Nicolette Bartz Koozer has been a critical member of the State and Federal Communications, Inc. team, even before its inception. As a life-long artist, she has built a career in graphic design and worked for various political organizations before becoming the Senior Graphics Coordinator at State and Federal Communications, Inc.

Nicolette graduated from Howland High School in 1980 and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1982. After moving to Washington, D.C., she took classes at the Corcoran School of Art as computers became the norm in graphic design, and later took desktop publishing classes at the University of Akron.

“There has never been a year where I haven’t had to learn what’s next because of the way computers are. You know, it’s been a long time since I put wax on the back of a paper,” she said.

Shortly after graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Nicolette moved to the Washington metropolitan area to join her sister, Elizabeth, as they began taking steps in their careers.

“When I was living in Virginia right after graduation, I would do freelance work after my full-time job. One of the jobs was for a company called State and Federal Associates where I designed a brochure for them. I was approached by State and Federal Associates as recommended by Elizabeth. I freelanced at a magazine and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,” she explained.

Nicolette also spent several years working for the U.S. Navy and defense contractors, doing projects that included drawing submarines and unmanned undersea vehicles.  “I had the job every 8^th grade boy would love: drawing bombs, mines, and submarines,” she joked.

In 2000, Nicolette moved from Arlington, Virginia to Akron, Ohio. Later she joined the State and Federal Communications, Inc. team.

“I have had one title here for 23 years, and it is Senior Graphics Coordinator,” she said.

Nicolette’s expertise and contributions don’t stop at graphics though. She has helped cover various roles, like executive assistant, marketing, and has been part of planning most, if not all, parties and events the company has hosted.

Nicolette may not directly interact with our clients, but clients interact with her artwork regularly. You can see Nicolette’s work at the top of this blog, on each of our newsletters, on LobbyComply Blog and Pod, and all our social media channels. At conferences and events, anyone who walks away from our booth with a promotional item or handout about our services is also engaging with Nicolette’s work.

Her artwork tells clients and the community they are connecting with State and Federal Communications, Inc., and the reputation of excellence that comes along with it.

The State and Federal Communications, Inc. team is full of experts you can trust. Learn more about what we can do for you at https://stateandfed.com/services/.

Joe Wasser, Senior Account Manager, would call himself “a salesperson who sells technology”. He joined State and Federal Communications, Inc. in October 2022 after almost 25 years serving public affairs professionals working at Vocus (now Cision).

He has been in technology sales since the mid-1980s, when he began selling hotel management and point-of-sale computer systems to the hospitality industry all over the country.

“I didn’t know the first thing about government relations,” Joe said. But that didn’t stop him from jumping on board with Vocus when it began building its company. Later, Vocus became Cision and eventually sold its PAC business unit in 2021. Joe found himself available and he re-connected with Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, Inc.

As our Senior Account Manager, Joe has helped refine our sales process to showcase the expertise of our team, in addition to the value of our lobbying compliance guidebooks.

“Perhaps my expertise is knowing when to include others in the conversation. Many times, if I’m demonstrating our compliance guidebooks to a government relations professional or compliance lawyer, I’ll include Anthony Didion, who handles client relations. On the other hand, if I’m discussing our amazing compliance consulting and support, I’ll ask Amber Fish Linke, our Vice President, or Elizabeth Bartz herself, to lead the conversation.  They have an amazing track record of helping our clients navigate the challenges of lobbying compliance,” Joe explained.

When meeting prospective clients, Joe has an opportunity to show them that there are easier ways to get the information they need. Instead of spending hours searching on Google or clicking through the websites of different states and cities, they have all the information they need right at their fingertips when using our guidebooks.

Joe also refers to himself as a “consultative salesperson”.

“My goal is to help clients and prospective clients resolve challenges related to lobbying, political contributions, or procurement, while acknowledging our solutions may not be the right fit for everyone,” Joe said.

Joe takes great pride in the fact that State and Federal Communications, Inc. is providing time-saving benefits with our products and services – and bringing them to our clients is a primary part of our mission.

Joe emphasized that, “The tools State and Federal Communications provides are designed to alleviate client concerns, specifically around compliance, allowing them to focus on other aspects of their business.”

The State and Federal Communications, Inc. team is full of experts you can trust. Learn more about what we can do for you at https://stateandfed.com/services/.

Last September, we welcomed a new Manager of Research Services to our team: Sam Wilkinson, Esq. For the past year, Sam has been refining his expertise in our Research Department, and the jurisdictions he covers, which include Maryland, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Sam knew he wanted to be a lawyer since he was in high school. He was exposed to stories about practicing law through media and was inspired to help people.

“The core tenant was to be the kind of person that could help people in one of the scarier moments of their lives, and that’s what I want to do. That’s the kind of person I want to be,” he explained.

Sam attended the University of Akron School of Law after graduating from Ohio State University with a degree in theatre and an associate’s degree from Stark State College.

When it comes to his role as a Manager of Research Services, Sam finds many aspects of the job rewarding.

For him, the best part of the job is being able to help clients with questions they ask through our “Ask the Experts” feature. When those questions cover topics that may be a gray area or when something doesn’t make sense, our Research Managers like Sam get the chance to help, and sometimes advocate, on behalf of our clients.

An example Sam gave was regarding a special election where a special disclosure was required. When trying to find the filing date for the special disclosure, Sam was looking at the jurisdiction’s ethics commission website and couldn’t find the form. Upon calling around and talking to people at that ethics commission, it was discovered that the wrong form had been uploaded. Sam was able to get the matter sorted with the director of that ethics commission and get the correct information uploaded, making disclosure filing easy and possible for clients and our Compliance Managers who may be doing that on behalf of our clients.

He also said, “Becoming familiar with how government operates and how those intricate rules and ethics go together is the interesting bit for me,” he explained.

In addition to this, Sam’s role includes maintaining the website and guidebook entries for his jurisdictions and answering questions from clients.

The State and Federal Communications, Inc. team is full of experts you can trust. Learn more about what we can do for you at https://stateandfed.com/services/.

While many of our clients interact with our Compliance Managers or get their updates from our Research Department, we have a small and mighty team working behind the scenes to support our staff.

One such person is Beth Mullen, State and Federal Communications, Inc.’s Human Resources Director.

Beth had an unlikely path into the HR field. In 2002, she graduated from Ohio University with a Bachelor’s degree in Health Services Administration and a minor in Business and Recreation. After working in development at nonprofits for a few years, she joined St. Augustine Health Campus in Cleveland in 2006 as the Operations Manager. In 2008, she was offered the role of Director of Human Resources.

“That was not my background, but I was thrown into that and learned a ton, as you can imagine with a 600-person organization across three campuses. There was a lot to learn, but it was awesome,” she said.

Beth later went on to start her own Human Resources consulting business, Beacon Aligned Management. State and Federal Communications, Inc. was Beth’s first client and her primary focus.

For seven years, Beth has helped shape our HR strategy and processes, in addition to managing areas like employee relations, hiring, unemployment, benefits, and much more.

Her approach to HR work has helped us not only retain staff members over the years, including during the covid-19 pandemic, but has also helped us steadily grow.

“I really think HR needs to be strategic about how we are interviewing people, how we are listening to what they want, and meeting them where they want. You’re not going to be able to give everyone everything they want, but how do we hear what they need and meet them halfway, three quarters of the way, or one hundred percent?” she explained.

While our Human Resources professionals do not directly interact with clients, their role helps set the tone for the team members who do help our clients.

“The work at State and Federal Communications is finding ways to keep all of our staff on the same page as far as the expectation that the company has, so that they understand the type of company we are, how we expect them to act so that when they’re interacting with clients, they know what the State and Federal expectation is,” she said.

The State and Federal Communications, Inc. team is full of experts you can trust. Learn more about what we can do for you at https://stateandfed.com/services/.

John Cetor, Esq., an expert Manager of Compliance Services, comes to us from the University of Akron School of Law, Class of 2015. After having his own practice, then working in bankruptcy law, he joined the State and Federal Communications, Inc. team in 2019.

John started off in our Research Department, where his focus was the Southeastern region of the United States. He moved to our Compliance Department in 2022. Currently, he spends much of his time working with clients in Maryland and Illinois, among other jurisdictions.

“My two biggest jurisdictions are Illinois and Maryland, so a lot of my time is devoted to those two states. Illinois more so because they report twice a month. In Maryland, essentially every big municipal government, as well as every county, has their own registration and reporting requirements,” he explained.

Our Compliance Managers work with numerous jurisdictions, all of which have different rules for reporting and disclosing lobbying activity.

“In some jurisdictions, like Chicago, there are very strict rules. Then I have some jurisdictions which are more laissez-faire about it, just making sure you’re disclosing everything without many rules to navigate,” he said.

According to John, a fulfilling part of his job is the opportunity to help clients one-on-one in situations like confusing reporting requirements or potential violations of lobbying laws. When that happens, our Compliance Managers explain what is going on to the client, so they know how to handle it, how to move forward, and how to avoid such circumstances in the future.

“It starts pretty much like everything else,” he explained. “A few emails or phone calls just to figure out what happened, and whether something’s going to happen, or something already happened.”

It’s not uncommon for confusion to arise when lobbyists are working in a new jurisdiction, laws change, or perhaps the lobbyist wasn’t aware they were interacting with someone who is covered by a specific law in that jurisdiction.

When that happens, “We’re going to tell you what the situation is, what the options may be, and what the consequences of the options may be, but at the end of the day, they have to make decisions and they have to go through with it,” John said.

Another interesting aspect of the job is when clients ask an unexpected question and John has to put on his detective hat. They might have asked about a jurisdiction they may have never mentioned or been registered in, or asking about rules that may not have applied to them before.

Situations like this also highlight why the work of our Research Department is so important, not just to our clients, but to our Compliance Department as well. By keeping our website up to date, our Compliance Department can rely on that information to assist clients.

“The key, I think, is trying to figure out what their needs are and guiding my efforts in that. Some clients are pretty hands off. They already know what they’re doing, and it’s just getting the occasional reminder to make sure we’re still on track. We also have clients that need more attention. Sometimes big changes come down from the states, so we have to make sure that our clients are aware of that as well,” John said.

The State and Federal Communications, Inc. team is full of experts you can trust. Learn more about what we can do for you at https://stateandfed.com/services/.

Like the ever-changing world of lobbying compliance, State and Federal Communications, Inc. also pays close attention to the ever-changing world of digital marketing and social media. With the help of our Graphics and Digital Media Assistant, Allyson Smith, we keep our clients informed on the latest news in lobbying and government affairs, as well as share company updates, milestones, and celebrations of our hardworking team.

Allyson is a graduate from the University of Akron, and while she initially intended to build a career in journalism, her career path has taken other turns. Before coming to State and Federal Communications, Inc., she did content marketing for a local arts and culture magazine and was the Communications Coordinator for a local nonprofit.

“While I have experience in a lot of different areas of marketing, I came to State and Federal Communications because I wanted the opportunity to be a part of a bigger team, as well as focus on a few key skills and really develop them,” she explained.

Those key skills include helping to create a social media marketing strategy that guides the content that goes on our platforms. She also writes the copy for social media posts, publishes them, and works alongside our Senior Graphics Coordinator to create the art for social media posts and other materials.

“Additionally, I’ve had the opportunity to become more familiar with media relations in this role. I write press releases that highlight our company’s growth and accomplishments and keep our media contact list up to date,” she said.

For a little over a year, Allyson has been learning about the world of lobbying compliance and how State and Federal Communications plays an important role within that world.

“I help our clients by keeping our public-facing platforms, like the blog and social media platforms, up to date. I share relevant information about our company’s events, accomplishments, involvement, services, and information that comes from our Research Department,” she explained.

The State and Federal Communications, Inc. team is full of experts you can trust. Learn more about what we can do for you at https://stateandfed.com/services/.

While Matt Gehring, Esq., Manager of Compliance Services, is the newest member of our Compliance Department, he isn’t new to lobbying compliance or State and Federal Communications, Inc. Three years ago, he joined our team as a Manager of Research Services and recently became a Manager of Compliance Services.

During his time in the Research Department, Matt oversaw entries covering the Western United State and worked to ensure we have the most up-to-date information available to clients.

In his new role as a Manager of Compliance Services, Matt interacts significantly more with clients and lobbyists, as well as the systems that are used in different states.

“In the Compliance Department, you work with and learn the different filing systems and rules. You talk with clients, help them to the best of your ability, and get all the information you need so you can file reports correctly,” he explained.

Matt is an expert in the Compliance Department with his familiarity with the systems and processes that we use to assist our clients.

“The more you do something, the more you understand the quirks and nuances of it,” he said.

In those cases, when those quirks and nuances cause problems when filing reports, Matt can work directly with those states and organizations to advocate for our clients, and to let them know what may need to be fixed, clarified, or improved upon.

“In some states, there are so many peculiarities with what the state asks that it obfuscates what the state actually wants to be reported. It’s common to touch base with states every couple of months to iron out these peculiarities,” he explained, “even more so in when dealing with problematic filing systems. We are proud of our ability to work with states to ensure we are providing the best service possible.”

The State and Federal Communications, Inc. team is full of experts you can trust. Learn more about what we can do for you at https://stateandfed.com/services/.

As a Manager of Compliance Services, Carlo Aguja, Esq., has been providing his expertise and helping our clients for six years. He first began as a Manager of Research Services at State and Federal Communications, Inc. in 2018.

Carlo came to Ohio from the East Coast. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware, majoring in Business Administration and minoring in Economics. It wasn’t until he attended law school at the University of Detroit Mercy that he found an affinity for law, with a particular interest in criminal and immigration law.

In a previous role, Carlo worked at an IT company as the company’s legal corporate counsel, as well as helping with HR and managing immigration processes for employees moving to the United States. In this role, he became comfortable with work related to regulations and following standards set by the United States government.

As family members made the move to Northeast Ohio, Carlo felt it was time for a change, so he followed them. He found that State and Federal Communications, Inc. included work that was already in his wheelhouse.

“In my previous job. I had to make sure I was up to date in the laws that would affect the company, research it, interpret it, and then disperse it companywide. It was different law, but the same skill set,” he explained.

While understanding compliance laws is a major part of the job, Carlo says that not only is it important to answer what the client is asking, but it’s critical to anticipate the questions they may not think to ask.

“Issues may arise from innocuous questions,” he pointed out. “A client may ask me about getting coffee with a legislator in Connecticut, but he’s not registered in Connecticut, or he’s never even mentioned Connecticut before in his areas of responsibility. You’re always trying to do what’s in front of you and then anticipate.”

Carlo also says it’s important to understand the culture of different jurisdictions when working with lobbyists and legislators in different parts of the country.

“For example, states that are predominantly in the Northeast may have dealt with a specific issue over the last hundred years and will treat it differently than somewhere else that maybe never experienced that issue. These differences can affect how they choose to regulate the same issue. So, the Northeast might handle things a certain way, whereas the South is different,” Carlo explained.

Not only are the cultures of those states completely different, but their state legislatures may also operate very differently.

“In some places, a lobbyist can give a political contribution. In other places, they restrict it completely,” he explained.

The State and Federal Communications, Inc. team is full of experts you can trust. Learn more about what they can do for you at https://stateandfed.com/services/.

As a seasoned government relations professional, State and Federal Communications, Inc., was thrilled to bring on Jean Cantrell as the company’s first senior advisor in January, 2022, with a particular focus on stakeholder management

Because of her vast experience in the industry, President and CEO Elizbeth Bartz felt Jean’s insights and expertise would be valuable when it came to stakeholder outreach and management.

“I like to think I provide a bit of a fresh perspective. As a former State and Federal client, I had the opportunity to walk in our clients’ shoes,” Jean explained.

Jean was a former client when she worked at Dun & Bradstreet, a commercial data and analytics business. This was Jean’s first job in the government relations industry, where she began as the Administrator of the company’s political action committee. Twenty years later, Jean assumed the role as leader/head of government relations at Dun & Bradstreet.

“The bottom line is I had a spectacular mentor. I started in the proverbial mail room at the lowest rung of the ladder and worked my way up,” she said.

She leveraged her experience and moved to other GR positions for companies, like Circuit City, EDS (now HP), and Philips, where she started its first state government relations program.

Jean’s expertise extends beyond the workplace, too. She has been a volunteer with the Commission on Presidential Debates since 1988 and worked with the Commission to set up presidential debate watches on more than 500 college campuses. She has served in a number of leadership positions:  President of both the Washington Area State Relations Group and the State Government Affairs Council, was Vice President of the NCSL Foundation, and co-chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Business Council.

Jean has two guiding philosophies when it comes to work and life: meet people “where they live” and leverage your knowledge and experience.

“If you’re working with a potential client, you want to understand what their pain points are, and avoid assuming they’re at Point A when they may be at Point B,” she explains.

She also suggests, “The other thing is use every resource at your disposal to be the best you can be in your job.”

Mentorship is also incredibly important to Jean. Because her mentor had so much to do with her success, Jean strives to intentionally pay it forward and enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience with others.

State and Federal Communications, Inc. is home to the one-and-only News You Can Use digest and its accompanying daily newsletter, LobbyComply News Roundup. For 23 years, Jim Sedor, Manager of News Services, has been providing this award-winning news service to clients and followers.

Jim started his career by earning a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences at Edinboro University and later attending graduate school for Library Information Science at Kent State University. In 2000, Jim came across an ad in the Akron Beacon Journal to be the first Manager of News Services at State and Federal Communications, Inc. He has been here ever since.

“This job had just been created when I applied for it and got it, so I’ve been able to sort of shape how it’s done, which has been satisfying. It started out as an in-house report so we could show our seven or eight employees at the time what was going on,” Jim explained.

What began in-house evolved into daily newsletters and a weekly e-mail digest that gets sent to hundreds of recipients. Additionally, State and Federal Communications, Inc. received the Outstanding Service Award from the Council of Governmental Ethics Laws in 2020 primarily because of News You Can Use.

“We couldn’t have done this before the internet because that’s where I do all the research. Then we saw there was so much information that our clients and others would need to know or would want to know about. So it’s just grown as the company has grown,” he said.

Jim’s contributions have been invaluable to our Research and Compliance departments, as well as the Marketing and Sales teams.

“If a court decision comes up or if a governor signs a new law that we need to know about because it affects lobbying or campaign finance, I’m able to alert them, send out information, so that we keep up-to-date,  don’t miss anything, and everything is updated  in a timely manner.”

When it comes to helping our clients, Jim provides a unique and invaluable product. When he meets clients and industry experts at events like the Annual COGEL Conference, he’s able to hear from them about what issues they are seeing, problems they may be having, and solutions that are being considered.

“And after 23 years, I think that’s given me some gravitas,” he said.

Jim’s contributions don’t only provide up-to-date information and the latest news, however. Through the LobbyComply News Roundup and News You Can Use, government affairs professionals can also understand why compliance is so important.

“Big companies realize they need to know the law before they act, and that’s where State and Federal comes in, because we know the fine points of the law and we can alert them when they’re running into problems and how to avoid having their company name in a headline,” he explained.

In 2023, State and Federal Communications, Inc. was recognized as a Healthy Worksite by the Healthy Business Council of Ohio.  Our workplace’s commitment to employee wellness wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of our Human Resources department, including HR Generalist, Anastasia Drescher.

Anastasia began her career in Human Resources as a student at Cuyahoga Community College and then transferred to Youngstown State University. As a student, she interned with AVI Foodsystems in their Human Resources department for two years.

Upon returning home in 2018, Anastasia joined the State and Federal Communications, Inc. team as an HR Generalist. In her role, she handles a variety of responsibilities, including hiring, onboarding, managing benefits, and encouraging worksite wellness.

With a little more than 40 employees, Anastasia finds that a personal touch and the opportunities for one-on-one support go a long way.

“I could just walk down the hall and talk to you about benefits and answer any questions that you have, or if you have any questions, you can stop on down to see me. I found that having that, being in a smaller organization, does have its positives and that’s definitely one of them,” she explains.

While Anastasia does not work directly with clients in the HR Generalist role, her work is indispensable in supporting our staff.

“It’s all about being a support for the staff, for everyone here. And you’re making sure that the departments are set up how they need to be to be able to function to take care of our clients, so it’s all kind of a domino effect,” she explains.

The State and Federal Communications, Inc. team is full of experts you can trust. Learn more about what they can do for you at https://stateandfed.com/services/.

What are your areas of expertise?

I manage a portfolio of states, counties, and municipalities primarily located on the West Coast. Part of my experience relies on monitoring relevant legislative, regulatory, and rule-making activity and using independent judgement and discretion to determine how to incorporate the information. I also work with our clients to ensure they are aware of and adhering to any and all rules and regulations concerning lobbying, gifts to public officials, political contributions, and procurement. Client-specific research is another important task I perform routinely in order to provide the best information possible.

How long have you been with State and Federal Communications?

I have been a Manager of Research Services with State and Federal Communications, Inc. for just under two years.

How do you help our clients?

In addition to answering specific question from clients, I also assist in preparing, reviewing, and filing the lobbyist registrations and lobbyist activity reports.

What are your areas of expertise?

I work with the managers in the research department to detect any changes within my assigned jurisdictions. This often involves a great deal of thorough fact checking of the news items that we cover. Additionally, I proofread blog posts for managers as well as proofreading the Compliance Now publication that is circulated monthly.

How long have you been with State and Federal Communications?

I have been with the company for over three years.

How do you help our clients?

I manage dozens of jurisdictions nationally and internationally to confirm accuracy of session dates, reporting dates, and election cycles. Additionally, I verify contact information and am responsible for tracking, analyzing, and summarizing major legislation at the federal and state levels. All of these updates go directly to clients in the monthly Summary of Changes document.

What are your areas of expertise?

I am part of the compliance department and provide lobbying compliance guidance.

How long have you been with State and Federal Communications?

I have been with State and Federal Communications for over four years.

How do you help our clients?

I help answer state and local lobbying law questions from our clients. I also file lobbying registrations and reports for our clients.