The Political Life

Suri Kasirer is the President and founder of Kasirer, LLC, the #1 NYC-based lobbying firm with over 200 clients. Suri shares insights into how to build a successful business in the government relations industry.

Mark DeSantis is the CEO of RoadBotics, a tech company that uses artificial intelligence and smartphones to help government and engineering firms make data-driven decisions regarding road and transportation assessments. Mark is a tech entrepreneur with a long history of work in the public sector and government affairs. He’s worked for mayors, congressman, and a president, in addition to consulting and lobbying work.

David O’Connor is the Senior VP for Clean Energy and Technology at ML Strategies, a government relations powerhouse in Boston, where he works to drive beneficial public policy for clean energy projects. He served as the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources during the tenures of five Governors, from 1995 to 2007.

Adam Probolsky is the President and founder of Probolsky Research, a non-partisan opinion research organization that conducts polling and analysis for a range of clients including government, non-profit and political candidates.

Chris Massey is the Head of Global Government Relations and Public Policy at Square - a financial technology and IT service management company designed for small businesses, based out of San Francisco, California. 

Christopher Badgley is the Executive Director and CEO of the Association of Dental Support Organizations (ADSO), where they serve an industry that supports dental practitioners. This includes HR, tech support, financing, and administrative functions of the dental industry. Badgley spent much of his career in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry.

Tom Manatos is the VP of Government Relations at Spotify. Spotify is the world’s most popular music streaming subscription service with a community of 207 million users, including 96 million subscribers, across 79 markets. They are the largest driver of revenue to the music business today. Tom is also the founder of Tom Manatos Jobs - one of the top jobs lists on Capitol Hill. In this episode, Tom shares his extensive experiences in politics, such as working for the Speaker of the House and the DNC.

Paul Hatch is the CEO at Nextlaw Public Affairs Network. Hatch is also a Senior Advisor at Dentons, the largest law firm in the world, with offices in over 80 countries, and over 10,000 lawyers.

Today’s show features Ben Pearlman, Head of State Government Affairs, Northern Region for Lowe’s Companies, Inc., where he manages operations in over 25 states. Lowe’s started as a small local store, growing to a Fortune 40 company and national retailer of hardware and home appliances, with 2,200 stores across North America and 300,000 employees.

Bill Ashworth is the Director of State and Local Government Affairs at Alibaba Group, a multinational e-commerce company, headquartered in China. 

Casey Whittington is the National Director of Government Relations at Blue Duck Scooters, a company offering an innovative transportation alternative through a scooter ridesharing app. They describe themselves as “a tech company that traded their computers for scooters.”

A.J. Bingham is the Founder and CEO of The Bingham Group LLC, a full-service lobbying firm working on municipal, legislative and regulatory matters throughout Texas. Bingham talks about state politics and the challenges for part-time legislators and lobbyists in the vast geography of Texas during the 140-day legislative session every other year.  

Jason Levin is the Public Affairs Director at Cerrell Associates, working in public relations and crisis communications. Levin shares his experience in communications, campaigns, and government affairs.

Jim Conroy was the Campaign Manager for Charlie Baker's 2018 reelection campaign.  Baker currently serves as Governor of Massachusetts, and has the highest approval rating of any sitting governor in the United States. Conroy is a seasoned political operative, with campaign experience working at local, state, and national levels of government.

With extensive experience in San Francisco Bay area politics, Alex Tourk and his team at Ground Floor represent private sector and non-profit clients. They help their clients navigate the government process and build strong partnerships in the community. Alex shares his experience leading a successful company and how he got to where he is today.