Biopharmaceuticals and the promise of AI-enabled precision medicine are generating not only breakthrough technologies and improved patient outcomes, but also high-velocity growth.
Policymakers are working to support research that accelerates discovery of therapeutics and diagnostics, while also focusing on the cost and value of next-generation biotechnology.
A Partner at Forbes Tate Partners, she is public affairs and communications leader experienced across major corporate, government and nonprofit stakeholders. With a broad understanding of today’s complex policy, communications, and advocacy landscape, Michelle crafts groundbreaking initiatives addressing today’s pressing policy and advocacy challenges.
Michelle has spearheaded major campaigns and programming in health care, education, food, agriculture, defense, tech, and other industries. Her broad health care experience includes leading corporate and public affairs work across health systems, biopharmaceutical companies, government agencies, payers, professional medical associations, and nonprofits. In addition, Michelle developed and led coalitions and campaigns focused on a range of health issues including heart disease, cancer, pharmaceutical safety, vaccinations, addiction, and emerging public health threats.
Previously she worked as Chief of Staff at Ketchum where she developed and led their health equity offering, as well as a mental health communications consultancy. Other public affairs experience includes leading the health practice at Weber Shandwick/Powell Tate, and as a senior leader at Signal Group and Chandler Chicco Agency/Syneos Communications.
An advocate for family caregiving and memory care, Michelle is a board member of the Caregiver’s Action Network (CAN) and is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Arts for the Aging (AFTA).
Barry Brown, Senior Vice President, brings over thirty years of legislative, political, and professional advocacy expertise to the Alpine Group. Brown has a proven track record of successfully advising Fortune 500 companies, state universities, and other industry leaders in energy, higher education, defense, critical infrastructure, and communication issues.
Prior to his tenure at the Alpine Group, Brown spent over two decades on Capitol Hill where he served as Chief of Staff to both Congresswoman Kay Granger (R-TX), previous Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Congressman Michael C. Burgess, MD (R-TX), Chairman of the House Rules Committee and senior Republication on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Prior to his role as Chief, Brown served as Legislative Assistant to Congressman Larry Combest (R-TX), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and Legislative Director to Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. During his years on the Hill, Brown closely advised representatives on energy, telecommunications, higher education, judiciary, trade, and defense matters.
Brown currently sits on the board of the Texas State Society of Washington, D.C., the Board of Governors of the National Republican Club of Capitol Hill, and the executive Committee on the National Capitol Area Council Boy Scouts of America. Previously, Brown held the position of President of the National Board of Directors of the Texas Tech Alumni Association and served on the National Board of the Red Raider Club.
A Partner at Forbes Tate Partners and a former Chief of Staff to Representative Ron Kind (D-WI), Cindy provides strategic advice on an array of critical issues including, health care, tax, trade, and technology. At FTP, she provides instrumental guidance to many of the nation’s innovative companies, leading trade associations and coalitions on how to maximize their impact both inside the Beltway and beyond.
Previously, Cindy served as Vice President of Legislative Strategies for The Campaign to Fix the Debt, deploying a campaign-wide strategy targeting policymakers on the Hill and in the Administration. As Chief of Staff to Rep. Kind, Cindy helped lead the New Democrat Coalition (NDC) launch their first successful Political Action Committee (PAC) and worked closely with the House Ways and Means Committee and House Leadership.
Today, she serves as advisor to the New Democrat Leadership, the NDC PAC, and actively raises money for moderate Democratic candidates.
Vanessa Cajina is a lobbyist with KP Public Affairs, one of the largest lobbying and public affairs consulting firms in California. Vanessa has been with KP since 2012 and leads the firm’s health care practice, and advises numerous clients on state budget work. She organizes and leads coalition efforts on some of the most pressing issues every legislative session, and provides in-depth policy expertise using her unique background coming from nonprofit advocacy and direct community service. She has secured millions of dollars of state budget support for clients over the last decade.
In addition to her work at KP, Vanessa serves on the board of directors of Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE), which is focused on ensuring political and economic parity for Latinas through leadership, advocacy, and education.
Joe serves as MultiState's CEO. He is involved in all aspects of the firm’s efforts to help clients resolve the challenges they face in the state and local government arena, with a concentration on providing strategic counsel, identifying and deploying political assets, and advancing tax policy objectives.
Prior to joining MultiState in 2011, Joe was with the Council On State Taxation (COST) for more than a decade, ending his tenure there as COO & senior director, policy. Joe has also served as national director of state legislative services for Ernst & Young LLP; vice president with a state legislative tracking firm; and director of a grassroots canvass operation in California.
Joe is a nationally recognized expert on state and local business tax policy. He was identified by State Tax Notes as the “single most influential person in state taxation” and named as the publication’s inaugural Person of the Year. Joe is routinely quoted in trade and national publications on tax policy matters, has regularly testified before state legislatures, the U.S. Congress, and other state and national policy-making bodies, and has given hundreds of presentations to local, regional, and national business groups.
Joe is past president of the State Government Affairs Council, the premier national association for multistate government affairs executives, and he served on the board of the Washington Area State Relations Group. He earned his bachelor's degree in history from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and completed graduate course work in economic policy at American University in Washington.
A Partner at Forbes Tate Partners, Paul advises clients specializing in health care policy analysis, public affairs, government relations, and stakeholder engagement. Prior to joining the firm, Paul founded Confluence Strategies, an independent public policy consulting firm.
Paul served in the Obama administration as the Director of the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) In this capacity, he provided strategic counsel to two HHS secretaries, White House staff, state and local elected officials, and a broad array of industry and nonprofit stakeholders across the country. He led the Department’s engagement with state governments and other national stakeholders on the development and implementation of the major components of the Affordable Care Act and other Obama administration health care priorities.
Paul has worked on numerous political campaigns including for the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, former Vice President Al Gore, former Senator John Kerry, and the historic election of President Barack Obama in 2008. He also served as National Political Director at the Democratic Governors Association.
Paul helped establish and served in leadership roles at the ONE Campaign, the advocacy organization founded by Bono, in support of greater U.S. support for reducing extreme poverty around the world.
Paul received a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University and a B.A. in Political Science from Boston College.
John Doherty joined the KP team in 2024. Prior to joining KP Public Affairs, Doherty was the principal of Doherty Law Group. He has over 20 years of experience in state and local policy and politics, including serving as Chief of Staff to Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico for his entire term; serving as Vice President of Government Affairs for United Health Group, a Fortune 10 company specializing in healthcare; serving as General Counsel for TechNet, an association of the world’s largest technology companies; and serving as CEO of the Civil Justice Association of California.
A Co-Founder at Forbes Tate Partners, Mr. Forbes began his involvement in politics more than 25 years ago, during then-Senator Al Gore’s 1988 Presidential bid. Since that time, he has worked with and coordinated more than nine different campaigns, ranging from municipal candidates to the U.S. Congress, as well as the White House.
Prior to starting Forbes Tate, Mr. Forbes was a Founding Partner at Forbes-Tate’s predecessor, Cauthen Forbes & Williams. He served as the Democratic Staff Director for the US Senate Committee on Finance in 2003. Before assuming this role at the Committee, he served as Chief of Staff to former Senator Max Baucus from 1999-2002. Beyond his knowledge of the intricacies of tax and trade, Forbes is a veteran strategist for the Democratic National Committee. From 1993-1995 he served as Midwest Political Director. Mr. Forbes later served the national committee as Chief of Strategy in 1999.
A stalwart of the Clinton-Gore Administration, Mr. Forbes was the New Hampshire Field Director for then-Governor Clinton’s 1992 Presidential campaign. In President Clinton’s 1996 re-election bid, Forbes was Deputy Political Director and Director of Delegate Selection. Following the campaign, Mr. Forbes went on to serve as a Special Assistant to the President and Staff Director for Legislative Affairs in 1997. From 1998-99, Mr. Forbes served as the Deputy Assistant to President Clinton and was the Deputy Director of Scheduling at the White House. Mr. Forbes also served as Senior Advisor to the Obama for President Campaign in New Hampshire in the 2008 presidential election. Mr. Forbes was a member of the Democratic National Committee’s special Democratic Change Commission to improve the presidential delegate selection process and has been a member of the DNC since 2009.
Mr. Forbes was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Northfield, Minnesota. He earned a BA in Political Science with an Economics minor from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, in 1987. Jeff and his wife live in Chevy Chase, Maryland with their three sons.
A Senior Vice President at Forbes Tate Partners, she leverages her almost 20 years of research experience to develop creative and strategic policy solutions in ways that resonate with members of Congress, industry, academia, and non-profit organizations.
In her most recent position, Dr. Gamble served as the Head of Research, Policy, and Practice for a venture-backed health care startup. She also served as the Head of Policy for both a national association and non-profit organization, where she advocated for policy issues at the intersection of health care and technology before Congress, state legislatures, governors, and insurance commissioners.
Most notably, Dr. Gamble served as the Democratic Health Counsel for the then-House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee under the late Congressman Elijah Cummings, where she co-led Congress’s first prescription drug pricing investigations and hearings, as well as several high-profile health care investigations. Prior to that, she was the legislative counsel for Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, where she served as the oversight advisor to the congresswoman.
Dr. Gamble has published multiple book chapters and articles in a variety of academic and policy journals as well as news media.
Dr. Gamble received a J.D. from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Duquesne University, a DrPH in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, and an MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics from Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Patrick is a Partner at KP and runs a wide variety of local and statewide public relations programs for KP clients. He has more than 25 years of professional public relations experience serving as a client leader, overseeing policy and corporate outreach campaigns, thought leadership platforms, crisis management, coalition building in the healthcare, education and technology industries. Patrick also has extensive media connections with both California and national sources.
A Partner at Forbes Tate Partners, Ms. Greer served for nearly eight years as Chief of Staff to former Congressman Allen Boyd (D, FL-2) before joining CFW and FTP. As Congressman Boyd’s top advisor, Libby directed the legislative and political operations for Boyd, overseeing teams in both Florida and Washington, DC.
Additionally, Ms. Greer directed the work of a group of nearly 50 fiscally conservative Democrats in implementing Congressman Boyd’s work as Co-Chairman for Administration of the Blue Dog Coalition in the 110th Congress.
In this role, Libby keenly crafted political strategy, drafted a fiscally responsible, pro-growth legislative agenda, and facilitated outreach to key allies throughout Democratic and Republican leadership – across the different caucuses of Congress and in the U.S. Senate.
In previous Congresses, Ms. Greer aided Boyd’s efforts as Co-Chairman of the Blue Dog PAC, shepherding its growth from roughly $250,000 in contributions to more than $2.6 million.
Along the way, Ms. Greer volunteered on numerous congressional and legislative races across the country. Prior to joining Boyd’s staff, Libby worked from 1999-2001 as a Senior Finance Consultant with the DC-based firm Kimball Stroud & Associates. Her clients included numerous members of Congress, Senators, and Gubernatorial candidates, as well as the non-profit Citizenship Education Fund and the Creative Coalition.
Volunteering on the Clinton-Gore coordinated campaign in Birmingham in 1996 led to Ms. Greer’s first job in politics – first as a Field Director, then Finance Director for the Alabama Democratic Party in 1997 and 1998. From there, she joined Cauthen & Associates as a Managing Director, where she consulted on a variety of issues and served as a volunteer fundraiser for Vice President Gore’s presidential campaign.
A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Ms. Greer earned a Bachelor’s degree in English from Birmingham-Southern College, where she graduated with a Distinction in Leadership Studies in 1998.
She and her husband and two children live in Washington, DC.
Casey Hernandez is a Partner at Seven Letter. Prior to joining Seven Letter, Casey was senior vice president for global corporate communications at Herbalife, a publicly traded nutrition and wellness company headquartered in Los Angeles. In her role, Casey was responsible for the company’s external and internal communications, overseeing the strategic positioning of the company. She managed the company’s overall communications strategy, including CEO positioning and communications, media relations, internal communications, creative content development, ESG communications and social media engagement.
Casey joined Herbalife in 2017 as vice president for communications content strategy and successfully built a new business function focused on raising the profile of the company through content and distribution.
Casey served in senior communications roles in the Obama administration at the United States Department of the Treasury and the Department of Transportation. She was associate creative director on the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Committee, and in 2012, she was the national regional director for paid media and polling on President Obama’s reelection campaign, overseeing advertising for battleground states and the campaign’s Spanish language paid media.
Casey was press secretary to former Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa, overseeing strategic communications planning for the Mayor in the second largest media market in the country. She led communications and media relations for issues related to public safety and homeland security, education, transportation, and economic development.
Prior to City Hall, Casey got her start working for leading political consultants in Los Angeles, helping to advise on local and state campaigns.
Born and raised in Bakersfield, CA, she’s a proud Californian who now calls Los Angeles home. Although she finds herself living in our nation’s capital from time to time, where she currently lives with her husband and two children. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and Psychology from the University of Southern California and her Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University, where she served as managing editor of the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy.
Brittany J. Hernandez is an Executive Vice President at Crossroads Strategies, LLC. She primarily works with clients in the health care, transportation, and state and local government sectors.
Brittany joined Crossroads Strategies in March 2021. She began her career in the office of Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), where she led policy related to Memphis’s thriving transportation industry in her role as Rep. Cohen’s lead staffer for his assignment on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Brittany was also responsible for Rep. Cohen’s health care portfolio, concentrating on policy aimed at improving the health of Memphians and supporting its complex health care sector.
After more than eight years with Rep. Cohen, Brittany departed Capitol Hill to lead federal affairs on health care access and quality for March of Dimes. She most recently served as the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s head of policy and advocacy, where she was responsible for launching MDA’s government affairs operation and leading its work with Congress and the Administration. As a trusted leader in the health care policy space, Brittany has led numerous multi-stakeholder coalitions focused on issues including access to care and coverage, newborn screening, federal health research funding, and more.
Brittany received a BA in History and Political Science from the University of Memphis.
Cheryl Jaeger joined Crossroads in 2023. With over two decades of experience, Cheryl is well known for her substantive health care policy knowledge, strategic counsel, and ability to creatively address client priorities with real results.
She began her 15 year Hill career as a legislative aide to former Congressman Christopher Cox and then transitioned to serve as a professional staff member on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
After her Committee experience, Cheryl advised the House Republican leadership team on health care policy for nine years, one of the longest serving leadership aides. She was a senior policy advisor to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and former Senator Roy Blunt when he served in House Leadership.
Since departing public service, Cheryl has successfully advocated for Fortune 500 companies, start-up companies, patient organizations, and trade associations at a previous firm prior to joining CRS.
Cheryl has been recognized as a leader in the rare disease space with Rare Voice award in 2014. She serves on the National Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. Cheryl received her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University.
Mathew Lapinski is CEO of Crossroads Strategies, LLC. Mat represents a broad spectrum of clients across multiple practice areas. With nearly two decades of advocacy experience, he is an expert in navigating Washington’s federal legislative and regulatory institutions.
Beginning as a lobbyist for health care and insurance interests, Mat now covers a broad array of policy disciplines, including financial services, energy, health care, trade, education, and technology.
Called one of Washington’s most persistent lobbyists, Mat has spent his entire career dedicated solely to managing the legislative and regulatory process. He is adept at developing and implementing advocacy campaigns for corporate, association, and non-profit clients. He also provides risk management advisory services to clients seeking to better understand the impact of government action on business.
He has led client representations related to the largest federal interventions of the last 20 years, including the response to the 2008 financial crisis, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and the ongoing response to COVID-19.
Prior to joining Crossroads, Mat was a Principal of the public policy practice at Dentons and part of the lobbying team at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
Mat is a 2002 graduate of Georgetown University.
A Partner at Forbes Tate Partners, Scott was Senior Vice President for Federal Advocacy at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). In that role, Scott led PhRMA’s federal government affairs initiatives, working with a range of stakeholders on and off Capitol Hill to develop and advocate for health policies fostering innovation and ensuring patient access to new medicines.
Prior to his work at PhRMA, Scott led federal advocacy at Amgen, Inc, where he served as Executive Director of Federal Government Affairs. Being fluent in Japanese, Scott subsequently managed Amgen’s investment opportunities in Japan, China, Russia, and the European Union.
Scott leverages his 20+ years of experience working with Democrats and Republicans on health care policy. Scott began his career working in the office of then-Senator Max Baucus (D-MT). As the Senator’s top health policy aide, he supported the Senator’s health care work on the Senate Finance Committee. Additionally, as the lead Democratic lobbyist and Senate team leader at PhRMA, Scott worked on the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003.
Scott holds a bachelor’s degree and graduated magna cum laude from Boston University. He completed foreign affairs training with the U.S. Department of State and was a Mike Mansfield Fellow with the Japanese Department of Health and Welfare.
A Partner at Forbes Tate Partners, Ed has spent his career working in government and for corporations to develop policy and strategies related to global and U.S. federal and state law/regulations.
He worked for clients in the pharmaceutical, biotech and gene therapy sectors as well as companies focused on diagnostics. This work has led him to focusing on areas such as rare disease, addiction, neuromuscular and aesthetic medicine where he has experience working with all levels of organizations to support drug development and commercialization. Prior to this, Mr. Reno worked “in house” for life sciences companies leading their lobbying and policy interests including Allergan, Inc where he served as the Chief Government Affairs Officer.
In addition to this work, he serves on the Board of Advisors at Goldman Edwards LLC, a leading Information Technologies service provider, the Board of Directors of Verde Technologies, manufacturer of the at home pharmaceutical drug disposal system Deterra Pouch® which is addressing the connection between unwanted/unused opioid pills and the opioid abuse and overdose epidemic, and he is an Advisor to IACTA Pharmaceuticals, a leading drug development company focusing on the ophthalmic marketplace.
Prior to this Mr. Reno worked in the U.S. Senate and the Governor’s Office of the State of California.
A senior advisor to Concordant and recognized as a Top 50 healthcare client advisor by the Consulting Report, Paul Schrimpf brings over two decades of experience in the healthcare and life sciences space. He has worked with over 100 companies over his career, founded, and grew Prophet’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice, and has been hosting the podcast Microdosing since 2020, comprising of short, to-the-point episodes focused on the business of healthcare.
Paul’s clients turn to him for help with growth strategy and demand generation, particularly in the growing areas of Telemedicine Expansion, Transition to Value-Based Care, Growth of Biogenetics, and all-things-data, from Interoperability to Real World Evidence, to Clinically-Proven AI. He believes that tomorrow’s healthcare organizations won’t win within the traditional silos of Pharma, Payer, and Provider, but rather unlock disproportionate value by setting a strategy that is blind to those predefined archetypes.
Paul earned his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Loyola Chicago and his master's in business and customer analytics from Southern Illinois University. He also serves as Board Chair of The Water Trust, an organization that delivers health and hygiene solutions to the rural poor in East Africa.
Vice President of Media Relations at Concordant, Andrew Stern is a public relations and media relations expert with extensive experience with global media.
Andrew has served as a trusted communications advisor across multiple industries, including healthcare, retail, and finance, both in-house and in agencies. Most recently, Andrew was an Associate Partner at ICR Consilium in London, where he led media relations strategy and execution for a range of biotech, pharma, and technology companies. Prior to this, Andrew's past roles include media relations positions at Cardinal Health, Ace Hardware, and No Limit Agency. Andrew also has expertise in advertising planning and buying from his time at Starcom Worldwide.
Andrew holds a degree in Strategic Communications from The Ohio State University, and currently resides in London, England.
A senior advisor to Concordant, Greg Thompson has extensive experience in building effective communications strategies and integrated campaigns to support organizations navigating business challenges and significant milestones. During his 12-year tenure at Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) Greg built and led the enterprise external communication function. As a member of HCSC’s leadership team, Greg was recognized for working effectively across multiple business groups and functions to develop, drive and implement communication strategies to help meet business goals; including corporate positioning and reputation, crisis communication, and issues management, public affairs and advocacy, leadership positioning, stakeholder management and media relations. In addition, he led M&A, corporate social responsibility and financial situations communications strategy. He also facilitated congressional testimony and hearing preparation.
Prior to his tenure at HCSC, Greg led corporate communications and media relations for UnitedHealthcare’s central region, as well as serving as an advisor to the World Economic Forum, supporting the Davos Annual Meetings in Switzerland. Greg began his career on Wall Street working in Goldman Sachs’ fixed income department structuring and executing investment strategies for institutional and high net worth clients.
Greg serves on the board of directors of After School Matters (Chicago), The Poetry Foundation (Chicago) and Macalester College (St. Paul). Previous board service included GLAAD Media Awards (New York), Treatment Action Group (New York), Heartland Alliance Health and Human Services (Chicago) and Center on Halsted (Chicago).
He holds an M.B.A from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a B.A from Macalester College.
A Partner at Forbes Tate Partners, drawing on 20 years of experience in health policy and market access, he advocates on legislative issues before the U.S. Congress, regulatory matters the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies as well as state Governor offices. Barrett’s work has ranged from arenas of chronic and infectious diseases to oncology, innovative diagnostics and medical devices, niche and orphan therapeutics, as well as value-based business models and commercial market management. He started his career on Capitol Hill, serving as a Healthcare Legislative Assistant for U.S. Senator Mike Crapo, Patrick Toomey and the late Rep. Charlie Norwood.
Barrett received his B.A. from Dartmouth College and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. He is a licensed attorney and lives in McLean, Virginia.
Jason Van Pelt is an Executive Vice President at Crossroads Strategies, LLC. Jason primarily advocates for clients in the health care industry, providing strategic advice on working with Members of Congress and the Administration.
Jason began his career in Washington serving in various capacities on the staff of former Congressman Ed Whitfield of Kentucky from 1996 to 2003. Working at Merck (2003-2014) and Novartis (2014-2017), Jason spent over 13 years as an in-house federal advocate. He was responsible for identifying critical legislative opportunities and threats to the company, analyzing their potential impact, ensuring the timely development of appropriate policy positions, and developing and implementing strategies to advocate for and achieve the desired results. He focused primarily on health care, tax, and congressional oversight.
Jason graduated with a B.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the College of William & Mary School of Law. He serves on the board of the Congressional Award Foundation, Congress’ official charity.
A Managing Partner at Forbes Tate Partners, he provides invaluable guidance to a variety of Fortune 500s, non-profits, and government entities on legislative strategies before Congress.
Zach has constructed and executed dozens of strategies on behalf of Forbes Tate Partners’ clients on issues, including, but not limited to: tax, finance, housing, healthcare, and technology.
To that end, he has also secured millions of dollars in federal funding for clients – as he represents several universities and municipalities before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Appropriations Committees.
A Partner at Cauthen, Forbes & Williams – which later became Forbes Tate Partners – and former Managing Director of Cauthen and Associates in Washington, DC, Zach’s broad experience in Democratic politics began with his work with the Alabama Democratic Party in the 1996 statewide, coordinated campaign.
Mr. Williams has deep roots with the Democratic National Committee. He coordinated logistics for event credentials at both the 2000 and 2004 Democratic National Party Conventions. He also helped to lead grassroots campaign efforts in the Keystone State for Gore-Lieberman 2000 and Lieberman for Senate 2006.
Additionally, Zach served as a top advisor in then-Lt. Governor Lucy Baxley’s 2006 campaign for Governor in Alabama.
A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Zach received his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Foreign Languages – and also studied business law at the L’Ecole Supérieure du Commerce Extérieur in Paris, France.
Mr. Williams and his wife are natives of Alabama – they have two young children.
A global business leader with over 30 years of experience in politics and policy, corporate strategy, communications, marketing, brand, and corporate citizenship, Sarah Wills is a trusted advisor to corporate, government and non-profit leaders across markets and industries.
Recognized for excellence in corporate affairs, Sarah has a uniquely broad lens developed from her experience as a political consultant, policy advisor in both chambers on Capitol Hill and to a Governor, and in leadership roles supporting CEOs in the finance, industrial, technology and healthcare sectors.
Prior to leading Concordant Advisory, Ms. Wills served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Cardinal Health, where she presided over communications, government relations, enterprise marketing, brand, and ESG. Earlier in her career, Wills spent ten years at GE serving in leadership roles within government relations, communications and global strategy, followed by a stint leading corporate affairs at Tempus AI, a precision medicine startup company.
Before her corporate career, Sarah spent fifteen years in politics and policy, initially as an Associate for David Axelrod and Associates, then several years as a Legislative Assistant on Capitol Hill, Senior Policy Counsel to the Governor of New Jersey, and Executive Director for New Jobs for New York, a 501(c)(3) launched by then U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Roger Altman, founder of Evercore.
Based in Chicago, Ms. Wills serves on the Board of Directors of the Joffrey Ballet and the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio and is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Illinois Wesleyan University.
Shayne Woods joined the Alpine Group after working on Capitol Hill for almost a decade, most recently serving as Senior Legislative Assistant for Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. An entrepreneur and policy expert, with expertise in both health care and tech, Shayne has a deep understanding of critical legislative issues. In Senator Scott’s office, Shayne’s legislative areas of focus included health care, Social Security, retirement, budget, and commerce, science, and transportation issues. He also led a team that advised Senator Scott on tax, trade, aging, and education issues. Additionally, Shayne prepared public statements, drafted correspondence, and met with constituents and advocacy groups regarding the aforementioned issues.
His close work with both the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee resulted in securing numerous extensions for health care provisions. As the Senate discussed artificial intelligence (AI), Shayne ensured Senator Scott was kept well-apprised of these discussions with his team serving as a knowledgeable resource on the issue. His background in health care and tech has given him a deep appreciation for emerging technologies like AI and gene therapies and the challenging regulatory landscape facing innovators. Prior to joining Senator Scott’s team in 2021, Shayne worked in the U.S. House of Representatives for six years, previously serving as Senior Policy Advisor for Representative Gus Bilirakis of Florida.
Prior to Capitol Hill, Shayne was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FwdHealth [pronounced “forward health”] – a health IT company that connected clients and their health apps to a network of nationally-certified fitness trainers through live, two-way video chat. In addition to FwdHealth, Shayne also founded and ran a health care consulting practice that advised key industry stakeholders on the Affordable Care Act while providing business development assistance.
Shayne holds a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and resides in Northern Virginia with his wonderful wife and 2 children.
Stay up to date with our latest news and announcements.