Lobbying World

By The Hill Staff - 06/28/11 07:07 PM ET

• Evan Liddiard will join Urban Swirski & Associates as a partner. Liddiard leaves his position as the top tax policy adviser for Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), which he has held for 20 years. He also advised Hatch on budget and financial services decisions while in his tax policy role. Liddiard plans to teach a class at American University and consult with Dominion Financial Consultants.

• Joel Payne will join Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate, as communications director. Payne will leave the office of Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), where he has been communications director.

• Kelly Knott is joining the National Retail Federation as senior director for federal government relations and will serve as the federation’s primary House lobbyist. Knott comes from the Associated General Contractors of America, where she served as director of government affairs. Knott’s previous experience includes acting as a federal government relations representative for JCPenney and working as a legislative assistant for former Rep. Mel Hancock (R-Mont.).

• Manuel Ortiz has joined Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck to be a part of the firm’s government-relations team. Ortiz leaves Quinn Gillespie & Associates, where he was director, lobbying for clients in telecommunications, transportation, financial services, tax and energy. Prior to his time with Quinn Gillespie, Ortiz worked for Greenberg Traurig and Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson & Hand.

• The Retail Industry Leaders Association added Louis D’Ambrosio and Joseph DePinto to its board of directors. D’Ambrosio is president and chief executive officer of the Sears Holding Co. Before that, he was the president and chief executive officer of Avaya Inc. DePinto is the president and chief executive officer of 7-Eleven. Prior to that, he was the president of GameStop Corp.

• Condoleezza Rice will join KiOR’s board of directors this July. Rice currently works at Stanford University, teaching political economy and political science classes. She also holds a senior fellow position at the Hoover Institution. She was chief national security adviser to then-President George W. Bush beginning in 2001 before serving as secretary of State.