Mastering The Room

On this episode, we’re joined by Julius Hobson, an alumnus of the Legislative Affairs program at GSPM and a longtime government relations professional with more than 47 years of experience dealing with the Congress and Federal departments and agencies.

During that time, Julius has had a wealth of different experiences on all sides of the legislative spectrum. Perhaps most notably, he spent more than 13 years as lobbyist and Director of Congressional Affairs for the American Medical Association.

Prior to joining the AMA, Julius served on the staff of Senator Charles Robb [D-VA] where he was responsible for appropriations, budget, taxes, and financial services issues. He previously served as Congressional and Executive Branch liaison for the District of Columbia Government. And he also spent time as Chief of Staff to a Member of Congress and Staff Director of a House Subcommittee.

Today, Julius is senior policy advisor at Polsinelli, a national law firm, where he advises clients and lobbies on a number of issues, including health care, appropriations and budget, education, financial services, urban affairs, and taxes.

On this episode, we’re joined by Selby Bush Lilley, a GSPM alumna and a global external affairs leader with more than 18 years of experience managing government affairs, community relations and communications strategy throughout the energy and resources industries.

Currently, Selby serves as the Regional Vice President of External Affairs and Communications for Sempra Infrastructure, a leading North American energy infrastructure company.

Prior to joining Sempra Infrastructure, she worked as the Head of Corporate Affairs - Petroleum for BHP, a global top 50 company by market cap, where she led the government and community relations teams that supported BHP’s Petroleum assets across the globe – including Australia, Mexico, Canada, the United States, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Before joining BHP, Selby spent nearly a decade working for Williams, where she managed State Government Affairs for the largest gas pipeline in the United States. In this role, she successfully managed political and community strategy for more than $7B in pipeline expansion projects in over fourteen states.

And before joining the private sector, Selby spent time out on the campaign trail and on the legislative staff of a United States Senator.

On this episode, we’re joined by Ivan Zapien, a GSPM alumnus and a powerhouse government relations professional with decades of experience working and advocating in the halls of power in Washington and abroad.

Ivan has served as a chief of staff in both the U.S. House and Senate, where he built deep networks across both House and Senate Democrats in the process. He also drove the government relations strategy and outreach for Walmart, the No. 1 company on the Fortune 500 list, while also managing the company’s Mexico and Central America foundation, communications, government relations, and sustainability efforts. And as if that wasn’t enough, he has vast experience as a leader in Democratic politics, having served as national outreach director of the House Democratic Caucus and as a senior staff member of the Democratic National Committee.

Today, Ivan is a partner at the global law firm Hogan Lovells, where he a portfolio of clients on diverse strategies to capitalize on the opportunities of the current environment, while minimizing risk.

On this episode, we’re joined by Stephanie Peters, an alumna of the political management program at GSPM and a seasoned government relations professional who has spent decades working and advocating in Washington on issues around corporate social responsibility, immigration, trade, intellectual property and foreign sovereign representation.

Stephanie began her career in Washington as a law clerk with the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Technology and the Law, before moving on to serve as an Attorney-Advisor in the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. She then returned to the Hill as the Democratic counsel to members of the House Judiciary Committee, where she advised members during the impeachment proceedings of former President Bill Clinton; aided in the drafting of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; and served as the lead Judiciary Democratic Counsel for floor consideration of the 1996 Immigration Reform legislation.

In 2000, Stephanie joined international law firm Patton Boggs as a partner, where she represented a number of major corporate clients (alongside a robust portfolio of pro bono work) for nearly a decade — before joining the global software leader Microsoft where she still works today as Director of Congressional Affairs, managing the company’s government relations efforts with House Democrats.

On this episode, we're joined by Matt Klink, an alumnus of the political management program at GSPM and an accomplished global government affairs, strategic communications and political consultant with over 30 years of experience working with corporations, trade associations, nonprofits and political candidates throughout the United States and on six continents.

Matt's journey has included time spent as Director of Government Relations at Philip Morris International and as a corporate communications consultant to American Honda Motor Company, as well as building several premier public affairs agencies — including a decade at Cerrell Associates, where he eventually rose to serve as the firm's President, and his current role as a Partner at California Strategies.

On this episode, we’re joined by Tiffany Waddell, an alumna of both GSPM’s Legislative Affairs master’s program and its graduate certificate program in PACs and Political Management.

Tiffany is also a seasoned government affairs professional who has a wealth of experience developing and implementing policy at the federal and state levels. She has run political action committees for some of the most prominent companies and associations in DC, including Delta Air Lines, the Printing Industries of America and the National Fraternal Order of Police.

In the 2012 election cycle, Tiffany also put her PAC skills to work on behalf of the Republican National Committee and Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, where she created and implemented the first presidential PAC program.

Most recently, Tiffany spent six years as a senior advisor to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, where she served as Director of Federal Relations and represented the governor and state’s interests in Washington. And today, she’s taken that work a step further in her work as the Director of Government Relations for the National Governors Association, a nonpartisan organization that serves as a public policy liaison between the state governments and the federal government.

On this episode, we’re joined by Jordan Bernstein, an alumnus of the Political Management program at GSPM and an experienced policy and advocacy professional with a long track record of success — both in Congress and in the government relations industry.

Jordan cut his teeth on Capitol Hill as Chief of Staff to Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, where he had unique inside-access to the legislative process and was an essential participant in the determination of congressional policy and appropriations.

Following his time on the Hill, Jordan jumped to Cassidy and Associates — a leading bipartisan government relations firm — where he initially served as Executive Vice President, before ultimately taking on the role of Chief Operating Officer in 2014, which he still holds today.

In his work at Cassidy, Jordan manages the day-to-day operations of the firm while also representing a diverse array of clients, including everything from global brand names to national non-profits, large integrated health systems, universities and trade associations.

On this episode, we’re joined by Patty Readinger, an alumna of the Political Management program at GSPM and a seasoned government affairs and policy professional with more than twenty years of experience in the legislative arena, primarily focused on policy analysis, issue development, and government relations.

Patty spent more than a decade on Capitol Hill as a Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Debbie Stabenow, before serving in the Obama Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs at the Department of Transportation.

She then took a brief break from government, when she led federal government affairs and public policy for Electrify America — a leader in electric vehicle charging — before ultimately returning to government service in a little bit different way in her current role, where she serves as the Director of Federal Affairs for the State of Michigan under Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and represents the state’s interests in Washington, DC.

This week on the show, we’re joined by Scott Suozzi, an alumnus of the Legislative Affairs program at GSPM and a seasoned senior executive level policy advisor, legal counsel, and leader in the areas of operations, policy, law, strategy, governance, international diplomacy, nonprofits, government relations, and more.

Scott served in the U.S. Navy on active duty for 20 years as commissioned officer, serving in a variety of roles and in multiple locations around the world — including stints in the White House and on Capitol Hill — and rising to the rank of Commander before his retirement in 2014.

Upon leaving active duty service, Scott spent time in academia, as the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff at the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University. He subsequently has held leadership positions at several nonprofit organizations, leading up to his current role as Director of Military Outreach for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition — a nonprofit organization formed by a coalition of American businesses and NGOs, senior national security and foreign policy experts, faith-based and community leaders from across the country who promote increased support for the United States’ diplomatic and development efforts in Washington, DC and beyond.

On this episode, we’re joined by Christina Baworowsky, an alumna of the Political Management program at GSPM and a seasoned government relations professional with nearly a decade of experience in the renewable energy space.

Christina began her career with the Nuclear Energy Institute, where she cut her teeth on their Governmental Affairs team, before moving on to federal affairs and policy roles at industry leaders like Alliant Energy and ChargePoint. Today, she’s working for one of the biggest names in electric vehicles, renewable energy and so much more, Tesla, where she serves as a Senior Federal Policy Advisor.