Inside Influence: The Evolution of Corporate Affairs

Brody Mullins and David Castagnetti sit down with Casey Aden-Wansbury, Vice President and Head of Global Public Policy at Instacart, for a conversation about how corporate affairs is evolving at the intersection of technology, food access, and public policy. Casey shares her journey from serving as Chief of Staff to Senator Al Franken to leading policy and government relations at Airbnb and now In...

In the modern, Trump-dominated media environment, a key to success is figuring out how to tune out the “noise” – and maintaining the discipline to stay on course. That was the message that David Castagnetti and I received during a terrific interview with John Murray of Monument Advocacy this week. “Find your North Star,” Murray told us, “and follow it.” Get more fascinating insights from Murray by...

Cristina Antelo has spent more than two decades helping Fortune 500 CEOs and innovators navigate policy, politics, and crisis. She moved from Wall Street to the Senate to leading one of Washington’s most respected boutique lobbying firms, Ferox Strategies. Her clients include Disney, Microsoft, Walmart, and Eli Lilly, and she’s been recognized as one of The Hill’s Top Lobbyists. In this episode of...

Catlin O’Neil joins us to discuss her work at LinkedIn, where she leverages cutting-edge data to track trends in hiring and the future skills needed for workforce success. Her insights—shared with policymakers—help shape how leaders think about the evolving job market. As part of a team that includes LinkedIn’s Chief Economist and VP of Communications, Catlin plays a key role in developing and app...

We talk a lot on Inside Influence about the evolution from the inside game to the outside game – how effective advocacy is moving from direct lobbying to grassroots and public affairs. But we often forget about the continued value of lobbyists. Austin O’Boyle reminds us of the importance of direct advocacy on this week’s edition of Inside Influence. As the vice president of advocacy at Aristotle,...

Chris Morton, the president and CEO of the American Land and Title Association, joins us to talk about how he is transforming his association from a traditional, behind-the-scenes operator – into a more public and aggressive force in advocacy. These days, it’s critical for industry to tell their own story, he tells us. Morton says a key to effective advocacy these days in putting members companies...

Mary Beth Donahue, President and CEO of the Better Medicare Alliance, joined Brody Mullins and me for a thoughtful conversation on building and managing an effective coalition.  Drawing on her deep understanding of both policy and politics, Mary Beth shared how rigorous research and authentic storytelling are essential when engaging policymakers. She emphasized the power of elevating seniors’ voic...

Jeff Farrah leads the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, where he works across international, federal, state and local policy arenas. The issues range from Chinese competition to the practical challenge of getting autonomous vehicles on U.S. streets -- with states handling vehicle licensing while  the federal government focuses on design standards. Our conversation centered on the need to bu...

Penny Lee, the CEO of the Financial Technology Association, talks about building an industry association from the ground up. She shares valuable insights on the complexities of defining policy issues that many lawmakers are still getting up to speed on, and the ongoing challenge of ensuring those issues are clearly understood in Washington and beyond. Penny also emphasizes how dramatically communi...

Jonathan Martin, better known as JMart, is a Politico columnist whose work shapes the perspectives of policymakers and political insiders. Through the lens of elections, JMart tells the broader story of our nation—capturing its shifting dynamics and underlying mood. His columns reflect a distinctive voice, written with both authority and passion, complemented by his podcast On the Road, where he b...

Corporate strategist Ashley Davis tells us how a chance encounter at a wedding in Pennsylvania led to a job inside the White House – and her first fateful “pivot” on September 11, 2001. Instead of joining scores of her White House colleagues fleeing the building, Ashley chose to return to her office and join a small team working inside the White House who risked their lives to keep the Executive B...

Steve Elmendorf tells us how a chance encounter in a bar in a New Jersey strip mall helped launch his successful Washington career. He tells us how public affairs has changed since then, which is why his firm has gone on several iterations from Elmendorf Strategies to Avoq. Lessons from the presidential campaign trail – such as understanding the broader feeling among Americans – were critical to h...

“Today’s podcast is yesterday’s OP-ED.” Erik Smith, founder and CEO of Seven Letter, outlined the firm’s origins and the strategic rationale for building a senior, bipartisan team equipped to guide clients through complex communications environments. He emphasized the continued evolution in how organizations engage policymakers, noting that success increasingly depends on anticipating shifts in a...

On this week’s edition of Inside Influence, David Castagnetti and I speak with Kevin Mayeux, the president of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. Kevin is a huge supporter of the University of Florida and runs one of the largest grassroots organizations in the country. He has operations in all 50 states – and in 435 congressional districts. That means when his industry ne...

New on Inside Influence: A deep dive into People. Power. And Politics – with Anna Palmer, Co-founder and CEO of Punchbowl News. Anna talks with us about how she rose from the farms of North Dakota to being the modern-day Katharine Graham of Capitol Hill publishing at Punchbowl News. Punchbowl has become essential reading inside Washington, spotlighting the personalities and power dynamics shaping...

On this week’s edition of Inside Influence, we are joined by Jonathan Adashek, the Senior Vice President of Communications and Marketing at IBM. Jonathan takes us inside one of the world’s most iconic technology companies—now 113 years strong—to explore how his team unified marketing and communications around a single, powerful IBM brand. We discuss what it takes to prepare a CEO versus an elected...

Marc Cadin, the President and CEO of Finseca, discusses the importance of size and scale for Washington trade associations (1+1+1=7); why it's important to remember everyone’s favorite radio station (“WIFM: What’s In It For Me); and how best way to deal with growing populism is to stick with your core principles (while massaging the message). Marc also reveals whether he’s happier with a Pope from...

On this edition of Inside Influence, David Castagnetti and Brody Mullins welcome Jonathan Spalter, the CEO of USTelecom. We dig into how the association is evolving to keep pace with rapid shifts in technology, what it really means to “connect the connectors,” and how his team stays quick, nimble, and focused on helping people stay connected. We also talk about what it takes to operate effectively...

On this week’s edition of Inside Influence, David Castagnetti and Brody Mullins talk with Victoria “Torie” Clarke — a powerhouse communications strategist with an impressive career spanning both the public and private sectors.   Torie tells us about what she learned working inside the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001 – and how those lessons apply to corporate strategy. She also talks about the importanc...

Brody Mullins and David Castagnetti speak with Faryar Shirzad, the Chief Policy Officer at Coinbase. Faryar talks about his journey from working for his parents' small Iranian sandwich shop to working for the Senate Finance Committee, Goldman Sachs and now Coinbase. He also discusses why crypto companies became one of the first industries to form their own super PAC – and how the industry suppleme...

In this episode of Inside Influence, we talk with Linda Moore, the President and CEO of TechNet, the national bipartisan network of technology CEOs and senior executives. Linda shares how she went from working in Democratic politics to leading what Wired magazine calls "tech's most powerful advocacy group," sitting right at the intersection of business, policy and politics. We dig into how she hel...

On this week’s episode of Inside Influence with David Castagnetti and Brody Mullins, we talk with Troy Stang about how he rose from milking cows at 4am on his family’s farm to running one of the largest associations of credit unions in the country. After working for the Treasury Department under President George W. Bush, Stang went to work for the same industry that helped his family sustain their...

Today’s episode of Inside Influence features Bill Miller, the president and CEO of the American Gaming Association. Bill talks with us about balancing the interests of important CEOs, how he deals with representing both the mammoth Las Vegas casinos and a range of startup, online gaming firms – and how the key to getting members of Congress to act quickly is to motivate their constituents.

Today’s episode of Inside Influence features Chris Cillizza, an independent political journalist on SubStack, YouTube, Monumental Sports, Noosphere and others. As a former political reporter for the Washington Post, Roll Call and CNN, Chris talks with us about how the media works today, why landing a big story in The New York Times isn’t what it used to be and the reveals the dangers of trying to...

Today’s guest is Melika Carroll, Vice President of Global Affairs and Public Policy at Cohere, an enterprise AI company tackling some of the biggest policy challenges in technology and energy across the globe. Melika also serves as Chair of Reliability First, lectures at The Washington Campus, and co-founded the Global Women’s Innovation Network. Melika shares how Cohere is navigating this complex...