Retirement funds lobbyist jumps to private equity

A private equity advocacy group has plucked Langston C. Emerson from TIAA-CREF to become its chief lobbyist in Washington.

The Private Equity Growth Capital Council (PEGCC), which has spent more than $11 million on lobbying since 2009, on Thursday named Emerson the group’s vice president of government affairs.

Prior to that, he served as TIAA-CREF’s senior director of federal government relations, which has a relatively smaller lobbying purse — spending about $1.6 million each year and just more than $7 million since 2009.

{mosads}TIAA-CREF is the largest provider of retirement services and funds for employees in the academic, research and medical sectors.

“Langston’s experience advancing sound public policy will be put to excellent use on behalf of the private equity and growth capital industry,” said Steve Judge, PEGCC’s president and chief executive, in a statement.

Emerson has also worked in the public sector, serving as a senior financial services policy adviser to Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) and as an aide for ex-Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), specializing in banking, tax and economic issue