Lobbying world

• Arnold & Porter added David Skillman to its lobbying and public policy team. Skillman was mostly recently deputy chief of staff to Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and before that served as his legislative director and counsel.  

• The Democratic lobbying firms Public Strategies Washington and Capitol Hill Strategies announced they are merging and will create a combined firm with nearly a dozen lobbyists. The new firm will operate under the name Public Strategies Washington, and Chuck Brain and A.J. Wojciak of Capitol Hill Strategies will be principals.

• Intel appointed Jeff Rittener as its chief government affairs officer and general manager of its governments, markets and trade group. Rittener has been leading the group since June when Intel’s top lobbyist, Peter Cleveland, left the company.  

• Karyn A. Temple was named senior executive vice president and global general counsel at the Motion Picture Association. She will join the association in January and most recently was the register of copyrights in the U.S. Copyright Office.

• Alston & Bird named Kathleen Benway a partner in the firm›s Washington office. Benway is a former chief of staff at the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

• TechNet, a network of technology CEOs and senior executives, named Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker its next chairman. His two-year term will begin on Jan. 1.

• The National Governors Association hired Susie Perez Quinn as director of government affairs and Eric Wohlschlegel as director of communications. Perez Quinn was ex-Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-Fla.) chief of staff, and Wohlschlegel worked in communications for the Chamber of Commerce, American Petroleum Institute and House Energy and Commerce Committee. They will report to Bill McBride, who was appointed in August as executive director after serving as director of the state of Michigan’s Washington office.

• The Drug Policy Alliance named Maritza Perez the new director of its Office of National Affairs. Perez was senior policy analyst for criminal justice reform at the Center for American Progress.