Remarks to the Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Electrochemical Engineering Symposium of the Electrochemical Society

摘要

Thanks Gautam for inviting me here to speak today. I'll keep this somewhat brief because I know most of you are gearing up for the roundtable. Like many of you, several years ago, I did not intend to be where I am now. In fact, I most likely would've been extremely disappointed - based on my then views of government relations professionals - to find I would later enter this field. Not that the Abramoff scandal and other situations didn't make me think twice! Initially, I wanted to be a park ranger or some type of environmental scientist. I was looking at careers where I'd really get my hands dirty outside or possibly in a lab, believe it or not. Of course, little did I know I'd be getting my hands dirty inside, so to speak, in government relations. I left undergrad with an Environmental Science and Political Science double major that was fairly heavy on liberal arts. In the lab, I was the guy who didn't appreciate the significance of clean glassware until it was too late - constantly blowing up experiments in organic chemistry. In between my Junior and Senior year of college I had the opportunity to intern for my home state Senator, the late Senator John H. Chafee (R-RI). Senator Chafee was then Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and this is where I spent my summer. Later that year I was out dredging the Hudson River for a field lab class and it was at this moment my official transformation from outdoor/field to indoor/office career took place. I graduated and immediately began work at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and remained there for about two and a half years. Senator Chafee announced his retirement, and being somewhat idealistic on my political views at the time, I chose not to remain on the Hill. I stumbled upon an opportunity to do consulting for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. It was at this point I realized the difference between working on the Hill and off the Hill. Instead of calling people up under the guise of needing something for a Senator, I was preparing deliverables for people who were required to meet the requests of Hill staffers. I found people are much less likely to return your calls when you're not sitting in a Congressional office. Following this work somebody suggested I try lobbying or "government relations." Interestingly, I interviewed with a gentleman who previously ran a campaign against my former boss, Senator John Chafee, and served as John Kerry's Chief of Staff. I've now been in this business for approximately six years, working on a wide range of issues.