--CIO.com
If a slogan says Change™, then surely it must materialise, right? Or was this the idea of the campaign manager to recite mottos like "unity", "hope" and "change", characterising the new candidacy as a blank sheet for everyone to cast a vote, submit an idea and give shape to through Web 2.0-ey Web sites.
Krumholtz opened the Microsoft federal government affairs office in Washington in March 1995 and served as a one-man shop for a year working out of the company's Chevy Chase sales office. Given the distance from Capitol Hill, Krumholtz, 47, spent most of his time in his Jeep on conference calls and writing and checking emails on the side of the road, said the company. During that time, he became known as "Jack in his Jeep."
Jack Krumholtz, who started 14 years ago as Microsoft's only in-house lobbyist and then expanded the company's presence into one of the largest in the nation's capital, is stepping down.
He will be replaced in January as Microsoft's managing director of federal government affairs by Fred Humphries, who has led Microsoft's state government affairs team for the past eight years, overseeing the company's relationship with state and local officials.
The change comes as Democrats take over the presidency and increase their majority in both branches of Congress.
Humphries has strong ties to Democrats.
Humphries succeeds Jack Krumholtz as managing director of federal government affairs for the company.
Humphries will be trading one Washington office for another. He is currently based in Redmond, Wash., Microsoft's headquarters, but will be moving to Washington, D.C., in January.
Krumholtz had been with the company since 1995.
Microsoft has named a new chief federal lobbyist, Fred Humphries, who has headed its state government affairs team.
In the wake of the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, Krumholtz was tasked with increasing the company's presence in Washington.
When Microsoft managing director Fred Humphries arrives in Washington, D.C. in January to run the high-tech giant's government affairs office, he will be returning to familiar territory, friends and former colleagues said Friday. Before moving to the West Coast, he spent a number of years as a Capitol Hill staffer and at the Democratic National Committee (see earlier blog post here) but his encore performance in the nation's capital will have him positioned on a new team within the political parlor game.
Bill Gates Urges Obama to Increase Spending
...a simple message for President-elect Barack Obama: Increase spending.
Comments
Sydney Sider
2008-12-08 10:50:12
Where would you advise our nations leaders go for advice on the tech industry? multiple conversations from representivies of some of the most successful companies in the industry, or should they browse the blogs with the rest of us?
Jo Shields
2008-12-08 11:06:05
Azeroth? The head of Obama's FCC transition team is a level 70 Tauren Shaman...
Sydney Sider
2008-12-08 11:35:16
pcolon
2008-12-08 12:01:25
Roy Schestowitz
2008-12-08 12:17:35
His victory should be sobering, not intoxicating.
Sydney Sider
2008-12-08 12:34:15
You're a lobbist by any deffinition.
Jo Shields
2008-12-08 12:47:42
Roy places a LOT of importance on the question "were you paid to do that?" on the basis of the all-important rule "follow the money"
Roy Schestowitz
2008-12-08 12:49:53
Small companies haven't a budget for "government affairs", so groups like ACT (sponsored by monopolists) steal the voice of small businesses, which is a disservice to them.
All that I say here is very conventional and you can find information about it in literature.
paul (the unverified)
2008-12-08 21:33:53
What we have today with these lobbyists is an extension of the sales and marketing communications departments of big business. It is easier for a big company to legislate their market dominance than it is to earn it through real innovation and customer service.