STRATEGIC Partners
ATLAS ADVOCACY
www.atlasadvocacy.com
Atlas Advocacy is a Washington, D.C. based bi-partisan government relations firm founded in the fall of 2012, bringing together a team with a combined decades of professional experience in government affairs and advocacy.
Atlas and Fourscore have been colleagues and partners for more than a decade. Advocating for the aviation industry and much more. We are co-located in an office suite on Capitol Hill.
Atlas offers expertise in transportation, appropriations, homeland security, pensions issues and much more.
Matt Smith
A former staffer for Congress, the White House, and a cabinet level department, Matt has over 25 years’ experience in the federal arena. Since co-founding Atlas Advocacy, Matt has been immersed in some of the most important issues facing during the past decade playing key roles on behalf of clients before Congress and Administrations leading to success in key issues.
Matt began his career on the staff of a U.S. Senator. In 1999, he was asked to join the national staff for an early Republican primary presidential campaign, later joining the national staff of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Austin, Texas for the remainder of the election.
In 2001, Matt joined the Bush administration as Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison responsible for presidential events and building coalitions for various policy initiatives. For his service, he was presented the President’s Distinguished Service Award for actions on September 11.
Matt transitioned from the White House to a senior role at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs where he served as the Deputy Assistant for Public Affairs and Senior Advisor on the President’s Interagency Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes. Upon his departure, he was the recipient of the department’s Distinguished Service Award.
Jon Wadsworth
A nationally recognized expert in advocacy solutions, Jon Wadsworth has over 26 years’ experience in the creation of political, legislative, and communications strategies. As a partner in Atlas Advocacy, Jon has worked in the medical device, energy, intellectual property, infrastructure industries.
Jon began his career as a consultant to political campaigns nationwide, devising strategies to elect candidates in the toughest races in the country. In 2003, Jon was an early hire to Governor Howard Dean’s presidential campaign. As Deputy Political Director, Jon was a senior member of the team that enabled the revolutionary rise of a dark horse candidate that shocked the political establishment.
Since leaving electoral campaigns, Jon has become a leading innovator in the field of government advocacy. Joining Bracewell & Giuliani, LLP, Jon developed the government relations firm’s advocacy coalition practice. Utilizing groundbreaking techniques, Jon has achieved legislative success in an environment most people considered unyielding.
In 2011, Jon’s “Clean Coal Technology. It Works.” campaign, a national program on behalf of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) to build Congressional support for America’s coal industry, received a prestigious Pollie Award as one of the nation’s top public affairs campaigns.
COMMUNICATION PARTners
Stephen Gaskill - Gaskill Communications
Gaskill Communications has provided a full range of strategic communications services to leaders and organizations across the country, with particular emphasis on Florida and Washington, DC, since 2002. We’re communicators, connectors and problem solvers.
With a distinguished background in communications, public affairs and media relations, Stephen Gaskill brings an experienced vision to crafting a communications strategy aimed at achieving your goal. Servicing client that include corporations, trade associations, nonprofits, and advocacy groups, Stephen counsels leaders and organizations on a wide range of issues, projects and causes, and devises and implements workable plans of action with measurable benchmarks.
Prior to forming Gaskill Communications, Stephen worked in a number of Washington DC’s leading public affairs firms with a wide-ranging portfolio that included health care, transportation, and environmental clients, among others. He served in both terms of the Clinton administration at the US Department of Labor, including overseeing the public affairs department at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as communications director.
