Lobbying World: Public Citizen appoints new co-president

Lisa Gilbert has been named co-president of Public Citizen, the progressive consumer rights watchdog nonprofit founded by Ralph Nader in 1971. Gilbert was most recently executive vice president, and since she joined Public Citizen in 2010, she has served as director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch and vice president of legislative affairs. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) was one of several lawmakers to congratulate Gilbert on her promotion, saying she is “known far and wide as a passionate advocate for strong democracy, ethical government and a livable planet.”

“One of the things that I am deeply engaged on, and certainly so is my co-president Rob Weissman, is ensuring that Public Citizen will be front and center in the next Congress, regardless of who is president,” Gilbert told The Hill.  “We've always seen ourselves and presented ourselves as sort of unapologetically progressive and pushing for the things that we know regular people care about. So that certainly won't change.”

Jessica Powell joins the national security team at Invariant as a director. She previously was deputy chief of staff for Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), overseeing his appropriations portfolio.

The Motion Picture Association has hired Marissa Bostick as senior vice president and head of global litigation. Bostick was most recently deputy director for the counterfeit crimes unit at Amazon and is a former assistant United States attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York.

Ashley McManus has joined Lot Sixteen as a vice president. McManus was most recently the former top Republican staffer on the House Natural Resources Committee and previously on the legislative staff of Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), former House Appropriations Committee chair.

Narrative Strategies has tapped Matt Moon and Kelly O’Keefe to lead the firm’s expansion into West Palm Beach, Fla. Moon, a managing director at Narrative, was previously deputy executive director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) under Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and communications director for then-Gov. Scott’s 2014 gubernatorial re-election campaign. O’Keefe, a director at Narrative, began her career in the office of Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.).

Squire Patton Boggs has opened an office in Geneva, Switzerland, that will be led by Kate Sherrard, financial services partner and co-head of the firm’s commodities and shipping group.