People
Image-Makers
Boeing has lured Maureen P. Cragin away from the Veterans Affairs
Department to serve as vice president of communications in its
Washington office. Cragin, 39, is now in charge of coordinating
Boeing’s communications with Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and many
others. She spent the past year and a half as assistant secretary
for public and intergovernmental affairs at Veterans Affairs,
managing a staff of about 85. She also spent nearly six years
with the House Armed Services Committee, ultimately becoming
communications director. She got her start in public affairs
during seven years of active duty in the Navy (she’s still in the
Reserves). Cragin caught the attention of the Naval Academy with
her prowess as a swimmer, and went on to graduate in 1985. How
did she survive her plebe year? She recalls that her father, a
former Navy basketball coach and Marine, told her, ” ‘Remember,
it’s a game. You just need to play the game.’ Whenever I was
down, I remembered those words.”
The Washington office of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide has
added a whopping 11 new staffers to its health and medical
practice and its creative group. Ogilvy’s managing director,
Robert Mathias, says, “Each has a different set of skills that
will enhance our ability to provide high-quality service to both
our long-term clients and our recent wins.” Lee Lynch, who comes
from Atlanta-based Dowling, Langley & Associates, takes over as
vice president of the health and medical practice. Joining Lynch
are Account Directors Sally McDonough, a former Capitol Hill
aide, and Kimberly Ocampo, from FitzGerald Communications; Senior
Account Executive Alvaro Puig, from the Media Network; Account
Executive Cara Roethel, formerly of Laubach Literacy
International; and Assistant Account Executives Emily Dammeyer
and Freya Leff. In the Creative Group, Imani Greene, a veteran of
McCann-Erickson and Saatchi & Saatchi, is the new media director.
In the Tanks
The Brookings Institution, which is transforming its government-
studies program into a broader pursuit called “governance
studies,” has added two veteran scholars to help with the task.
Ann Florini, the new senior fellow and director of the Project on
New Approaches to Global Governance, won’t have much of a change
in her commute: She moved to Brookings from its neighbor, the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she spent five
years as a senior associate. Part of Florini’s new role will be
overseeing Brookings’ collaboration with the World Economic Forum
to examine the responses of governments, interest groups, and
corporations to global goals such as reducing poverty and
educating children. “What is being done to accomplish those
goals?” she asks, “and are we on track or are we not?” Florini,
43, will work closely with new Visiting Fellow Mary Graham, who
will join Brookings from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of
Government, where she co-directs the Transparency Policy Project.
Graham is also president of the Governance Institute, which has
teamed up with Brookings.
Interest Groups
The American Insurance Association recently hired a new political
director: veteran fundraiser Joe Quigley. The 32-year-old Quigley
moves from the National Association of Real Estate Investment
Trusts, where he served most recently as director of government
relations. Quigley came to Washington after studying political
science and business at the University of New Hampshire. He
started out as a bartender and got his big break doing low-donor
fundraising-by the hour-for the National Republican Senatorial
Committee. Quigley proved to be deft at the work, and he ended up
staying at the NRSC for four years, working his way up to
regional PAC director. He followed that stint with fundraising
and development jobs at Citizens for a Sound Economy and the
National Association of Realtors. What’s Quigley’s secret?
“Effectively communicating that you’re giving people an
opportunity to invest, as opposed to asking them to give money,”
he says. Also at the American Insurance Association, spokeswoman
Brenda O’Connor has expanded her role to become vice president of
public affairs.
“There’s a big part of me that looks to ways I can serve the
public interest,” says Paul Thornell, a former aide to Vice
President Gore. That’s one of the reasons Thornell has signed on
with the United Way of America as vice president of public policy
and partners. Thornell, 30, will be tasked with helping the
community-service organization prioritize its legislative agenda.
He’ll also collaborate with the host of organizations that work
with United Way. Thornell comes from the PR firm Hill & Knowlton,
where he has spent the past year and a half, most recently as a
managing director. From 1998 to 2001, he served as Gore’s deputy
director of legislative affairs. He’s also worked with Sen.
Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., on the Senate Democratic Steering and
Coordination Committee, and with People For the American Way.
Thornell’s service streak has prompted him to take active roles
with D.C. Habitat for Humanity and the Council for Excellence in
Government.
The Global Health Council, the world’s largest membership group
dedicated to improving health worldwide, has hired some new
staffers. Stepping in as the new global AIDS policy officer is
Sophia Mukasa Monico, a human-rights and AIDS activist from
Uganda. Monico, 42, comes from the Toronto-based International
Council of AIDS Service Organizations, where she was the vaccine-
policy coordinator. Before that she spent six years as the CEO of
the AIDS Support Organization in Uganda. Nils Daulaire, president
and CEO of the Global Health Council, says Monico’s “ability,
credibility, and international networks are unparalleled.” In
addition, Tim Dougherty has signed on as the council’s director
of philanthropy and marketing; Lynnette Johnson Williams is the
new press secretary. Dougherty is the former director of resource
development and communications for Habitat for Humanity
International in Africa and the Middle East. Williams served as
deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at the Clinton-era
Health and Human Services Department.
HILL PEOPLE
The House Science Committee has seen several staff changes. The
new staff assistant on the Energy Subcommittee is Kate Sullivan,
a former administrative assistant at lobby shop Cassidy &
Associates. Sullivan, who has also served as a staff assistant at
the National Cotton Council of America, is currently working on
her doctorate in American government. Colin Hubbell is the new
staff assistant to the full committee. He got his congressional
start as an intern with committee Chairman Sherwood L. Boehlert,
R-N.Y. Hubbell previously worked as a substitute teacher and
middle school basketball coach in Utica, N.Y., his hometown. Hill
newcomer Adam Shampaine, an Annapolis, Md., native and a recent
graduate in economics from Saint Mary’s College, has joined the
committee as a special assistant to Chief of Staff David
Goldston. In addition, Staff Assistant Tom Hammond recently
switched subcommittees, from Energy to Space, and Staff Assistant
Jeremy Johnson has moved to the Research Subcommittee.