AmericanHort Expands Advocacy Team
AmericanHort continues to deepen investment in resources and capabilities to address key advocacy issues important to the success of our member-business owners while protecting the industry from potentially harmful effects of legislation and government regulation. The breadth of issues being managed, and relationships developed, continues to expand and the announcement of additional staff resources will help AmericanHort be the leading advocate for the green industry.
Evan Lee has joined AmericanHort as Director, Policy and Government Relations. He most recently served as Chief of Staff for the Office of Congressional Relations, USDA acting as the principal deputy for the Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations. In this role, he directed development and advancement of the Department’s strategic legislative goals and advised the Secretary on pending legislation and policy matters applicable to the Department’s leadership in agriculture, and natural resources management, food safety, and COVID pandemic relief and response. Prior to that, he was Legislative Director for Congressman Neal P. Dunn, M.D. (FL-02) and Legislative Assistant for Congressman Daniel Webster (FL-10). In these roles, he led policy and legislative programs in agriculture, labor, energy and environmental issues.
Tal Coley has been promoted to Senior Director, Advocacy and Government Affairs recognizing his growing impact on association priorities of transportation, infrastructure, and tax among other key issues. In his tenure at AmericanHort he has led successful issue campaigns that have created significant value for our industry and help expand our advocacy reach across the industry. Tal is key liaison with strategic partner K-Coe Isom. He was the project lead on the Impact Washington Summit held in September and also serves as Executive Director of the Nursery and Landscape Association Executives (NLAE) which AmericanHort serves as managing partner.
Craig Regelbrugge has been promoted to Executive Vice President – Advocacy, Research, and Industry Relations, recognizing Craig’s unparalleled contributions to AmericanHort and our industry. While Craig’s key focus areas continue to be labor, workforce and immigration policy, as well as plant health and trade, he is an industry leader with expertise on just about every other legislative and regulatory issue affecting
our industry. Craig will focus more time on strategic advocacy programs and assisting to solve member issues.
“This is an effort to recognize the growing effectiveness of our advocacy capabilities at AmericanHort over the past couple of years,” said Ken Fisher, CEO. “Craig’s influence and standing in D.C. continues to put AmericanHort in the middle of every important advocacy issue for our industry. The work Craig and Tal did for the industry during the pandemic kept our supply chains open, helped our members navigate changing workplace rules, and ensured our member companies had access to the available Covid stimulus programs. Tal’s growth on industry issues and member relations has allowed us to continue to expand our issues management. We are excited to be able to hire someone with the policy and legislative experience that Evan brings to AmericanHort.”
To learn more about AmericanHort and the association’s advocacy work, please visit AmericanHort.org/Advocacy.
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