Lobbying World

• Marathon Pharmaceuticals hired away Greg Aronin, one of Johnson & Johnson’s top lobbyists. He will lead the Washington office for the biopharmaceutical company as the vice president of government affairs after 11 years with Johnson & Johnson.  

• Direct Impact (DI), a grassroots public affairs subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller, hired Ray Glendening as a senior vice president. He comes from serving as vice president of innovation at McBee Strategic Consulting and previously worked as the national political director for the Democratic Governors Association. DI also hired Courtney Sieloff as a vice president. Prior to that, she worked as the director of digital strategy for Proof Integrated Communications, a Burson-Marsteller company. She has also worked at Revolution Messaging, a progressive political advertising firm.

{mosads}• William G. Sutton, the president and chief executive of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), will retire at the end of the year. The group’s chief operating officer, Ralph Petta, will succeed him. Petta has been with the organization for more than 25 years, serving as COO since 2010. Before that, he spent nine years working for former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.).

• George “David” Banks is joining the American Council for Capital Formation as an executive vice president. He comes from Battle Group, a strategic consulting firm. He formerly worked as the Republican deputy staff director of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee and also served as a partner and registered lobbyist at Boyden Gray & Associates.  

•Kate Christensen Mills and T.A. Hawks have been named principals at Monument Policy Group. Mills began this week and Hawks begins next Monday. Mills comes from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where she served as the assistant director for congressional relations. Hawks most recently worked as the Republican staff director for the Senate Agriculture Committee. He has also worked as chief of staff to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). 

• Former Levick consultant Justin Wilson is joining public affairs firm Alpaytac, helping to expand its Washington office. Wilson, a media relations and crisis communications specialist, will serve as an account director at the firm and contribute to its work for the Turkish government.