Lobbying World: Senate floor veteran joins FGS Global

The strategic communications firm FGS Global snagged Tricia Engle as a partner. A 26-year veteran Senate floor aide who worked for three Democratic leaders, Engle most recently managed Senate floor operations for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the Democratic Caucus as the assistant secretary for the majority.

“Without Tricia, the Democratic caucus wouldn’t have accomplished a fraction — and that is true, a fraction — of all the amazing things that we’ve gotten done over the years,” Schumer said in floor remarks on June 15. “There are probably maybe fewer than 10 people who know as much about the Senate as [Tricia].”

Rachel Gorsky Bombach joined Kasowitz Benson Torres as a policy adviser. Bombach has more than 20 years of public policy and national security experience, including stints as legislative director to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and director of the National Security Council in the Obama administration.

Mercury Public Affairs is expanding its Illinois operation with the addition of former state Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D) and veteran Democratic strategist and lobbyist Zach Koutsky. Hutchinson also previously worked as senior adviser to Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker. 

Ryan Carney joined K&L Gates as a government affairs adviser. Carney spent the last eight years as chief of staff to Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Administration Committee, and former Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.). Carney also served as the Republican staff director for the House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and a senior adviser for the Committee on House Administration.

Holland & Knight welcomed Kristian Havard as an aviation senior policy advisor and a member of the firm’s aviation policy team in Washington, D.C. Havard, a former Louisiana state senate aide, most recently worked as the government affairs department head at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the world’s second busiest airport.