Anda Badiu +

email: abadiu@nationalstrategies.com

Anda serves as Finance Director of NSI and reports to the company’s Chief Financial Officer.

As Finance Director, Anda is responsible for managing the Finance, HR, Operations, IT support and Administrative functions of NSI. Over time, NSI has consolidated all of the non-client facing functions under Anda and she manages it from the office daily and remotely.

Prior to joining NSI, Anda accumulated a background primarily in assisting companies in a variety of industries raise capital. Among other things, Anda worked at Global Securities assisting the Romanian government take state owned companies public on the local stock exchange, and at KPMG Romania assisting foreign investors pursue acquisitions of state owned companies.

Anda holds an MBA from the Academy of Economic Studies in Romania.

Andrew Block +

email: ablock@nationalstrategies.com

Andrew Block serves as a Director at NSI and brings over twenty-five years of business and government experience to the firm. He began his career in politics where he worked on the federal, state and municipal levels of government. In New York, Andrew served as a campaign aide to Senators Moynihan and Schumer. He also served as Councilmember Christine Quinn’s Chief of Staff and helped her get elected to the Speakership of the New York City Council. His political experience contains a mix of communications, coalition building, strategy and stakeholder outreach.

In 2005, Andrew founded a tech company that he ran for a decade. The company sold both hardware and digital products. His responsibilities at the company included product development, sales, marketing, operations, licensing and communications. Most recently, Andrew launched Government Relations divisions for two companies. He also served as a communications consultant for a half dozen campaigns during the 2022 midterms.

Andrew was born and raised in New York City. He has a B.A. from Vanderbilt University where he majored in Political Science and an M.A. in American History from Washington University in St. Louis. Andrew lives in Hoboken, NJ with his wife and two daughters.

Jake Cranor +

email: jcranor@nationalstrategies.com

Jake serves as a Manager for both NSI’s Government Affairs and Government Markets practices.

Prior to joining NSI, Jake served as Government Affairs Manager at CloudKitchens, the world’s largest developer and operator of delivery-based commercial kitchen facilities. In this capacity, he led engagement with state and municipal governments to define the regulatory framework governing a novel business model and land use type. Previously, Jake worked with Economic and Planning Systems, a land use policy and public finance consultancy, where he advised public and private sector clients on the fiscal and economic impacts of zoning regulations, infrastructure programs, and other urban planning initiatives.

Jake also has significant experience in the international development space. At A2F Consulting, he assisted development finance institutions, such as the World Bank and Millennium Challenge Corporation, in implementing access to finance programs in Latin America, the Asia-Pacific Region, and Sub-Saharan Africa. With Inspire Brands, Jake guided international location strategy for restaurant concepts such as Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Sonic.

Jake holds a BA from the University of Glasgow, a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA, and an MBA from Georgia Tech.

Tom DiGangi +

email: tdigangi@nationalstrategies.com

Tom serves as Executive Vice President, leading NSI’s Government Relations Practice.

Prior to joining NSI, Tom served nearly eight years as VP of Government & Regulatory Affairs for Gordian, the world’s leading provider of data, software and related services for government facilities, where he was responsible for creating local, state and federal government strategy, affecting change in the legislative and regulatory environment, and developing lasting relationships with government customers and policy influencers throughout North America. Before Gordian, Tom was Executive Director of the Associated General Contractors of New Jersey. He also held various leadership positions, including COO and acting CEO, at the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.

Prior, Tom was the Principal and Managing Member of Triangle Strategies, LLC., a government relations and association management consultancy, and he served as Director of Government Affairs at the Building Contractors Association of New Jersey where he was responsible for all governmental and political activity. During his public service, Tom worked for three different elected legislators and two governors.

Tom holds a B.S. from Rutgers University. He is an elected Director of the Public Affairs Council, the leading nonpartisan, nonpolitical association for public affairs professionals worldwide. Tom is also a writer and musician. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two daughters.

Al Gordon +

email: agordon@nationalstrategies.com

Al Gordon serves as Chief Executive Officer of NSI.

Since he founded the firm in 1996, Al has helped companies successfully navigate the complexities of legislative, regulatory and procurement issues in the state and local government market. Under his leadership, NSI has helped generate over $37 billion in new revenue, as well as executed dozens of successful legislative and regulatory programs, for its clients.

Key to NSI’s success is Al’s strategic approach to the government market. Al has a proven ability to transform clients’ businesses based on an approach rooted in NSI’s extensive network of subject matter experts and consultants across the country who serve as strategic partners and understand the dynamic state and local geopolitical landscape. This concept to better navigate a fragmented marketplace began with his career as a senior aide to former NY Governor Mario Cuomo. For more than seven years in that capacity, Al oversaw such areas as legislative and intergovernmental relations, which included serving as liaison to local governments.

Al’s extensive experience in NY State government and politics also included serving as the Chairman of the NY State Democratic Committee and running several statewide political campaigns. Al received his B.A. degree in Political Science and History from Clark University and a J.D. from Fordham School of Law.

Bruce Gruenewald +

email: bgruenewald@nationalstrategies.com

Bruce serves as Managing Director, leading the firm’s Market Research and Organizational Assessment Practice.

Prior to joining NSI, Bruce served in Senior Program Management positions with GeoLogics Corporation and DRPA where he provided strategic and operational counsel on national policy issues, business process improvement initiatives, business analytics, and enterprise-wide IT systems to executives in federal departments and agencies. He also led business development and proposal efforts under open market acquisitions and GSA schedules and developed and maintained external partnerships for future contracting opportunities. He previously worked at Abt Associates where he developed an integrated economic and human health risk assessment model used to analyze environmental legislative reauthorization proposals. Prior, he was an economist at the US EPA, serving on a legislative reauthorization task force and advising senior negotiators and political appointees on economic, budgetary, and program implementation issues. He represented the Agency at meetings convened by OMB and during technical negotiations with congressional staff and program stakeholders. As an economist in the Superfund enforcement program, he designed and led an organizational assessment that identified policy, systems, and process improvements that increased annual settlements from $400 million to $1.1 billion.

Bruce holds an MPA with a concentration in Public Policy and Program Evaluation from George Washington University and a BA in Economics from Saint Louis University.

Paul Joyal +

email: pjoyal@nationalstrategies.com

Paul M. Joyal serves as Managing Director of NSI’s Public Safety, Homeland Security and Intelligence Practice. He is a recognized authority and noted commentator on law enforcement, terrorism and intelligence, who has expertise with law enforcement and national security entities nationwide. He served as a federal law enforcement officer and as director of security for the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1980 to 1989.

Paul’s career includes a range of consultation services to fortune 100 firms pursuing opportunities in the former Soviet Union, Turkey and Iraq. He is a frequent commentator on law enforcement, the former Soviet Union, and terrorism for BBC, ABC, NBC, and other media outlets as well as at GovSec/US Law conferences. In 1998, Paul represented the Georgian Government before the US Congress, as its first lobbyist, and served as an advisor to the Security and Defense Committee of the Georgian Parliament and Chairman of the National Security Council and Minister of Defense. He was advisor and Washington lobbyist to the 2016 political campaign of the Georgian Dream political party. He serves on the Investment Committee of the Georgian Innovation and Technology Agency of the Ministry of the Economy.

Paul also served on the PG County Law Enforcement Task Force and on the former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s transition team for Public Safety.

Paul was elected President of the Maryland Chapter of the FBI InfraGard and was elected to the National InfraGard Board of Directors. Paul served on the GovSec/US Conferences and National CyberWatch Center advisory boards. More associations include the International Chiefs of Police; the American Society for Industrial Security International, the Major City Chief’s organization and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers.

He is an author and a regular commentator to the Brussels Morning Newspaper and other media outlets, including multiple appearances on NBC Dateline. He appeared in the Netfliz series SpyCraft.

Laura Katzin +

email: lkatzin@nationalstrategies.com

Laura Katzin serves as a Managing Director at NSI where she brings more than 15 years of experience in the private, non-profit, and government sectors working to advance policy and procurement priorities at the local, state and federal levels.

Prior to joining NSI, Laura’s government relations efforts focused primarily in the education space working with early childhood, K-12, and higher education organizations. In these positions, she managed policy efforts to advance organizational goals, pursued funding opportunities from the government and private organizations, and maintained relationships with elected officials. A native of Chicago, Laura has also served in government working for Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and on Lisa Madigan’s successful campaign for Illinois Attorney General (D-IL).

Laura graduated with honors from Loyola University Chicago with a B.A. in Political Science and has an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University in Government. Laura also participated in the Education Policy and Fellowship Program, a 10-month in-service leadership development program sponsored by the Institute for Educational Leadership in partnership with multi-state site programs across the country.

Carlye Morgan +

email: cmorgan@nationalstrategies.com

Carlye Morgan serves as a Director at NSI.

For two decades, Carlye has been helping clients navigate local, state, and federal legislative policy, agency regulation, and procurement activities to support and improve governmental impact and revenue on their businesses. Carlye also provides strategic planning and execution of public affairs services, including profile building, coalitions, and business-to-business relationship development. She works with government agencies, non-profits, and businesses from a broad spectrum of industries including – education, healthcare, technology, hospitality, transportation, arts and culture, national defense, and environmental conservation.

Carlye previously served as a legislative aide to a member of the US House of Representatives and as a public middle school teacher. She has a B.A. from Southern Methodist University (SMU) and an M.P.A. from American University. She serves on the boards of directors for a professional organization dedicated to the Equal Rights Amendment and for an early learning center that serves low-income families. The Tampa Bay Business Journal recognized her as an “Up and Comer Under 40” in 2017, and she has appeared in several media engagements, including as a panelist on the local PBS political commentary show, Florida this Week.

Tim Onoff +

email: tonoff@nationalstrategies.com

Tim Onoff serves as President of NSI.

For over 25 years, Tim has helped organizations ranging from trade and business associations to Fortune 500, mid-sized and startup companies to develop their strategy and operational plans for the government marketplace at the local, state, federal and international levels. Tim has a strong background in creating state legislative and regulatory campaigns, as well as targeted business to government sales efforts, and works with clients to develop strategies with the necessary mix of legislative, advocacy, communication, and procurement resources to achieve their goals. He is deeply involved in project development, integrating efforts across all of NSI’s practice areas and business units. Tim has particular experience in helping clients with disruptive and first-mover initiatives before the government marketplace. 

In addition to helping clients domestically, Tim has successfully run integrated policy, procurement and public affairs efforts in 20 countries around the world. He aligns with and serves clients as a trusted advisor to ensure they have the best teams and strategy as they look to solve problems, improve performance and expand to new markets around the world.

Prior to NSI, Tim founded and led a consulting firm called Assisted Initiatives, where he helped clients develop efforts that covered legislative, communications and issue advocacy campaigns geared towards state and local governments. He served as aide to former New York Governor Mario Cuomo (D-NY) and was a public affairs and policy liaison for the Cuomo Administration and New York Secretary of State. He also worked for several years in the New York State Legislature, addressing the nation’s top policy issues and served as Deputy Upstate NY Coordinator for the 1992 Clinton-Gore Presidential Campaign. Tim holds a B.A. degree in Political Science from St. John Fisher College.

Mario Rebello +

email: mrebello@nationalstrategies.com

Mario serves as a Senior Consultant at NSI.

Before joining NSI, Mario served as Head of Corporate Affairs Americas for Prosus Group and Chief Government Affairs Officer for Otis Elevators Worldwide. Prior to these roles, Mario spent nearly 20 years advising some of the world’s leading technology companies, including DJI, Lenovo, Good Technology, AT&T and Microsoft.

During his 12-year tenure at Microsoft, Mario managed the company’s legal and public affairs engagement strategy, including resolution of its antitrust case with U.S. State Attorneys General and the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as the EU competition case. Mario also played a central role in re-establishing business development and public affairs activities for Microsoft’s Public Sector vertical. At Lenovo, Mario advised on M&A and legal compliance with CFIUS as it related to the acquisition of IBM’s Server Business Unit and on the development of Lenovo’s U.S. Public Sector marketplace.

Throughout his career, Mario has focused on assisting domestic and multinational enterprises and start-ups navigate complex government markets and providing advice to executive leaders on geopolitical, regulatory, and legal challenges on a wide range of consumer, enterprise and critical infrastructure issues – such as cloud, digital transformation, AI and automation, and the transition to clean energy and sustainability. He is skilled at developing and executing strategies to mitigate risk and affect change at the local, state and federal government levels, as well as positioning brands for growth and success. Mario has a strong network of relationships with government officials, policy influencers, and corporate leaders throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Mario served as Policy Director and Legislative Counsel to Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Almond, Staff Assistant to U.S. Senator John Chaffee, and was a political campaign manager on several state and local races. Mario holds a JD in Corporate & International Law from the University of Connecticut School of Law and a BA in Public Policy & Political Science from Brown University.

Nick Willis +

email: nwillis@nationalstrategies.com

Nick Willis serves as a Senior Government Affairs Manager at NSI.

Prior to NSI, Nick was an integral part of an Arizona public affairs firm focused on engaging local and state lawmakers on behalf of large and small businesses, governments, non-profits, and trade associations. This role involved preparing and delivering public testimony, organizing and participating in stakeholder meetings, creating advocacy strategy and messages, tracking and analyzing legislation, and monitoring social media. Nick also has developed a nuanced understanding of healthcare through his previous professional experience in the Arizona State Senate Research Department on the Health and Human Services Committee and as a Chief Medical Scribe in the HonorHealth medical system.

Currently, Nick volunteers as the vice-chair of the Mesa Museum and Culture Advisory Board where he works with others to advise the City Council on policies relating to arts and cultural facilities and services. Nick graduated from Arizona State University with a B.A. in Global Health.

Alex Walker +

email: awalker@nationalstrategies.com

Alex Walker serves as a Senior Manager at NSI.

Alex enables clients to assess threats and opportunities by researching the landscape of developing markets and monitoring emerging trends, funding initiatives, and state or local policies that can directly influence business in relevant markets. He works to seamlessly connect NSI’s internal research with on-the-ground intelligence to successfully create, expand or support any ongoing policy or business development related efforts.

Prior to NSI, Alex’s work included conducting research on the geopolitical consequences of terrorism and cyberterrorism at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). While at START, he provided extensive research to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), the largest open-source database on terrorism in the world, with information on more than 200,000 domestic and international terrorist related events. START is funded by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State and its research and findings are referenced to aid homeland security professionals around the world as well as provide crucial insight to U.S. policy issues at the federal, state and local levels.

Alex holds a B.A. from the University of Maryland.