With the recent launch of a solo lobbying operation, ex-Timmons & Co. Chairman and Managing Director Rich Tarplin is hoping that going small will mean making it big. 

After seven years helping build Timmons’s book of business, the Democratic lobbyist envisages his new firm, Tarplin Strategies, as a practice through which he can focus his energies on creating more successes for fewer clients.

“I think I have the ability to attract an excellent clientele and I have the ability to be a resource and be a good advocate for those clients on the Hill because of the relationships I’ve built up over the course of many years,” he said.

Tarplin also wanted to narrow his focus while deepening his commitments to his clients.

“One of the great things about Timmons & Co. was the diversity of interests among our clients,” he said. “We basically had one or two clients in every major sector of the economy.” During his years at the firm, Tarplin was registered to lobby for clients ranging from the American Medical Association to Freddie Mac to AT&T to Napster.

Variety can be the spice of life, but Tarplin says he wants to focus on his strongest areas, namely healthcare and financial services.

Particularly on healthcare issues, Tarplin believes his background at HHS provides him with an unusual blend of experience on both Medicare payment issues and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals. Most congressional aides, agency employees and lobbyists in healthcare specialize in only one of those areas. “I’m able, because of my background, to work on both the reimbursement and the FDA regulatory side of the healthcare issues,” he said.

“I’m going to be real careful to develop a client portfolio that’s a good mix for me,” he said. For competitive reasons, Tarplin declined to disclose his first batch of clients.

“Because I’ll have a smaller number of clients, I’ll have more time to spend with each one to understand their issues better [and] to offer them more strategic advice in addition to being a good lobbyist,” Tarplin said.