NFIB promotes lobbyist

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has promoted lobbyist Brad Close to the position of director of federal policy for the House.

In this role, Close will lead a five-member lobbying team at the NFIB, although the association is in the process of filling some open positions.

Close had been a manager of legislative affairs at the NFIB. He replaces Dan Blankenburg, who is now the leadership director for GOP Conference Secretary Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.).

Before joining the NFIB, Close served on the staffs of Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) and then Rep. Tom Ewing (R-Ill.). Close left Capitol Hill in 2002 as a Republican staff director to the Small Business Subcommittee on Rural Enterprises, Agriculture and Technology.

The NFIB is the nation’s largest small-business advocacy group, with 600,000 member companies.

Jim Snyder