Lobbying World

By The Hill Staff - 04/17/12 07:56 PM ET

• George Wu has joined the VENG Group to be managing partner of the group’s Los Angeles office, which is scheduled to open this spring. Wu leaves the Organization of Chinese Americans, where he served as executive director. He also has experience working for the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans as chairman.

• Jessica Borchert and Christine Sanders have joined Blue Engine Message & Media as senior strategists. Borchert previously worked for Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) as deputy press secretary. Sanders most recently wrote and produced several marketing campaigns for mtvU, the MTV college network.

• The Agricultural Retailers Association has hired Michael Kennedy and Jeff Sands to be public policy counsel and director of public policy, respectively. Before joining the association, Kennedy worked for Mayer Brown as an attorney and the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates as senior government-relations manager. He also served as an attorney legislative assistant in the House of Representatives. Sands previously worked for Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.).

• Waldo McMillan has started Capstone Counsel Group, a government-relations consulting firm. McMillan has worked for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as counsel for business affairs and strategic outreach. He started working for Reid in 2001 as an Office of the Senate Majority Whip leadership fellow. McMillan has worked for Bryan Cave as a counsel and served as the vice president for public policy and general counsel at One Economy Corp.

• Patrick Lyden has moved to Stanton Park Group. Lyden worked for Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and for former Rep. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.) as chief of staff. Before that, he served as professional staff of the House Education and the Workforce Committee and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

• The Americans for Prosperity Foundation hired James Valvo to be the director of policy. Valvo graduated from American University with a degree in political science and is working toward a juris doctorate at AU’s Washington College of Law.