Lobbying World: Utility trade group CEO to step down

Tom Kuhn announced he will step down from his position as president and CEO of the Edison Electric Institute after leading the utility company trade association for more than 30 years. He’ll stay on until the end of the year. The group aims to have a new CEO in place by then. 

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck hired Jonathan Towers as a policy director. Towers comes from the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, where he served as staff director and was Republicans’ lead negotiator on the PACT Act.

DLA Piper hired Rachel Portman as a policy adviser in the firm’s health policy strategic consulting practice. Portman previously served as deputy health policy director for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee under Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who joined DLA Piper in February. David Cleary, another former Burr aide, joined the firm last month.

America’s Health Insurance Plans hired Sohini Gupta as executive vice President of government affairs and innovations and Robert Traynham as executive vice president of public affairs and strategic initiatives. Gupta most recently led government affairs at Global Medical Response, while Traynham did public affairs at Meta.

Fred Clark rejoined Cornerstone Government Affairs as a senior consultant. Clark most recently served as Republican chief counsel on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. He worked at Cornerstone for a decade before taking on the committee role.

Madeleine Russak joined the Signal Group as a vice president. Russak most recently was communications director for Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and previously served as deputy communications director for Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The Independent Community Bankers of America brought on Sam Mayper as vice president of congressional relations. Mayper comes from the American Bankers Association, where he was a senior legislative manager. He previously was a legislative assistant to former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.). 

Lobbying World documents the top lobbying hires in the nation’s capital every week. Send tips to Karl at kevers@digital-stage.thehill.com.