Lobbying World

Jim Jones, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, and Michael Camuñez, a former Commerce Department official, are launching Monarch Global Strategies, an independent firm that will be consulting companies that want to do business in the Americas. The firm, formerly known as ManattJones Global Strategies, had been a subsidiary of law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. The new firm has split away and will have offices in Mexico City; Monterrey, Mexico; Los Angeles; and Washington, D.C. 

Former U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) economist Christian Gomez Jr. has joined Wal-Mart as senior manager of global government affairs, focusing on Latin America. He had been with USAID, within the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, for more than a year. Before that, he was a director at the Council of the Americas. 

Valerie Jarrett, who was a senior adviser to former President Obama, has joined Lyft’s board of directors. She was the White House’s head of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs for Obama’s entire eight-year tenure. In the public sector, she also has served as the commissioner of planning development for the city of Chicago and chairwoman of the Chicago Transit Board. Now, Jarrett also serves on the board of Ariel Investments, located in Chicago, and is an adviser to the Obama Foundation.

Anheuser-Busch has named Cesar Vargas as its North America Zone vice president of legal and corporate affairs. He joins the company on Sept. 1. He previously served at a consulting firm and his clients included Philip Morris, Miller Brewing Company and Kraft Foods.

Melissa Bartlett, a former lobbyist for Sanofi, has left the biotech company to join the lobbying firm Chamber Hill Strategies. Her résumé also includes working at Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) and time on Capitol Hill as GOP counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.