Lobbying World

• Public affairs firm Blue Engine Media is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this week, in addition to bringing on two new hires:  Irma L. Palmer, who worked in the office of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), and Cynthia Montes, who served on Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign. The entire team feted at Brick & Mortar in Chinatown on Monday night.

• Paul Poteet has joined Glover Park Group’s government relations practice as a managing director. Before that, he served as a senior policy adviser and counsel on tax and trade for Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). Poteet has also worked for the Biotechnology Industry Association and former Rep. Wally Herger (R-Calif.).

{mosads}• Marty Durbin, who oversaw the merger of America’s Natural Gas Alliance and the American Petroleum Institute (API), will assume a new, expanded role as executive vice president and chief strategy officer, according to the industry group. He will manage API’s integrated advocacy programs. API’s top lobbyist, Louis Finkel, will be stepping down.

• Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies hired Kevin Washo, most recently the executive director of the Philadelphia 2016 Host Committee for the Democratic National Convention, as a government relations principal. He will be based in Public Strategies’ Philadelphia office but work across Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. He has also served as a vice president at Washington political affairs firm New Partners Consulting, as executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and as White House liaison to the Department of Agriculture under President Obama.

• Wal-Mart promoted Bruce Harris to vice president of government affairs, responsible for all federal government advocacy.

•Kountoupes Denham hired David Peluso as a principal. He joins from the office of House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), where he served as chief of staff. Peluso has also worked as the top staffer to Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), another member on the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

• FTI Consulting has brought on Kyle Cormney to work on taxes and fiscal issues. Prior to that, he worked on the House Budget Committee, where he served as a senior policy adviser to Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.).