Lobbying World

• The U.S. Institute of Peace named Diane Zeleny as its vice president for external relations. Zeleny has served as the organization’s director of communications since 2014. Her resume also includes work at the State Department and Radio Free Europe, in addition to think tanks and nonprofit groups.

• Larissa Martinez, who served on President Trump’s transition team, has joined Invariant. On Capitol Hill, she most recently worked for Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), serving as executive director, senior adviser, political director and deputy campaign manager. Martinez also spent time on Republican Carly Fiorina’s presidential campaign in the 2016 cycle.

{mosads}• Mars Inc. transferred Peter Rowan over from its corporate headquarters to serve as senior director of federal affairs. Before that, he worked within the Mars Corporate Innovation Team. Rowan also worked at UBS, a financial services company, and spent six years in the George W. Bush administration.

• On Aug. 1, Ed Kutler will be joining lobbying and public relations firm Subject Matter as counsel to its government relations team. He’s now at his own firm, The Kutler Group, but previously worked for large firm Clark & Weinstock, which merged with Mercury in 2014. Kutler was a senior adviser to former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).  

• Dentons is adding two former Democratic mayors to its local government solutions team: former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. Rawlings-Blake served from 2010 to 2016. Nutter served from 2008 to 2016.

• Business Roundtable hired Liz Dougherty as general counsel and corporate secretary. The group, which represents corporate CEOs, also promoted Maria Ghazal to senior vice president and counsel. Dougherty comes from Jones Day, where she served in the firm’s labor and employment practice, and has also worked as a special assistant to former President George W. Bush. Ghazal has been with the Business Roundtable since 2015 and most recently served as general counsel.