• R&R Partners is acquiring the Washington practice of Gallatin Public Affairs. In turn, three new members are joining its government-relations team: Joe Hardy, Ethan Saxon and Sara Bartles. Hardy has served as a top aide to Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Saxton was a principal with Gallatin before joining the firm and has worked with Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) and former Rep. Jim Maloney (D-Conn.). Bartles also worked for Gallatin and was the legislative director for the Republican Majority for Choice.
{mosads}• Penny Lee has been hired by Venn Strategies. Lee comes from the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). She was a senior adviser for communications and outreach during the last Congress, managing Reid’s message and collaboration with the Senate Democratic Conference.
• Randel K. Johnson has been appointed to the ERISA Advisory Council. At the council, Johnson will advise the Labor secretary on issues relating to pensions and healthcare. Johnson is vice president for labor policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Before coming to the Chamber in 1997, Johnson was the Republican labor counsel and coordinator for the House Education and Workforce Committee and also was a Labor Department attorney.
• Alissa Fox will now be the senior vice president of the office of policy and representation at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA). Fox most recently served as vice president of legislative and regulatory policy at BCBSA. Prior to coming to the association, Fox spent a decade at the Department of Health and Human Services.
• Thomas J. Lang and Jonathan L. Snare have joined Morgan Lewis and will work in the firm’s Washington office. Lang is a senior trial counsel for the Federal Trade Commission. Snare is the deputy solicitor of labor at the Labor Department.