Lobbying World

• Squire Patton Boggs has hired Coates Lear, former senior counsel with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as principal in its government investigations and white-collar practice group. He spent eight years in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, most recently as senior counsel in the Asset Management Unit, which focuses on securities law violations. Prior to working at the SEC, he was an attorney at  Hogan & Hartson, now called Hogan Lovells. 

• Shannon Kellman, a former lobbyist for progressive pro-Israel group J Street, has joined the office of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) as a legislative assistant, according to congressional tracking website LegiStorm. She had been with J Street since earlier this year and, before that, worked for former Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).

{mosads}• The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers brought on Leighton Yates as state affairs manager to handle the group’s policy portfolio on the state level.  Before that, he worked as a legislative analyst at the American Society of Landscape Architects. He also worked at lobby firm Stateside Associates. 

• Dish Network has named Jessica Straus as its director of government affairs. Straus, who has been with the company since 2011, most recently served as senior manager of congressional and government affairs. Before joining Dish, she served as a senior campaign adviser to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and also worked at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. 

• The American Retirement Association has hired Jacob Linney as its director of key account sales. He will promote the industry group’s educational courses and certification options. Linney comes from Pentegra Retirement Services, a nonprofit co-op that manages more than 2,500 retirement plans. He once served as a subject matter expert for the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries’ (ASPPA) Retirement Plan Academy.

• Margaret Caravelli has joined Balch & Bingham as a partner in the firm’s environmental and natural resources section, as well as its energy section. She spent about a decade on Capitol Hill advising congressional panels about policies relating to the Clean Air Act. She also drafted and negotiated amendments to the law as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, according to a news release.