Will is an experienced government affairs professional with an understanding of the local, state, and federal legislative process across a variety of industries and issues.

His nearly fifteen year career includes a recent promotion to Senior Director of State Government Affairs at the Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA), the national trade association representing pharmaceutical wholesale distributors. In serving as both Senior Director and Director of State Government Affairs for HDA, he’s managed up to an 18-state legislative portfolio and successfully presented the organization and its member-companies as an integral part of the nation’s healthcare supply chain. In the ever-changing landscape of state politics and healthcare, Will has consistently proven himself facile in marshalling sensible policy for the pharmaceutical industry. Specifically, this includes:

  • Directly lobbying state lawmakers, staff, and regulatory leaders on a litany of issues including, but not limited to price transparency reporting, Rx and PPE stockpiling, prescription importation, Medicaid/340B, independent pharmacy issues, and more;

  • Tracking and analyzing over 1,000 legislative vessels and drafting and navigating amendment language;

  • Decisively, strategically, and often proactively responding to legislation via written or direct testimony;

  • Bolstering the HDA brand and state presence by hosting or participating in or moderating panel discussions or webinars, as well as representing HDA and member-company policy issues and building and bolstering relationships with policymakers and opinion leaders at RLCC, DLCC, DGA, RGA, and NCSL conferences;

  • Creating issue-related collateral known to be factual, on-brand, and on-target;

  • Developing relationships with new stakeholders, including state pharmacy associations;

  • Managing the implementation of new initiatives designed to utilize available grassroots and AI technology alongside traditional lobbying.

As Senior Director, Will is responsible for a portfolio of twelve states and actively implementing new solutions to better serve the internal needs of HDA’s state team as well as member-company counterparts by leveraging his communication and management experience to provide accessible content for lawmakers and regulators as well as member-company representatives. Prior to joining the fantastic team at HDA, he was a Senior Government Relations Manager for the tech and mobility start-up Turo. In this capacity he managed state legislative and policy initiatives in Arizona, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont, Virginia, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, Maine, and Pennsylvania. This position required the same skills in practice today - crafting legislation and amendments, negotiating agreements with and managing contract lobbyists, liaising with media, and driving grassroots efforts in various markets.

From 2014 to 2019, Will served as the National Public Affairs Manager for the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) where he led multi-state and federal legislative and policy initiatives as well as supervised the association’s marketing and communications team. In this role he deployed two national awareness campaigns, fostered strategic relationships on behalf of the organization with neuro-sphere pharmaceutical companies, and closed his tenure with the launch of the association’s first-ever major grant program. Before joining the Brain Injury Association of America, Will held several positions at the Austin Board of Realtors® (ABoR), a 15,000+ member trade association with a large footprint in Central Texas. He began as ABoR’s Government Affairs Specialist where he liaised with the internal communications department to accepting a position responsible for local government relations, PAC, and community engagement activities as ABoR’s Government Affairs Manager. In this role, he was able to launch a series of (member-focused) grassroots initiatives focused on local government affairs efforts, implementing technology to increase PAC contributions, and directing the association’s Community Relations Committee - now known as the Austin Board of Realtors® Foundation.

His government affairs experience began in college at the University of Oklahoma, where he was appointed a Messenger in the Oklahoma State Senate under then-Majority Leader Mike Morgan and later accepted a role with a contract lobbyist before moving to Austin.

In these times of uncertainty, an effective government relations professional has to have the capacity to implement modern advocacy technology and trends with traditional lobbying practices.