government-relations
(23)
Vinoda Basnayake and the business of a good night
A student party promoter became a tour manager, a lawyer, and the founder of VERSUS. In Washington, Vinoda Basnayake has spent his career learning what happens when the right people share a room.
Heather Podesta Built a Firm. Then She Took Her Name Off the Door.
A law-firm partner left to build a business of her own. Nineteen years later, Heather Podesta’s story runs through tax policy, contemporary art, a borrowed word from The Crown, and the people trusted to carry the work forward.
Adam Schwarz and the distance between a promise and a permit
A Jakarta newspaper placement became a career spent reading Southeast Asia’s political fine print. After reporting, writing and twelve years at McKinsey, Adam Schwarz built Asia Group Advisors around the gap between economic ambition and what governments can deliver.
Guy Chipparoni and the business of an invitation
From Hyatt and Jim Edgar’s press office to a Vatican audience, Guy “Chip” Chipparoni has spent his career where private interests meet public decisions. As Choose Chicago’s board chair, he is helping turn the city’s welcome into a funded plan.
John Murray and the Art of the Next Move
From a presidential campaign to the Seattle stage, John Murray has spent his career thinking about audiences. At Monument Advocacy, that habit helped turn a public affairs assignment into the CEO’s job.
Chris Bravacos Starts at the Finish Line
From congressional offices to a Harrisburg communications firm, Chris Bravacos has built a career around working backward from the result. Even the toy robots in his office belong in a story about picking your fights.
Jeffrey Forbes and the Arithmetic of Getting Along
A Democratic campaign veteran built a bipartisan Washington firm by paying attention to the people between the sides. His route there ran through New Hampshire, the Clinton White House, and a Senate committee where the numbers mattered.
Stewart Hall and the business of knowing how Washington works
A Senate legislative director became a builder of advisory firms. At PPHC, Stewart Hall is connecting the people who understand policy, public opinion and the places where decisions get made.
Thomas O’Neill and the distance between two doors
A Cambridge political son became Massachusetts lieutenant governor, then built a business connecting Boston and Washington. His work with Cristo Rey Boston brings that same question closer to home: who gets an introduction, and what can it change?
Kai Anderson and the map behind the deal
A geologist from eastern Oregon found his way into Harry Reid’s Senate office, then into the leadership of Cassidy & Associates. His hand-drawn maps offer a way to see what a landscape photograph leaves out: the people who can change its future.
Howard Schweitzer and the thirty-minute appointment with history
An 8:30 a.m. phone call put Howard Schweitzer on the operating team for a $700 billion rescue. His career since then has kept returning to the same question: how do you turn a decision into something that works?
Andrew Blunt and the Business of Being in the Room
He grew up around Missouri politics, learned to enjoy the pressure of a campaign, and co-founded HB Strategies. Now Andrew Blunt is working on a different kind of staying power: a company that can carry on without its founders.
Michael Catanzaro and the fine print of power
Before he advised a president on energy, Michael Catanzaro helped write the political news. Now the CGCN chief executive is working on a question that joins Washington’s old machinery to its newest ambition: how to build enough power for the AI economy.
Lanny Griffith and the art of keeping a door open
From Mississippi campaigns to the White House and BGR Group, Lanny Griffith built a career around bringing people together. The buildings he restored and the scholarship bearing his family’s name tell the quieter half of that story.
Crayton Webb and the Business of Being Believed
A former TV reporter bought a Dallas PR firm and kept its name. His career, from City Hall to corporate communications to a campaign for civility, turns on what happens before anyone asks for your trust.
Stephanie Silverman Built a Washington Firm - Then Gave Its People a Stake
The founder of Venn Strategies spent decades arguing that workers should share in the companies they build. Then she made the argument personal.
Stu Van Scoyoc Built a Washington Firm on Three Employees, a 5-Pound Phone, and Timing
A chemical engineer turned lawyer turned lobbyist, Stu Van Scoyoc built a national advocacy business by treating Washington as a problem of translation: the right message, delivered to the right person, at the right time.
John Gallagher Built a Career for the Moment the Story Gets Difficult
From rebuilding Lower Manhattan to advising leaders in a crisis, Gallagher has spent nearly three decades working where public decisions meet public judgment. In 2026, that long apprenticeship put him in Mercury's top job.
John Oceguera Has Spent a Career Walking Into the Room When Stakes Rise
From firefighter competitions and the Nevada Assembly to ownership of a multistate public affairs firm, Oceguera's career has followed one durable instinct: enter complicated rooms, learn the system, and keep people moving together.
Carrie Ruddy Sells the Climate Story One True Sentence at a Time
How a former bank communicator turned a maker of air conditioners into one of the more convincing climate stories in industrial America - and why she insists credibility is the only currency that matters.
Tyra Palmer Built a Career in the Work Between Words
Across hospitals, statehouses and community rooms, the former Ardent Health marketing chief made communication an operating discipline - then carried that instinct into nonprofit service.
Tom Phillips
Tom Phillips spent 18 years at Microsoft rising to VP of Communications, where he led PR strategy for the company's advertising business, managed media around major acquisitions, guided CEO communications, and drove narratives through cultural transformations. With over four decades of total PR experience, he left Microsoft in late 2024 to launch Upstream Communications, a Seattle-based strategic communications firm focused on helping clients tell their stories with precision and purpose.
Christian Keil
Christian Keil is an Investing Partner at Andreessen Horowitz on the American Dynamism team, backing startups that build for the national interest - from aerospace to defense to infrastructure. Before turning investor, he spent seven years as a top executive at Astranis, the satellite company he helped scale from a 50-person R&D shop to a 500-person aerospace-grade factory with over $1 billion in sales. He may be the only venture capitalist who has personally bought a dedicated Falcon 9 rocket. A proud Midwesterner who moved to Silicon Valley in 2017, Keil writes, podcasts, and thinks deeply about what it means to build things that matter for America.