Lobbying World

Van Scoyoc Associates hired Chris Shank as a vice president at the firm. Most recently, he was a senior adviser to the secretary of the Air Force and helped in the Trump administration’s transition into office, including leading the agency review teams for NASA and the National Science Foundation. Shank previously worked on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and as the director of strategic investments at NASA.

Gary Slaiman is striking out on his own, founding a firm called Slaiman Consulting. He comes from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, where he helmed the strategic government relations and counseling practice. Slaiman, who has been a lawyer and advocate on K Street for three decades, will still serve as a consultant to the firm.

{mosads}Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld recently made two new hires. Denise Desiderio, who most recently served as the policy director at the National Congress of American Indians, will serve as a senior policy adviser in the firm’s American Indian law and policy practice. She has also worked as counselor in the Office of the General Counsel for the National Indian Gaming Commission and at the Interior Department. Mark Aitken will be a senior policy adviser in Akin’s communications practice. Prior to that, he worked as the director of government relations at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

Alston & Bird is bringing on Jeniffer De Jesus Roberts as a partner in the firm’s Washington office. She spent the past two years at law and lobby firm Dentons as a partner. Her résumé also includes serving as an in-house counsel for Accenture Federal Services and for a research and development subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Wiley Rein hired former Federal Election Commission (FEC) chairman Lee Goodman to serve as a partner in its election law and government ethics practice. When he arrives at the firm on Feb. 20, it will be a homecoming of sorts. Goodman previously worked twice at Wiley Rein. He has been at the FEC, though, since 2013 and has otherwise worked in private practice.