gig will give her a chance to help her home state. She is the new deputy federal representative in the Washington office of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. She was previously a public-affairs specialist in the U.S. Trade Representative's Office.

Lucas, who hails from Brownsburg, outside of Indianapolis, graduated from Taylor University. She did an internship at USTR during her last semester and took her first job as a trade analyst at a textile consulting firm called International Development Systems. She rejoined USTR soon after current chief Susan Schwab took over in 2006, working on NAFTA, intellectual property, and other issues.

Lucas started following politics through her father's work as a lawyer. "I knew all the judges that were running in the county and would go to court with him," she says. "I grew up putting the sign in our yard for the [candidate] we were supporting." In high school, she also was involved in a leadership development program run by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.

While she was studying in Hong Kong, Lucas got interested in trade and international business. The language of economics was fascinating, she says, but both the Mandarin and Cantonese dialects were impenetrable. "All I learned in Cantonese was how to direct a taxi and to order chicken," she jokes.

Lucas, 24, likes to run and to read biographies, most recently a book on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. --G.S.

Shorts

Innovation ... The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation has three new employees on board. Stephen Ezell and George Ou will be senior analysts, and Scott Andes will work as a research assistant. Ezell co-founded Peer Insight, a research company, and the high-tech services firm Brivo Systems. He also worked for the NASDAQ stock market. Ou is a technology consultant and founder of the techie blog ForMortals.com. He earlier served as the editor-at-large for TechRepublic and ZDNet. Andes is a former special assistant to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Governmental Affairs ... The lobbying firm Turner GPA has hired Morgan Muchnick as a director of government affairs in the firm's Washington office. He most recently worked in government relations for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and served as a professional staffer to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee under then-Chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn. Muchnick holds a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Utility ... Mary Beth McGowan, previously a legislative assistant to Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., is now a government policy adviser in the Washington office of the law firm Dykema. She was an aide to Specter on energy, environmental, and interior issues, and served as his staff contact for the subcommittees of the Senate Appropriations Committee, where Specter is a senior member. McGowan has a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and a master's in government and political communication from Johns Hopkins University. She's planning to deal with energy, climate-change, and other environmental issues at Dykema, a firm that represents cooperative utilities in Michigan as well as the auto industry.

His Property ... The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America has snagged Robert Gordon as senior vice president of policy development and research. He is an ex-senior counsel at the House Financial Services Committee, the primary committee of interest for the trade group. Gordon is also a former legal counsel to Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., and a former associate at the law firm Wiley, Rein & Fielding.

Compensation ... Kathryn Ricard has signed on as vice president of retirement policy at the ERISA Industry Committee, a group that deals with compensation and employee benefit issues for major U.S. employers. She succeeds Rosemary Becchi, a former Senate Finance Committee staffer who is moving to New York with her husband. Earlier in her career, Ricard was vice president for retirement and pensions at the American Council of Life Insurers. --W.C. and G.S.

Have a tip for National Journal's People column? Contact Gregg Sangillo or Winter Casey at 202-739-8400, or at people@nationaljournal.com.