Joel Johnson (communications strategist)

Joel Johnson
Senior Advisor to the President
In office
May 20, 1999 – January 20, 2001
President Bill Clinton
Preceded by Sid Blumenthal
Doug Sosnik
Succeeded by Karl Rove
Personal details
Born Douglas Brian Sosnik
1961 (age 55–56)
Elmore, Ohio, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Education University of Maryland, College Park (BA)

Joel Johnson (born in 1961 in Elmore, Ohio) is a managing director of the Glover Park Group, a strategic communications firm, and former Senior Advisor for Policy and Communications to President Bill Clinton from 1999 to 2001. Johnson has also worked on the staff of former senators Tom Daschle and Howard Metzenbaum. In 2001, he co-founded The Harbour Group, a public relations company, before leaving to join John Kerry's presidential campaign. Johnson became a managing director of the Glover Park Group in 2005.

Federal government

Johnson joined the staff of Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum in 1982, while a student at the University of Maryland. Starting in the mail room, he was later promoted to legislative assistant and then chief of staff.[1] Johnson remained on Metzenbaum's staff until he retired from the Senate in 1994.[2]

In 1994, Johnson assumed the role of executive director of the Democratic Study Group, a legislative service organization in the House of Representatives. The following year, he became an assistant secretary on the staff of South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle.[2][3] In 1996, Daschle named Johnson the staff director of the Senate Democratic Leadership Committee, specializing in policy and communications strategy.[4] During Johnson's five-year tenure with Daschle, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that he was a key strategist behind the Democrats' efforts to positively frame their role in the 1995 government shutdown,[1] and he worked on the Democratic Policy Committee as the staff director of leadership communications. He also oversaw the running of the Democratic Senate leadership's television studio, completed in 1996, in the Hart Senate Office Building.[5]

Johnson joined the Clinton administration as a senior legislative advisor in May 1999,[1] handling communications strategies and messaging coordination until Clinton left office in January 2001.[6][7]

Private sector

Following the end of Clinton's term in office in 2001, Johnson co-founded The Harbour Group, a public relations firm based in Washington, D.C.[8] He held the role of managing director at the firm, which offers public affairs services including lobbying. At The Harbour Group, Johnson's clients included airlines as well as food processing and pharmaceutical companies.[9] He took a leave of absence from The Harbour Group in 2004 to join the communications team of John Kerry's presidential campaign.[9]

In 2005, Johnson became a managing director of the Glover Park Group.[10] He established the firm's government affairs practice,[11] whose clients have included the Recording Industry Association of America, Nextel Communications,[12] and Sodexho Alliance.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jack Torry (25 April 1999). "Senate Aide Joins White House". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  2. 1 2 Jamie Steihm (21 February 1996). "Key Daschle aide pushes Democrats into 21st century". The Hill.
  3. ↑ John Bresnahan (15 April 1999). "White House Hires Another Daschle Aide". Roll Call.
  4. ↑ Margie Omero (15 January 1996). "Daschle Gives Acting Deputy Chief of Staff More Permanent Title". Roll Call.
  5. ↑ Ed Henry (18 July 1996). "Daschle's Media Empire Grows". Roll Call.
  6. ↑ "Power shifts hands in flurry of activity". USA Today. 22 January 2001.
  7. ↑ "Joel Johnson: Managing Director". gloverparkgroup.com. Glover Park Group. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  8. ↑ Paul Holmes (10 August 2011). "Harbour Group Adds Staff". holmesreport.com. The Holmes Report. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  9. 1 2 Jeffrey Birnbaum (8 September 2004). "Lobbyists Take Leave To Advise Kerry Campaign". Washington Post. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  10. ↑ "Lobbyists with a license to win". The Hill. 27 April 2005.
  11. ↑ Allen, Mike (29 November 2011). "WPP buys Glover Park Group". Politico. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  12. ↑ Thrush, Glenn (23 November 2005). "An unlikely connection; Clinton and Murdoch linked by lobbying firm that's been dubbed 'the White House in exile'". Newsday. p. A30.
  13. ↑ "Sodexho hires Glover Park Group to lobby federal government on food service issues". Associated Press Financial Wire. 26 June 2007.
Political offices
Preceded by
Sid Blumenthal
Doug Sosnik		 Senior Advisor to the President
1999–2001
Served alongside: Sid Blumenthal, Doug Sosnik		 Succeeded by
Karl Rove
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