Lobbying World

• Bethany Bassett will join Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications on Jan. 13 and help expand its government relations practice in Washington. She currently serves as the legislative chief for personnel and readiness for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Bassett helped to implement the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and to integrate women into combat zones. Prior to that, she served as a veterans affairs and defense advisor to late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

• The Consumer Bankers Association hired Reagan Anderson as the head of government affairs for the group, effective Jan. 13. Most recently, she worked as the vice president of government affairs at NYSE Euronext, but also held similar roles at the Private Equity Growth Capital Council, Fannie Mae and also worked on housing and banking issues as an aide to former Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.).

{mosads}• Food Policy Action announced that Claire Benjamin has become the organization’s managing director. Prior to that, she worked for Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and other lawmakers, spending a total of nine years on the Hill. 

• Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission lawyer Brian Walsh joined the law firm Murphy & McGonigle. At the CFTC, he managed investigations and lawsuits and held many roles within the regulator’s enforcement office. He led the inquiry into the stock market’s “flash crash” in 2010, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average suddenly plummeted about 1,000 points — or about $1 trillion in value — only to recover minutes later.

• Ready for Hillary, a super-PAC that is encouraging the former secretary of State to run for president, hired Christopher Guerrero to become the group’s Latino Americans director.  Most recently, Guerrero worked for John A. Pérez, the speaker of the California State Assembly. He also worked for Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign on the state level. He is the chair of the Young Democrats of America (YDA) LGBTQ Caucus and was a founding officer of the YDA Hispanic Caucus.

• Former White House official Gary Guzy will join Covington & Burling’s environmental, clean energy, public policy, and government affairs practices in the firm’s Washington office on Jan. 21. He most recently served as deputy director and general counsel of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, but also worked as the general counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency.