Ballard Partners
 Ballard Partners     | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Formation | 2016 |
| Founder | Brian Ballard |
| Influential lobbying firm | |
Ballard Partners Inc. is an influential lobbying firm based in Washington DC that was founded in 2016 by Brian Ballard, who is close to President Trump.
Powerful lobbyist
In April 2018, Politico magazine reported:
When Brian Ballard signed the lease last year for an office on the second floor of the Homer Building, a downtown Washington edifice that's home to a number of lobbying firms, he promised himself he would stay in the space for five years. He lasted one. In February, his firm, Ballard Partners, moved into a bigger office on the fourth floor to accommodate the new lobbyists Ballard has hired since the election of one of his former clients, President Donald Trump.
At the firm's first staff meeting in the new offices, Ballard and five of his Washington lobbyists sat in new leather chairs around a small conference table, with Ballard at the head. Robert Wexler, a former Democratic congressman from Florida whom Ballard hired last year, phoned in from Paris with an update on the firm's work for the Turkish government. Jamie Rubin, a former Assistant Secretary of State in the Clinton administration, called from Brussels and updated Ballard on a meeting he'd had with Moise Katumbi, an exiled opposition leader from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who’s a client.
How long will it last?
Lobbyists at some of Washington’s established firms are quick to praise Ballard, but they also wonder how long his success can last, given the unique nature of the Trump administration. There are risks to building a shop around one principal’s relationships. The now-defunct firms of Ed Gillespie, who was one of Washington’s most powerful lobbyists during George W. Bush’s administration, or Tony Podesta, who thrived under Barack Obama, might be regarded as cautionary tales. “Brian is building a strong Washington office, but the question is what happens when the circus leaves town,” one Republican lobbyist with close ties of his own to the administration told me.[1]
Employee on Wikispooks
| Employee | Job | Appointed |
|---|---|---|
| Jamie Rubin | Chair, International Policy and Strategy | 2017 |
