Lobbying World

• Public Strategies Washington hired Nathan Miller to serve as a partner. He comes from K Street firm The OB-C Group and, before that, served as a legislative aide and counsel to then-Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.I.).

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce promoted Geoff O’Hara to vice president of Regional Affairs, a role in which he will lead the organization’s seven regional offices in public policy strategy. Prior to that, O’Hara, who has spent 14 years with the Chamber, served as the executive director of the its Eastern Regional Office, covering legislative and grassroots strategy in West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. 

• Grayling, a global communications firm, hired Roy Palmer as a senior adviser within its state and federal government affairs practice. He most recently served as senior vice president and executive officer for Xcel Energy, where he oversaw the company’s state and federal lobbying, philanthropy and external communications. Before that, he worked as the chief of staff to former Colorado Governor Bill Owens (R). 

• Jerome Murray, a former lobbyist for Merck, has been named chief of staff to Virgin Islands delegate Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D), according to congressional tracking website Legistorm. Murray served as the drug company’s director of U.S. policy and government relations. He also has prior Capitol Hill experience, working for Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), the Senate Democratic Conference Committee under Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Rep. G.K. Butterworth (D-N.C.).

• Victoria Reggie Kennedy has returned to Greenberg Traurig as a senior counsel in the Washington and Boston offices. She previously worked at the firm from 1995 to 1997. She also formerly served as a partner in the Washington office of law firm Keck, Mahin & Cate. Kennedy is the president of the board and co-founder of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston and is a member of the Commission on Political Reform. 

• Holland & Knight hired Michael Friedberg as a senior policy adviser within its transportation industry practice. He comes from the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, where he served as a staff director. Friedberg also worked as professional staff on the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee and also worked at the Office of Management and Budget.