Lobbying World

• The Sierra Club hired Khalid Pitts as its national political director. He previously served as the board chairman and president of the progressive grassroots organization USAction, as a senior partner at political and campaign consulting firm Democracy Partners and as the director of strategic campaigns for the Service Employees International Union.

• Greg Jacobs, who formerly served as the operations director and finance assistant on Rep. Jim Himes’s (D-Conn.) 2014 campaign, has now become a legislative assistant at Public Strategies Washington. 

• Heather Maloy has left the IRS to join Ernst & Young’s national tax department as the firm’s tax controversy leader. Maloy most recently served as the IRS commissioner for the agency’s large business and international division, which is responsible for a program that helps businesses, industry associations and others identify and resolve tax-related issues. She starts at her new post in September.

• The Center for Reproductive Rights, a global legal advocacy organization, selected four new board members: prominent lobbyist Heather Podesta, of Heather Podesta + Partners; Maria Cardona, a principal at Dewey Square Group and leader of its public affairs practice; Barbara Grossman, a Boston-based philanthropist and former chairwoman of the Center for Reproductive Rights and Kathleen Tait, a former board member of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Clinton administration official.

• Kimberly Archer has been tapped to lead the Washington office of Russell Reynolds Associates, a global executive leadership and search firm. She has been with the firm for a decade and has been a part of searches including filling CEO positions at philanthropic and nonprofit organizations, top advocacy organizations and external roles for Fortune 100 companies.

 • The American Bankers Association hired Andy Guggenheim — a former counsel for the House Small Business Committee under Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) — as a senior counsel. He has also worked for former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) and the Small Business Administration.

• The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy has brought on Ed Hill as a government affairs manager. Prior to that, he spent time in the healthcare industry and also has worked on health policy issues for Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Rubén Hinojosa (D-Texas).