Lobbying world

By The Hill Staff - 11/08/11 08:58 PM ET

• Ralph Hellmann has been named partner of the newly formed Lugar Hellmann Group. Hellmann was senior vice president of government relations for the Information Technology Industry Council. He was the policy director to former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and has lobbied for the National Federation of Independent Business.

• Deborah White will join the Retail Industry Leaders Association as executive vice president and general counsel. White will also be president of the Retail Litigation Center. She comes to the trade group from Regulatory Solutions and before that worked as senior vice president and chief legal officer of the Food Marketing Institute.

• Dr. Arturo Valenzuela has joined Covington & Burling as a senior adviser for Latin America in the firm’s Washington office. President Obama appointed Valenzuela as the assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs in 2009. He is the founding director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and served on the National Security Council under President Clinton.

• Ralph Tyler has joined Venable as a partner. Tyler is a former chief counsel of the Food and Drug Administration. He has also served in Maryland state and local government as the state’s insurance commissioner, chief legal counsel to Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and as Baltimore city solicitor. Tyler was formerly a partner at Hogan & Hartson, now known as Hogan Lovells.

• Former Missouri Sen. and Gov. Kit Bond (R) has formed Kit Bond Strategies, which will provide strategic advice, international business development and communications consulting to clients. The firm will be based in Columbia, Mo., and have offices in St. Louis, Kansas City and Washington.

• Matt Dornic is joining CNN to work in public relations for its digital group. Dornic comes to the news network from Quinn Gillespie & Associates.