Former Ogilvy Lobbyists Set Up New Shops

Lobbyists who left Ogilvy Government Relations over the past few weeks are setting up their own shops, even as Ogilvy changes its leadership.

Andrew Rosenberg and Chris Lamond, who were senior vice presidents at Ogilvy, have started Thorn Run Partners, a bipartisan government affairs firm. Lamond said the two have brought roughly a dozen clients from Ogilvy, including Inverness Medical Innovations Inc., the International Packaged Ice Association, and Affiliated Computer Services. The firm will specialize in financial services and health care, Lamond said.

Lamond said the two are looking to hire more lobbyists, but "there’s no real timeline or formula that we’ve got in place yet...we do have it in mind to grow." The firm is named for Rosenberg's West Virginia farm, Lamond said.

The new firm opens just days after Ogilvy confirmed that three of its managing directors - James Jay Baker, John Green and G. Stewart Hall - were leaving. The three Republicans were part of the all-Republican Federalist Group before it was sold to Ogilvy Public Relations in 2006 and became bipartisan. Ogilvy referred calls for Baker, Green and Hall to Crossroad Strategies, a new consulting firm. Baker, Green and Hall could not immediately be reached for comment.

Their departures leave Ogilvy Government Relations with more Democrats than Republicans.

The firm is also changing its structure, and will now be led by a four-person management committee. Drew Maloney will become Ogilvy's new chief executive officer, while Democrat Moses Mercado and Republican Wayne Berman will co-chair the firm. Gordon Taylor will be the firm's president. All four had been managing directors.

Berman said that Baker, Green and Hall's departure is tied to the end of the buyout period connected to the 2006 sale of the Federalist Group. "The departures are part of the normal course of things at the end of a buyout," Berman said. The departing partners "decided to leave after the buyout to pursue a firm that’s going to do some lobbying and some political campaign consulting. They’ll be very successful." Berman said Ogilvy expects to collaborate with both Thorn Run and Crossroads.

He said Baker, Green and Hall have also taken clients, including the National Rifle Association, for whom Baker once oversaw lobbying.

As for Ogilvy, the firm expects to hire new lobbyists in the next few months, Berman said.