Lobbying World

• DDC Advocacy hired Diane Miller as the firm’s new senior vice president for client relations. Prior to that, she worked as a partner at public affairs firm DCI Group. In her new role, she will “design and execute visionary, multi-dimensional issue advocacy and public engagement campaigns that deliver victories for the firm’s clients throughout the world,” according to a statement about her hire.
 
• John Downs Jr. will become the president of the National Confectioners Association when Lawrence Graham, a 22-year veteran of the association, retires later this month. Downs served as a senior adviser to the president of Coca-Cola Americas, within The Coca-Cola Company. He has been with Coca-Cola for almost 30 years and also worked at the American Beverage Association. Downs begins at the National Confectioners Association this summer.
 
• The Raben Group is bringing on Samara Foxx as a principal. Before joining the firm, she worked as the community liaison for Novant Health Foundation Presbyterian Medical Center, served as an attorney for KoSa, a global polyester manufacturing company, and worked on the House Judiciary Committee.
 
• The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), a pro-trade business group, added two new officials: Ariel Meyerstein was named the vice president for labor affairs, corporate responsibility and governance, and Eva Hampl has become the director of investment, trade and financial services. Meyerstein comes from the law firm of Chadbourne & Park. Hampl is a former Senate Finance Committee staffer who specialized in trade issues, and recently finished a fellowship with GE’s global government affairs and policy division.
 
• The Financial Services Roundtable lost Saat Alety, its digital media manager, to the Office of Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), where he is serving as the congressman’s communications director. Alety served as Mitt Romney’s digital director Nevada during his presidential bid and has worked in the office of Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.).
 
• Capitol Counsel hired ex-Senate Banking Committee aide Jenn Fogel-Bublick to help lead the firm’s banking and financial services practice. She comes to the firm from McBee Strategic Consulting and, before that, worked for former Sens. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on the Senate’s banking panel for more than seven years.