Personnel Notes

Suedeen Kelly, a former member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), is joining Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as co-chairwoman of the law and lobbying giant’s energy practice.

Kelly, a Democrat, left FERC at the end of 2009 after two terms and is moving to Akin Gump from Patton Boggs.

“Akin Gump has shown a strong commitment to building a top-tier energy regulatory practice, which makes me very excited to be here,” Kelly said in a statement. “More importantly, my clients will have access to Akin Gump’s deep roster of talent across a vast array of areas that will help them address the full breadth of issues they may encounter.”

The lawyer who led the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s 18-month probe of now-bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra’s $535 million federal loan guarantee is rejoining the lobby firm Patton Boggs.

Todd R. Harrison will be a partner in the firm’s litigation and dispute resolution practice group. He was previously a Patton Boggs partner from 2008 through 2011, when he left to become chief counsel for the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations subcommittee.

The Solyndra investigation Harrison spearheaded called the firm’s collapse a “cautionary tale” of political pressure and misguided policy. Though Republicans had long called the stimulus loan guarantee a kickback for an Obama campaign donation bundler, the report did not provide evidence to back up those claims.

Paul Bledsoe, an energy expert with the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) and a former Clinton administration official, is leaving the think tank and opening his own consulting and communications firm.

Bledsoe, a familiar presence in Washington, D.C., energy policy and media circles, on Thursday announced the formation of Bledsoe & Associates.

The new company is a “strategic public policy firm specializing in national and global communications on tax and budget policy, energy, natural resources, and climate change, among other issues,” Bledsoe said in announcing the venture.

Biofuels industry group the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) named Neill McKinstray as its new chairman of the board of directors, it said in a Thursday statement.

An Obama administration official is heading back to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to become the group’s vice president.

Nathaniel Keohane is leaving his post as special assistant to President Obama for energy and the environment in the National Economic Council and Domestic Policy Council, the Defense Fund said in a Friday statement.

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), a trade group that represents for-profit power companies is adding a veteran Democratic political and Capitol Hill staffer to its communications shop.

The group announced Wednesday that Ryan Rudominer will be its executive director of communications.

Rudominer comes to the job after working at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), where he was regional press secretary in the 2008 election cycle and national press secretary in the 2010 cycle.

He’ll be reunited with Brian Wolff, a senior EEI lobbyist and former executive director of the DCCC.

Interior Department press secretary Adam Fetcher is joining President Obama’s reelection campaign as a deputy national press secretary.

Fetcher will enter the political fray with plenty of seasoning after parrying near-daily GOP attacks against Interior Department energy policies.

Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP White House nominee, has made criticism of White House energy policies a staple of his stump speeches, so Fetcher’s background will likely be put to use in coming weeks and months.

Just prior to his yearlong gig at Interior, Fetcher spent a couple of years in the press office of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

An industry trade group that advocates for expanded offshore oil-and-gas development is adding some muscle, with a new senior political affairs official and other positions.

The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) announced Monday that Jeff Vorberger will be the vice president for intergovernmental and political affairs.

He’s coming back to the group after stints as an executive VP at Keystone Public Affairs, where he worked on energy, and FTI Consulting.

Arun Majumdar is leaving ARPA-E, a centerpiece of Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s push to develop next-wave green-energy technologies.

Michael Bromwich, the former Interior Department official who helped boost offshore drilling safety regulations in the aftermath of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, has joined Boston-based law firm Goodwin Procter.

Bromwich will serve as a partner in the firm’s Litigation Department, which is based in Washington and New York City. He will focus on corporate criminal investigations, among other things, according to a statement issued by the law firm Wednesday.

“Mike will add even more strength to our active national and international investigations practice and also provide clients with unparalleled experience and expertise in the energy sector,” Mark Tully, partner and chairman of Goodwin’s Litigation Department, said in a statement.