Lobbying World: Ford fuels policy team with addition of executive branch, Capitol Hill veterans

Deanne Millison, Elizabeth “Liz” Kosobucki and Alec Rogers are joining Ford’s public policy and government affairs team. 

Millison joins as a senior director and was most recently chief economic adviser to Vice President Harris. She previously served as deputy chief of staff and legislative director to then-Sen. Harris and as director for the city of Chicago under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Kosobucki, the former director for Europe in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office of Europe and the Middle East, will be the director for trade policy strategy. Rogers, who served as the legislative director for former Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) and as Republican counsel to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, joins Ford as director of government affairs, tax and finance policy.

Alice Lugo, the former assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will join the government relations practice at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as senior counsel. Before her time at DHS, Lugo worked on Capitol Hill as chief counsel and senior immigration adviser to Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and as counsel to former Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.)

Invariant added Melanie Harris as a senior director, where she will focus on artificial intelligence and technology policy. Harris was the United Kingdom digital policy lead for Amazon Web Services in London. She also worked on military modernization as a professional staff member for the House Armed Services Committee and served as a special assistant to the secretary of Defense and in the National Security Division of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Andrew Mueller is now vice president of government relations at Crowley. Mueller was most recently the senior director of policy and international development for General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for more than two decades.

John Jacobs joins the Alliance for Automotive Innovation as vice president of industry engagement and partnerships. He was most recently the nonprofit and association industry leader at Hartman Executive Advisors, and he was vice president of marketing, membership and business development at the Telecommunications Industry Association.