Staff Reports
Brian Ballard continues to cement his status as Master of the Universe.
The veteran Tallahassee lobbyist, Republican fundraiser and friend of President Donald Trump Thursday announced his firm’s hiring of James P. Rubin, Assistant Secretary of State under former President Bill Clinton.
“Our firm is positioned to expand on last year’s dramatic growth in international business, and Jamie’s presence in our Washington office alongside former Congressman Robert Wexler and Ambassador Otto Reich will help us continue to serve clients on both sides of the aisle,” Ballard said in a statement.
Ballard, recently named one of Washington’s 18 Power players by POLITICO, added that Rubin’s “33 years of international affairs experience makes him a tremendous asset to the team.”
Rubin, also Chief Spokesman for Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, joins Ballard as a partner and Senior Counselor for International Affairs.
“I am genuinely excited to return to the United States and Washington for two reasons: One, because D.C. has always been my professional home and two, because of the chance to join Brian’s team, which is made up of some of the best and most successful professionals in the business,” Rubin said in a statement.
“Helping others to work through complex foreign policy challenges is what I have been doing my entire professional life, so I am looking forward to crafting winning solutions that achieve our clients’ policy goals,” he added.
The former diplomat and journalist honed his strategic communication and policy skills working on key presidential campaigns, advising Hillary Clinton in 2016 and 2008, and serving as senior advisor for national security for the Kerry/Edwards campaign in 2004 and director of foreign policy for Clinton/Gore in 1996, the release said.
Rubin also was a visiting professor or visiting scholar at Oxford University’s Rothermere American Institute, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the London School of Economics.
Rubin will continue writing columns on world affairs as a contributing editor to POLITICO. He appears frequently on CNN, BBC, MSNBC and other international news outlets, and has written extensively for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Financial Times, The Sunday Times, The New Republic, Foreign Affairs and Newsweek, according to the release.
He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University.
