• Shelley Rubino will start as Airlines for America’s vice president of global government affairs on April 2. Rubino leaves her position as chief of staff for House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (Conn.). She has also served as a top aide for Connecticut state House Speaker Thomas Ritter and as the director of government law and strategies for Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels.
• Catherine Karen has joined Sidley Austin as counsel for the firm’s government-strategies team. Karen previously worked at the National Alliance of Forest Owners as vice president for government affairs. She also served at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Congressional Affairs as deputy associate administrator and at the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers as head of government relations.
{mosads} • Jeff Bjornstad has been promoted to partner at Washington2 Advocates. Bjornstad joined the firm a year ago from Capitol Hill. He served as chief of staff to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Reps. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) during his 14-year stint on Capitol Hill.
• Chad Griffin will become president of the Human Rights Campaign on June 11. Griffin is the sponsor of the Proposition 8 lawsuit in California and has headed several ballot initiatives, including Proposition 87: California’s Clean Alternative Energy Initiative. He served under President Clinton on the communications team and is a founding board member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights.
• Victoria Rostow has joined the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts as senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs. Rostow previously worked for the National Association of Bond Layers as the director of governmental affairs and Washington office head. Before that, she worked for Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal as partner and head of the financial services group and as Bank One/ JP Morgan Chase’s federal government and regulatory relations senior vice president and head.
• Mark Young has been named the president of ShiftCentral. Young helped launch the merger of Sonnnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal with Denton Wilde in 2010 (the firm is now known as SNR Denton). He has also served as Foley Hoag’s chief marketing officer and as a partner at Peabody & Arnold.