Lobbying World

• The Electronic Transactions Association has added Rebecca Anderson to its advocacy team, where she will serve as a senior manager of government relations. Anderson comes from the office of Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.).

• Gavel Resources announced four new hires on its one-year anniversary, including former Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie as a strategic advisor. He served nine terms in Congress, including serving on the House Armed Services and Resources committees. Mary Kirtley Waters has also joined as a strategic advisor. Prior to that, she worked as the assistant secretary for congressional relations at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Ron Phillips, a former senior policy advisor for Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), is coming to the firm as counsel, and Suzanne Youngblood returns to the firm after experience with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.).

{mosads}• Nancy Stade, a longtime Food and Drug Administration official who most recently served as a counselor in the Office of the Commissioner, has joined Sidley Austin as a partner in its food, drug and medical device regulatory practice. 

• The National Grocers Association promoted four. Greg Ferrara, who has been with the group for a decade, is now the senior vice president of government relations; Matthew Ott has been named to chief operating officer; Maggie Lyons has become the senior director of government relations, where she will more closely work with Congress and the group’s PAC; and Laura Strange has been promoted to senior director of communications and marketing. 

• Allison Cunningham, a former federal affairs advocate for the American Gas Association, has joined Spectra Energy. 

• The Association of Global Automakers hired David Thomas as its director of federal government affairs. He most recently served as the chief of staff to Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.). Ellen Gleberman, who joined the group in 2005, has been named the executive vice president and general counsel. Global Automakers’s senior director of government affairs, Paul Ryan, has been named the vice president of trade and competitiveness, a new position. 

• Chamber Hill Strategies has brought on Michelle Nawar as a principal. She most recently worked as an independent consultant, including for immigration groups, in an effort to spur reform and executive action. Nawar previously served as the director of legislation at the Service Employees International Union.

• Pharmaceutical company Astellas hired Sarah D’Orsie as its associate director of federal affairs. Before that, she worked as the director of advocacy at Avanir Pharmaceuticals.