Our Experts

• Salim Alameddin

Salim Alameddin

Salim Alameddin is a Senior Vice President at Crossroads Strategies. Salim represents clients across numerous industries before legislative and executive branch officials and staff, focusing on foreign trade, energy and environment, federal lands, and tribal matters.

In addition, Salim provides strategic guidance and tailor-made issue monitoring resources to clients in a wide array of legislative and regulatory fields, applying a deep network among congressional staff to hone in on clients’ specific concerns and priorities.

Prior to joining Crossroads Strategies, Salim worked in both Chambers of Congress for then-Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn and Representative Will Hurd, where he assisted on issues including but not limited to tax policy, health care, and international trade.

A Texas native, Salim also assists clients in engaging his home state delegation and the broader Gulf Coast. He is active in campaigns for federal office in the region and has worked extensively at the intersection of clients’ state and federal government affairs.

Salim grew up in Sugar Land, Texas, and graduated from the University of Alabama with a B.A. in Political Science and History.



• Debbie Anderson-Brooke

  President
Debbie Anderson-Brooke President

Debbie Anderson-Brooke has earned a reputation as a proven partner to global industry leaders, developing brand, communications and marketing strategies that navigate complex, multi stakeholder environments toward commercial success.

At Intel, Debbie led executive communications for the CEO, partnering with him to develop an award-winning strategy targeted at workforce inclusion. At Microsoft, she led marketing strategies for new product and platform investments. At Docker, she guided a non-profit, open-source organization toward commercial profitability and acquisition. At Convoy, she advised the company’s COO and President through multiple financial rounds and eventual shut down. At Bitium, she built and ran a high-performing marketing team on the way toward acquisition by Google.

Over the last 30 years, Debbie has won the confidence and respect of hundreds of senior executives by repeatedly demonstrating her determination to stay in the foxhole until the job is done. Managing activist investors, disgruntled workforces and even unhappy Presidents, the key to her many successful engagements has been her personal commitment to transparency, accountability and the success and the wellbeing of the individual executive.



• Lauren Bazell

Lauren Bazell

Lauren Bazel brings a wide variety of experience from her more than three decades working in the legislative and public policy arena, beginning with a career as a tax journalist and culminating with service as a senior Senate policy advisor.

Her Senate career began as the Senior Advisor for Tax Policy to Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and she supported the Senator in her capacity as a member of both the Senate Finance Committee and Senate Small Business Committee. As her senior economic policy advisor, Lauren was actively involved on the Senator’s behalf during consideration of several major pieces of legislation including the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the Energy Independence Act of 2007. During her time with Senator Cantwell, Lauren was the lead Senate staffer involved in the drafting and successful enactment of the provisions modernizing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), and was instrumental in the drafting and inclusion of the renewable energy tax incentives and low-income housing provisions adopted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Immediately prior to joining the Alpine Group in 2013, Lauren was a senior economic policy advisor to former Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and his interim replacement, Senator William “Mo” Cowan (D-MA). She joined the Kerry staff in October 2011 to support the Senator’s work on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction and continued to serve him, and then Senator Cowan, as primary advisor on a range of tax, budget, housing, and general economic matters.

Before working with Senator Kerry, she was the Associate Director for Government Affairs at the Center for American Progress, a prominent public policy think tank. As a member of the External Affairs Department, she assisted and staffed CAP Executives with congressional testimony, and also advocated for CAP policy recommendations by working directly with Members of Congress, the Executive Branch, and outside progressive organizations on policy development, message development, and legislative strategy.

Earlier in her career, Lauren was a Senior Manager at Washington Council Ernst & Young, where she lobbied on federal tax issues on behalf of corporate clients.



• John Breaux Sr.

John Breaux Sr.

A Principal & Director of Crossroads Strategies, Senator Breaux led a long and distinguished career in the US Congress. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1972 at the age of 28 – at the time of his election, he was the youngest member of Congress. He represented the 7th District of Louisiana for 14 years before being elected to the United States Senate in 1986. Senator Breaux was a widely recognized bipartisan leader in the Senate, and in 1993, was appointed by his Democratic colleagues to the post of Chief Deputy Whip, a position he held until his retirement. He also held a number of key Senate committee positions.

A senior member of the Finance Committee, Senator Breaux served as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy. He also held positions on two other Finance subcommittees, the Subcommittee on Health Care and the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight. Senator Breaux also served on the Senate Commerce, Science and Technology Committee, where he was a leader on telecommunications and transportation issues, along with his work on fisheries and ocean policy.



• Brendan Buck

Brendan Buck

Brendan Buck is a Partner at Seven Letter. With the rare distinction of having served two consecutive Speakers of the House, Brendan has an acute understanding of the convergence of Capitol Hill, the White House and the media. Prior to joining Seven Letter, Brendan spent more than a decade on Capitol Hill, where he navigated countless crises and helped drive the enactment of landmark tax, trade and budget legislation. Most recently, he was counselor to House Speaker Paul Ryan, leading messaging and communications strategy for the speaker and the broader House Republican leadership team. Before that, Brendan served as communications director at the House Ways and Means Committee, where he shepherded enactment of bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority legislation.

Brendan also spent time working in corporate communications, serving as vice president for communications at America’s Health Insurance Plans. At AHIP, he was the insurance industry’s top spokesman and drove a major campaign on health care affordability.

Prior to that, Brendan was press secretary to House Speaker John Boehner. Under Speaker Boehner, Brendan worked extensively with the White House press corps to shape the coverage of the Obama administration. Brendan was also on the 2012 Romney-Ryan presidential campaign, serving as press secretary to the Vice President nominee. He’s held several other senior communications roles on Capitol Hill, including for now Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former Rep. Tom Price.

Frequently quoted in print and a familiar face on television, Brendan is a Political Analyst for MSNBC and NBC News and is regularly sought out for his insights and commentary on politics and the issues of the day. In 2022, he was a Resident Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.

POLITICO named him to its inaugural Power 30 list in 2017, and in 2020, PR Week named him to their annual ’40 Under 40’. He was also named a ‘40 Under 40’ alumnus by the University of Georgia, which is where you can find him many Saturdays during football season.



• Mike Burns

Mike Burns

Mike is the­­ Managing Partner at KP. With a wide variety of clients, Mike has been involved in several major policy areas including energy, water resources, environmental regulation, and ports and the supply chain.

In addition to public affairs issues, Mike has managed communication programs that involved crisis communications, social media, corporate reputation, and product marketing. He works with California corporations and small business owners, state business associations, and philanthropic and foundation groups.



• Joe Crosby

Joe Crosby

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.



• Scott Deitz

Scott Deitz

Scott Deitz is a Partner at Seven Letter. As part of his commitment to excellence in corporate social responsibility and its requisite business value, Scott is a Certified ESG Practitioner as provided by the Center for Sustainability and Excellence. Scott frequently partners with the C-suite, sustainability and responsible sourcing teams, and a company’s communication team to achieve success.

At Seven Letter, Scott specializes in all matters of corporate communication and engagement, including C-suite counsel, messaging, internal and external communication, issues management, financial communications and investor relations, and planning and implementing global leadership meetings. He frequently provides counsel to companies on issues related to reputational crises, capital market listings, M&A, divestitures, spin-offs, start-ups, bankruptcies, and activist relations.

Previously, Scott was Vice President, Public Affairs at global apparel and footwear sector leader VF Corporation (The North Face, Vans, Timberland, Dickies, JanSport, SmartWool and Supreme) and later Vice President, Corporate Relations at Kontoor Brands (Wrangler, Lee), a public company spun off from VF in 2019. Scott was a member of the senior leadership teams of both companies.

Scott’s experience also includes serving as Senior Vice President and Partner at a leading public relations and marketing communications firm, providing clients with communication counsel on topics of corporate issues and crisis communication, investor relations, financial and special-situation communications, and activist engagement.

Prior to Scott’s work as a consultant, he was Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at building materials and fiber glass reinforcements company Owens Corning. There he helped to re-establish the company’s reputation and guided Owens Corning back to the New York Stock Exchange as a member in good standing following years in asbestos-related bankruptcy. Scott began his career working in corporate communications and financial communication in the global paper and forest products industry.

Scott holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He also studied business at the Kellogg School of Management and multi-cultural communication at Sweden’s Krauthammer International.

He is a frequent university lecturer, public speaker, and is a powerful advocate for bringing people and organizations together to break down long-standing barriers and to achieve business and social goals.



• Gordon Goldstein

Gordon Goldstein

A senior advisor to Concordant, Gordon M. Goldstein is an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). From 2010 to 2018, he was also a managing director at Silver Lake, the world’s largest investment firm in the global technology industry. Goldstein represented Silver Lake as a member of the U.S. delegation to the 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications in the United Arab Emirates and also served on the American delegation to the 2014 UN International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference in South Korea.

Goldstein is a former managing director at Clark & Weinstock, a government relations, corporate communications, and strategy consulting firm. He also served as a consultant to the Albright Stonebridge Group, a strategy advisory firm in Washington, DC. He was a senior advisor to the strategic planning unit of the executive office of the UN secretary-general, and codirected the CFR project on the information revolution and the Brookings Institution project on sovereign wealth funds and global public investors. Goldstein is a former Wayland fellow and visiting lecturer at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. He was a visiting lecturer at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.

Goldstein is the author of Lessons In Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam, a study of national security strategy and White House decision-making, which was a Foreign Affairs best seller.

He has appeared on ABC, the BBC, CNN, and MSNBC, and his articles, op-eds, and book review essays have been published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times, Atlantic, Newsweek, Politico, Foreign Policy, and Spanish-language newspaper El Pais, for which he is a contributing commentator on the global technology industry, internet, and cybersecurity.

Dr. Goldstein is a graduate of Phillips Academy Andover and Columbia University, where he was an International Fellow and was awarded a BA, MIA, M.Phil and Ph.D in political science and international relations. He continues his affiliation with the university as a nonresident fellow of Columbia Law School's Roger Hertog Program on Law and National Security. He is a member of the advisory board for the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.



• Jay Ireland

Jay Ireland

A senior advisor to Concordant and Co-founder of Earlylands, a strategy and risk advisory firm focused on global markets, Jay Ireland brings decades of cross-functional, senior leadership experience, including a 38-year career with GE in a wide variety of senior positions across business units and functions. Jay is also currently the executive chairman of Milele Energy, a power-generation company investing in clean-energy projects across sub-Saharan Africa.

As the CEO of GE Africa (2011-2018), Jay led GE’s operations on the sub-continent, growing revenue in Africa from $750M to nearly $4B. Other leadership roles included CEO of GE Asset Management, President of NBC Universal Television Stations, CFO of GE Plastics, and Director of Investor Relations. Jay was a GE company officer and member of the company’s Corporate Executive Council.

Jay is a board member of the Mastercard Foundation and a non-executive director of the publicly-listed Gates Industrial Corporation. He is also a Trustee of St. Lawrence University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1977.



• Todd Johnson

Todd Johnson

A senior advisor to Concordant and Co-founder of Earlylands, a strategy and risk advisory firm focused on global markets, Todd Johnson has spent 25 years working at the intersection of risk, strategy, and corporate affairs, with a focus on emerging and frontier markets. Todd served from 2019-2022 as the Global Risk Leader for Standard Industries, a privately-held company with holdings that include some of the world’s largest manufacturers of building solutions and performance materials. From 2011-2019, Todd was the Johannesburg-based Risk Leader for GE Africa. In this position, he managed all non-financial risk mitigation efforts for GE on the sub-continent. Prior to joining GE Africa, Todd was a member of a strategy team that exclusively served then-GE CEO Jeff Immelt. He began his career and served for eight years as a political-military intelligence analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency.

In addition to his professional roles, Todd is a visiting professor at IESE Business School in Barcelona, where he focuses on business strategy in Africa. Previously, Todd was an adjunct faculty member at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. He is a board member and finance committee chair for Emerging Public Leaders, a non-profit co-founded by Nobel Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf that develops apolitical civil service cadres across Africa.
Todd has a BA in Political Science with Distinction from the University of Kansas and a Master of International Public Policy with Honors from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He is a former Council on Foreign Relations Term Member.



• Mathew Lapinski

Mathew Lapinski

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.



• Sen. Trent Lott

Sen. Trent Lott

A Principal & Director of Crossroads Strategies, Senator Lott represented the people of Mississippi in Congress for 35 years and is one of a handful of officials to have held elected leadership positions in both the House of Representatives and Senate. During his 16 years in the House and 19 years in the Senate, he worked closely with seven presidential administrations and was regarded as a savvy coalition builder and dealmaker. Senator Lott joined the House in 1973, representing Mississippi’s Fifth Congressional District. From 1981 to 1989, he served as House Minority Whip, the second-ranking Republican in the House.

In 1995, Senator Lott was elected Senate Republican Whip, giving him the distinction of being the only person to hold that position in both the House and Senate. He served as both Senate Majority and Minority Leader from 1996 to 2003.



• Samantha McLean

Samantha McLean

A Senior Vice President at Forbes Tate Partners, she has served over a decade in the United States Senate, leading a policy portfolio related to national security and foreign relations. As the senior legislative sssistant for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), the Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce Committee, she was responsible for crafting the senator’s national security platform, including matters spanning the Senate’s Committees on Foreign Relations, Armed Services, Banking, Commerce, Science and Transportation, Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and Judiciary.

During her tenure in the Senate, Samantha managed the National Defense Authorization Act process, securing dozens of initiatives each fiscal year. Additionally, she served as the personal representative of the member (PRM) on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where she advanced measures relating to democracy, human rights, and sanctions.

Samantha has cultivated and maintained a decade’s worth of relationships with policy experts, diplomats, contractors, and elected officials, which has been a leading contributor to the senator’s success in the enactment of bipartisan measures and building his policy record.

Samantha is a graduate of Clemson University where she received a B.A. in political science and government. Originally from Massachusetts, Samantha now lives in Virginia with her husband and their pointer, Finn.



• Chris Miller

Chris Miller

Chris Miller is an Executive Vice President at Crossroads Strategies, LLC. Chris advocates for clients in a range of industries, including Energy and Environment, Trade and Foreign Relations, Transportation and Homeland Security, and Tribal Governments.

Prior to joining Crossroads Strategies, Chris served as an Executive Vice President at Capitol Strategies and Vice President at Denny Miller Associates, where he represented multiple clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies, Federally Recognized Tribes, State and Local Governments, and non-profits.

Chris began his career working in both the U.S. Senate and in the House of Representatives. Most recently, Chris served as Chief of Staff to former Representative Dave Reichert, a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee. He started with Representative Reichert as Legislative Director, where he was an adviser for energy and trade policy and was the principal staff for the Homeland Security and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees. Chris’ first positions on Capitol Hill included serving Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), Senator Tim Hutchinson (R-AR), Representative Jennifer Dunn (R-WA), and Representative Gary Miller (R-CA).

Chris received a Master of Business Administration from the Carson College of Business at Washington State University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Marketing from Oregon State University.



• Cornell Teague

Cornell Teague

Cornell Teague provides his clients strategic advice and advocacy around the federal budget and appropriations processes, including insight into the convergence between our Nation’s national security and fiscal policy objectives. Teague joined Alpine Group in 2017, after spending seven years as a Professional Staff Member on the House Appropriations Committee, including the last three with the Subcommittee on Defense, where he was the primary staff member responsible for the Committee’s oversight of the Department of Defense’s operations accounts, an annual expenditure exceeding $250 billion across the Services and Defense-Wide agencies.

Before joining the Defense Subcommittee, Teague worked for the House Appropriations Committee, Homeland Security Subcommittee, focusing primarily on cybersecurity and transportation security budgeting and appropriations. He began working on the Committee as an aide to then Full Committee Chairman Hal Rogers of Kentucky. While on Capitol Hill, he also participated in 114th Congress’ John C. Stennis Fellows Program for Public Service, a bipartisan, bicameral leadership program for senior staff in the U.S. Congress.

The method for funding federal programs through discretionary spending can seem convoluted to the casual observer and Teague is a frequent guest lecturer at universities, and in front of businesses, organizations, civil servants and clients.

Teague has also worked in The White House, serving President George W. Bush at the Homeland Security Council and USA Freedom Corps. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky and received his Master of Business Administration at George Mason University. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.



• Brian White

Brian White

Brian is a Partner at KP. He is a registered lobbyist, providing strategic counsel on policy, regulatory consulting, and advocacy for a variety of clients. He represents clients in discussions with the Governor’s Office, California Legislature, regulatory agencies, including for clients such as Cypress Creek Renewables, Off Shore Wind CA, Pacific Merchant Shipping Assn, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Tenaska, International Code Council, Visions In Education, Association of Personalized Schools & Services, CA Licensed Foresters Assn, Forest Landowners of CA, and Hipcamp. With an extensive government affairs background, Brian is a seasoned public policy and legislative strategist who holds expertise in many policy areas. His experience in building coalitions and fostering positive relationships for a diverse client base makes Brian particularly adept in finding proactive solutions that positively benefits clients while also being able to neutralize potential negative threats.



• Sarah Wills

  CEO
Sarah Wills CEO

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.