Lobbying World

• The issue advocacy firm DDC Advocacy hired James C. Lake as executive vice president. Prior to that, he worked at McBee Strategic and managed the firm’s domestic and international client development. He was president and partner at Gibraltar Associates, which later merged with McBee Strategic, and also spent more than six years at Burson-Marsteller.
 
• The animal rights group Born Free USA named Adam Roberts as its CEO. He helped found the organization in 2002 and has since been serving as an executive vice president. Roberts also founded and runs The $10 Club, a charity that funds projects in developing countries to alleviate poverty.
 
• Blue Engine Message & Media hired two new staffers: Tiffany M. Edwards, former press secretary for the House of Representatives Education and the Workforce Committee, and former White House intern TJ Adams-Falconer. Edwards, who also worked at the Energy Department, will focus on energy, education reform and child welfare issues at Blue Engine.
 
• Christopher Hayes has joined the Small Business Investor Alliance (SBIA), a trade group for smaller private equity funds and investors, as the legislative and regulatory counsel. Before that, he worked at the Justice Department and assisted with cases related to the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. In his new role, he “will advise the SBIA on financial compliance and regulatory issues as well as engage in legislative outreach in Congress.”
 
• Rasky Baerlein and Prism Public Affairs have merged, creating one of the top public relations firms by revenue. The new firm will be called Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, have 55 professionals and operate in both Boston and Washington. During a transition period, however, it will be known as Rasky Baerlein|Prism.
 
• Drinker Biddle & Reath announced that its lobbying and advocacy practice is undergoing a rebranding and will be called the District Policy Group. Ilisa Halpern Paul, the president of the District Policy Group and managing government relations director for Drinker Biddle said, “Our clients have long known that we function as a specialized, personalized, one-stop shop, but now we have a brand that reflects how we operate.”