Axios Pro: Tech Policy
December 06, 2024
It's Friday, Pros! We're back with our monthly look at who's working where in tech policy world.
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1 big thing: Tech policy job news
Hill moves
- Jami LaRue is now communications director at Rep. James Clyburn's office. She was recently member services and outreach director at Democratic Women's Caucus, according to Leadership Connect.
- Brianna Frias left the role as Clyburn's comms director. She's now senior manager of policy communications for Instacart.
- Teddy Tanzer is no longer serving as senior counsel to House Energy and Commerce's Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee. He's now a senior director at Invariant.
- Andrew Meyer is now manager of federal affairs at YouTube. He was most recently legislative director for Rep. Greg Pence,
- Grace Zehner has a new role as press secretary for Rep. Michael McCaul, per Leadership Connect. She was recently Rep. Michael Turner's press assistant.
- Abigail Marone Jackson has added the position of deputy chief of staff to her role as communications director at Sen. Josh Hawley's office, according to Leadership Connect.
- Sierra Kelley-Chung is now Apple's senior government affairs representative. She was previously Rep. Steven Horsford's deputy chief of staff.
- Mitchell Rivard has a new position as chief of staff for Rep. Jason Crow. He was most recently Rep. Dan Kildee's chief of staff, per Leadership Connect.
- Jack Waguespack has a new position as scheduler at the office of Rep. Brian Babin. He was recently director, operations at Rep. John Duarte's office, per Leadership Connect.
Administration moves
- James Blair will serve as assistant to President-elect Trump and deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs. Blair was previously the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee political director.
- Trump has tapped Gail Slater to lead the Department of Justice's antitrust division. Slater has advised Vice President-elect JD Vance on economic policy and previously spent a decade with the FTC.
- Trump named tech investor and former PayPal chief operating officer David Sacks as his AI and crypto czar, as we told you last night.
- Trump announced that James Braid will return to the White House as his deputy assistant and director of the Office of Legislative Affairs. Braid previously served as JD Vance's policy staffer and in other roles on Capitol Hill, and worked in legislative affairs at OMB during Trump's first term.
- NIST has named Melissa Midzor as the new director of the agency's Communications Technology Laboratory. Since 2021, Midzor has served as the program manager of the National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network and the chief of NIST's Spectrum Technology and Research Division.
- Peter Cihon is now a senior adviser at the U.S. AI Safety Institute. He was previously a senior policy manager at GitHub.
- Winston & Strawn announced that Kathi Vidal will rejoin the firm's litigation department as a partner in the firm's Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., offices after stepping down from her role as director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Industry and lobbying moves
- Patrick Hills has joined the Chamber of Progress as creative director. He was previously creative director at CCIA.
- Danielle Johnson-Kutch is now head of global government affairs at Docusign. She was most recently the company's director of government affairs.
- Matt Perault has a new gig as head of AI policy at Andreessen Horowitz. He'll also be a senior fellow at the Center on Technology Policy, which is now at NYU. He was most recently the center's director at UNC-Chapel Hill, and is a Facebook alum.
- TechNet has announced Katie Kelly as executive director for Florida and the Southeast region. Kelly was recently at the law firm of Manson Bolves Donaldson Tanner, where she was a government affairs specialist.
- Angie Kronenberg said that she has resigned as the president of INCOMPAS "to pursue new career opportunities."
✅ Thank you for reading Axios Pro Policy, and thanks to editors Mackenzie Weinger and David Nather and copy editor Bryan McBournie.
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