Lobbying World: Motion Picture Association adds FBI alum as content protection chief

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has hired Larissa Knapp as executive vice president and chief content protection officer. Knapp joins the MPA after 27 years at the Federal Bureau of Investigations, where she recently led the national security branch as the bureau’s fourth-highest-ranking official.

Jenness Simler will lead the national security government relations practice at Invariant. Simler joins from Boeing, where she was vice president of contested logistics solutions, and she worked on the House Armed Services Committee and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Navy’s Office of Naval Research.

The National Association of Manufacturers has hired Chris Phalen as vice president of domestic policy. Phalen most recently was a senior policy adviser to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.).

The U.S.-China Business Council, which represents more than 270 American companies doing business in China, has hired Rich Harper to lead its D.C. government affairs team. Harper was most recently director of government affairs at the Outdoor Industry Association and served as a policy adviser to former Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Tyson Megown has joined the Alliance for Automotive Innovation as director of mobilization. He joins from the American Petroleum Institute, where he was director of external mobilization.

Rob Joyce is joining Beacon Global Strategies as a senior adviser. Joyce was director of the National Security Agency’s Cybersecurity Directorate.

Lot Sixteen has hired Max Glennie and Alyssa Misiewicz as senior associates. Glennie was most recently an associate at the National Head Start Association, and Misiewicz was an associate at the International Code Council.

The firm has also promoted Allison Miller and Keylin Lopez to senior associate, Jamie Lorgus to director, Mary Kate Carter to senior director, Natalie Cucchiara and Annie Gayman to senior vice president, and Jennifer Storipan to executive vice president.

Husch Blackwell Strategies has launched a nationwide advocacy services group called HBS 50 STATE, which connects clients with a network of lobbyists “that provides clients an immediate presence in statehouses across the country.”