Lobbying World

Holland & Knight has chosen David Whitestone as the head of the firm’s government section, succeeding former Rep. Gerry Sikorski (D-Minn.), who has led the practice for more than 10 years. Whitestone is a partner in Holland & Knight’s Washington office, joining the firm in 1999 from Capitol Hill.

Nancy Powers Perry is joining the American Council of Life Insurers as a legislative director. Prior to that, she served as a senior policy adviser to former Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), who retired this year from Congress. She has also served as the director for government affairs at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts.

The Institute of Makers of Explosives (IME) promoted John Boling, the group’s director of government affairs, to a new role in the organization: vice president of government affairs. He has been with IME since 2015, and previously worked on Capitol Hill, including for House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.).

Former Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.) joined King & Spalding as senior counsel in the government advocacy and public policy practice. Before that, he had been a member of Congress for eight terms.

Will Smith, who has led the House Appropriations Committee’s Republican staff for the last three years of his 22-year congressional career, will be joining Cornerstone Government Affairs, a lobbying firm that handles a slew of appropriations work. He starts March 20. Smith also spent 12 years as the chief of staff to Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.).

Spark Therapeutics, a gene therapy company, hired Jeremy Allen to serve as the head of government relations. He comes from America’s Health Insurance Plans, and has also held lobbying roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson.

TJ Birkel has left his lobbying gig at MasterCard to start his own firm, Upland Strategies. He had been at the credit card giant since 2015, serving as its director of federal government relations. Prior to that, he served as the manager of federal government relations at Darden Restaurants, which features brands such as Olive Garden. On Capitol Hill, Birkel worked for former Nebraska Republican Sens. Mike Johanns and Chuck Hagel.