public-affairs
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Robert Hoopes and the Long Life of a First Campaign
A job on Joe Biden’s 1987 campaign became a relationship spanning decades. Along the way, Robert Hoopes built VOX Global and kept returning to the people and classrooms that helped him begin.
Patrick O’Reilly and the small print of persuasion
From Washington politics to Riverside public affairs, Patrick O’Reilly has built a career around the details that make a public argument work. His firm’s story runs through council votes, conservation land and the long business of being understood.
Brenda Jones Barwick and the Question No Résumé Could Answer
She had written for a president and worked in diplomacy. Starting a business in Oklahoma required a different kind of confidence - and an ambassador’s remarkably brief advice.
Sara Katz and the question before the water flows
Sara M. Katz built a communications firm around the public decisions hidden inside engineering projects. Four decades after starting Katz & Associates, she is still working on the difficult passage from a sound proposal to a community willing to consider it.
Chris Wahl and the things that happen before anything gets built
For 26 years, Chris Wahl has worked where ambitious projects meet public resistance. Now the San Diego public affairs founder is bringing five agency histories together under one name: Bodewell Group.
Michael Gordon and the art of knowing when to stop
Michael Gordon built Group Gordon around the marriage of strategy and execution. His own career, from the Clinton administration to a Westport school board, reveals the harder part: deciding what deserves your time.
Joe Cerrell and the business of getting people in the room
A rainy campus visit put Joseph R. Cerrell in John F. Kennedy’s orbit. Over five decades, he turned the practical business of getting people elected into a Los Angeles institution.
Jeffrey D. Corless and the people on the other side of the table
A first assignment among small businesses became a career in campaigns, public affairs and company building. For Venture Strategic founder Jeffrey D. Corless, the work keeps returning to the people a decision will affect.
Tarrah Cooper Wright and the arithmetic of an open door
Four grandparents came to Chicago looking for opportunity. Their granddaughter built a career shaping its public voice - and a communications firm with a stake in who gets heard next.
Alex Wirth and the art of finding the next yes
A campaign for a presidential youth council sent Alex Wirth looking for allies on Capitol Hill. With his college roommate, he turned that search into Quorum - and a career spent making political relationships easier to understand.
Thomas P. Coffey and the distance between winning and governing
He left a Chicago law partnership to work for Harold Washington, then helped build Haymarket Public Strategies. Thomas P. Coffey’s career followed the difficult work that comes after people agree they want change.
B.R. McConnon III and the politics of showing up
He built DDC around the work of turning people into advocates. A golf tournament, an Irish leadership program and a 26-year company story reveal the habits behind the business.
Douglas Turner Keeps Asking Why People Lose
He helped elect a governor, studied Japan’s opposition parties and built Agenda into an international communications firm. Running for office himself gave Douglas Turner another view of persuasion.
Jeff Randle makes time for the room
He helped organize California campaigns, then built a communications firm around the people doing the work. Twenty-five years later, Jeff Randle still starts Tuesday meetings with the weekend news.
Joseph P. O'Neill and the Work Between the Headlines
From Lloyd Bentsen’s Senate office to a firm of his own, Joseph P. O’Neill built a career around the work that happens before the public moment. His route runs through retail trade, a presidential campaign and the business of getting Washington to listen.
Thomas Eymond-Laritaz and the problem that arrived before the company
An engineer by training, Thomas Eymond-Laritaz worked in government offices and Ukrainian philanthropy before founding Highgate. His first assignment arrived eight days before the company was registered.
Thomas P. O’Neill III’s Life After the Ballot
He left elected office at 38 with a famous surname and a working knowledge of government. The next four decades took Tom O’Neill from public affairs to school desks, with Boston and Ireland never far apart.
Christopher G. Sheeron Put Two Careers Under One Roof
Before founding Grayson & Co., Christopher G. Sheeron worked on both the message and the people delivering it. His Washington firm grew from the decision to bring those two careers together.
Ronald W. Wong and the people missing from the room
From California’s appointment rooms to multilingual campaigns and documentary film, Ronald W. Wong has built a career around a practical question: who has been left out of the conversation?
Jason Keadjian and the Art of Explaining the Neighborhood
He grew up in Orinda, then helped explain a new neighborhood there. Across two decades of public affairs, Jason Keadjian has built a business around the questions people ask when the place they know is about to change.
Nathan Imperiale and the Business of Making People Feel Welcome
His grandfather crossed the world to get to know his clients. Nathan Imperiale brought that lesson to Washington, building a creative agency where the work and the welcome belong together.
James P. Smith and the Business of Staying Useful
He founded a Washington government affairs firm in 1981. Four decades later, James P. Smith made room for a new name on the door while keeping a seat at the table.
Jason Jordan and the case for a bigger table
From campaign fieldwork to housing reform, Jason Jordan has spent his career helping people turn shared concerns into political arguments. His recurring subject is what happens when the right people learn to work together.
Ron Dotzauer and the art of the unlikely win
A county auditor, a Senate upset, a consulting firm spread across the West. Ron Dotzauer built a career finding openings in other people’s assumptions - then faced a reckoning inside his own company.
Rick Ostroff and the Value of Being Asked Back
He opened his Albany lobbying firm in 1995 with one client: the state’s monument builders. Three decades later, Rick Ostroff’s career turns on a modest proposition - know the details, keep your word, and give people a reason to call again.
Andy Blunt’s most demanding campaign has no election day
He helped elect a brother and a father, then co-founded a lobbying firm that spread across state capitals. Now Andy Blunt is working toward a result that no ballot can certify: a company that lasts beyond its founders.
Michael Law and the value of a very long introduction
At his first client meeting, Michael Law met someone he would hire more than 30 years later. The founder of Summit Strategy Group has built a career around knowing which people belong in the room.
Kathy Tunheim and the art of changing the view
She left engineering for politics, then left Honeywell with four colleagues to build a communications firm. Kathy Tunheim has spent the years since asking leaders to look again - and take responsibility for being understood.
Kassy Perry knows when to change course
A last-minute newsroom internship became a career in Sacramento public affairs. Thirty years into running her own firm, Kassy Perry is still competing on horseback - and now leads the business alongside the daughter who once raced her around the ring.
Mustafa Rashed and the Trouble with a Good Idea
A Philadelphia newspaper internship introduced Mustafa Rashed to the power of a story. At Bellevue Strategies, he has built a career around what it takes to turn one into public action.