• Kristine O’Brien was named vice president for global government affairs at Airlines for America. She will leave her post as the director of outreach and member services for House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.). Before that, she worked as a legislative aide for Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and worked on transportation, infrastructure and economic development issues.
• Barnes & Thornburg has added Zachary Johnson as the director of state government affairs of Georgia. He was most recently vice president of government relations at McGuireWoods Consulting.
{mosads}• Van Scoyoc Associates announced Carlisle Clarke will be joining the firm as a vice president. Clarke has been majority clerk of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies for more than four years. Before that, he worked as professional staff on the subcommittee for three years.
• The Consumer Technology Association hired Jamie Susskind as vice president of policy and regulatory affairs. She was Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr’s chief of staff and legal adviser. Before that, Susskind worked as chief counsel to Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and was an aide on the Senate Commerce Committee.
• Michael Short was recently appointed director of the Office of External Affairs and chief communications officer at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He was previously senior director of strategic communications for the National Association of Manufacturers and worked as White House press aide, a post he left in July 2017.
• Microsoft joined the XR Association, a trade association that represents headset and technology manufacturers across the augmented, virtual and mixed reality industries. Microsoft will join founding members Facebook, Google, HTC Vive, Samsung and Sony.