Resume
Areas of Expertise
Advocacy Communications
Advocacy has continued to extend far past the size and experience of an organization’s lobbying team. It is important to have a multi-pronged strategy to help amplify boots on the ground efforts through coordinated, targeted communications products to reach audiences who need to hear them, including but not limited to geofences and IP targeted communications, as well as boosted social media advertisements and action-oriented call to action email campaigns.
Political Counsel
For businesses and organizations of all sizes, political engagement is becoming more of a given than an option. While this engagement will take a multitude of forms, my experience provides the insight necessary to optimize Political Action Committees (PACs), 501(c)4, and 527s organizations. This counsel will extend to the development and execution of campaigns to support committee-supported messages or candidates.
Stakeholder Engagement
Every issue has a specific audience with whom advocates are seeking to connect. Supporter or opponent is generally inconsequential, but the key component is making sure those individuals are identified and can be connected with if the need arises. Identification occurs through the development of stakeholder maps that outline relationships to the issue and provide contact information for the parties. It also involves planning and executing on-the-ground events targeted to specific stakeholder groups or influenceable populations.
Training
Give someone a fish, they eat for a day. Teach them how to fish, they can feed themselves. This principle underpins advocacy-focused training because there are no right or wrong answers. From grassroots advocacy to political communications, geofences, and much more, building a powerful team of advocates will pay dividends in the long run and ultimately support the growth of other advocacy-focused organizational activities.
Professional Experience
Below is a snapshot of my resume over the past decade. My full resume is available here.
Maynard Nexsen (formerly Nexsen Pruet)
In 2022, I joined Nexsen Pruet, now known as Maynard Nexsen, as the Director of Strategic Marketing. In this role, I support business development efforts for the firm’s Government Solutions, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Economic Development, and Intellectual Property practice groups. To complete these efforts, I develop content for use in marketing and advertising materials for individual attorneys and practice groups and support the development of responses to requests for proposals (RFPs) across the firm. I also advise the leadership of the Government Affairs and Economic Development practice groups on topics of Interest, Including but not limited to local government affairs and political action committees. I also support firm clients on non-legal projects such as surveys and background research.
In 2021, I founded Longleaf Public Affairs as a strategic advocacy and training consulting firm. Over the past three years, the firm has supported numerous organizations through providing advocacy training and consultations on messaging development.
NP Strategy (a Maynard Nexsen subsidiary)
For two years, between 2020-2022, I served as the firm's Director of Strategic Communications, developing and implementing strategic communications plans, event execution, and media strategies. I also directed the implementation of public affairs products on behalf of NP Strategy’s and Nexsen Pruet’s clients, including but not limited to advocacy communications plans, political communications products, and strategic stakeholder engagement. I also managed and worked closely with client teams to assist in providing services, including client development, strategic communications, media relations, and message development. Additionally, I provided strategic business development advice to the team to generate new business leads, expand existing clients, and identify/pursue cross-selling opportunities, including developing new projects and initiatives.
For almost 6 six years, between 2014 and 2020, I led multiple campaigns focused on member engagement and legislative advocacy. These campaigns have resulted in numerous legislative successes, more than 33,000 email engagements, and thousands of social media engagements.
I served as the association’s spokesperson on government affairs and political activities. I represented the association and its members before the North Carolina General Assembly and regulatory bodies such as the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, Appraisal Board, and Coastal Resources Commission as a registered lobbyist from 2016 to 2020. I also led discussions with the association’s legislative committees, including its PAC and 501(c)(4), regarding formulating and disseminating the association's stance on policy issues to its 50,000 members, leveraging relationships and networks to advocate at the community and state level, as well as managing outside contractors. During my time with NC REALTORS®, the NC REALTORS® PAC, and the NC Property Rights Fund were consistently recognized as some of the top groups in their respective categories, regularly achieving greater than 80% success rates over multiple election cycles.