Lobbying world

Targeted Victory, a GOP advertising and strategic advisory firm, has hired Connie Partoyan as its president. She was formerly CEO of Direct Impact, an offshoot of the global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. Partoyan also worked as chief of staff to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.).

Gotham Government Relations & Communications, a New York-based firm, hired former State Department official Stuart Seldowitz for its newly opened Washington office. The firm helped coordinate President Trump’s initial campaign announcement in 2015. Antonio Martinez is moving down to Washington, D.C., from the New York office to help foreign governments in Latin America and the Caribbean improve relations with the U.S. government.

A new group has formed in the wake of a Trump administration proposal to slash funds to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Called the Coalition to Save NIH, the organization is funded by nonprofits and corporations in the healthcare, pharmaceutical and patent advocacy space. Public affairs firm JPA Health Communications is managing the coalition.

The Ingram Group, which has roots in Tennessee, added two to its Washington office: Brandi Lowell, former chief of staff to Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), and Amanda Bunning, who previously served as the director of government affairs for the American Conservative Union. Bunning, the granddaughter of former Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), has also worked for Anheuser-Busch and for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). 

Darren Peters, an adviser to Hillary Clinton for both of her presidential campaigns, has started his own firm with former government officials and veteran consultants. The Peter Damon Group is being dubbed “a strategic public and government affairs, business development and event management services consulting firm.” Prior to starting the firm, Peters worked as the director of federal government affairs for Entergy Corporation. 

Former senior Obama administration official Chris Lu joined FiscalNote as a senior strategy adviser. He most recently served as deputy secretary of Labor but also worked as a senior White House official during the Obama administration. On Capitol Hill, Lu worked for Obama in the Senate and as deputy chief counsel at the House Oversight Committee.