Lobbying World

• Andrea “Andie” King has joined the Gephardt Group as executive vice president. King served as a domestic policy adviser to House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) for 18 years before heading into the private sector. Prior to joining the firm, King worked at Van Scoyoc Associates and BKSH & Associates.

• Lantie Slenzak has joined the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) as its national director of government relations in its Washington office. Prior to joining JDRF, Slenzak was a principal for the Podesta Group, where she worked in the healthcare policy practice.

{mosads}• Vincent Frillici has joined Patton Boggs to work in its public policy practice. Frillici was an aide to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) for more than seven years. He was also the national finance director for Dodd’s failed 2008 presidential campaign.

• Leah Kegler will be the new vice president of government affairs for the Advanced Medical Technology Association. Kegler recently served as associate director of the National Economics Council at the White House. She worked on policy guidance for Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

• Erik Gustafson has been appointed as the new director of government relations for Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. Prior to joining MMC, Gustafson was senior vice president of legislative and political affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association. Gustafon also worked on Capitol Hill and for a think tank, Citizens for a Sound Economy.

• Heidi Ann Ecker has been hired by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) as its new director of government affairs and grassroots programs. Prior to joining NACDS, Ecker worked for the grassroots firm Winning Connections as well as for several healthcare trade associations, including the American Osteopathic Association and the American Nurses Association.

• Ralph Johnson has been hired by Quinn Gillespie & Associates as a director in its international practice. Johnson retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1999 and held several senior positions, such as deputy assistant U.S. Trade Representative, deputy assistant secretary of State as well as U.S. ambassador to the Slovak Republic.

• Robert Burton has joined Venable as a partner in the firm’s government contracts group. Burton had been deputy administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy since 2001 and spent two years as acting administrator.