150PAC.ORG is a political action committee that supports policy makers who advocate for robust U.S. engagement around the world. We support critical American leadership efforts in global economic development, humanitarian relief, alliance-building, stability, and democracy.
Joshua Bolten and Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty, III are honorary co-chairs of the 150PAC.ORG Advisory Board. Bolten served as White House Chief of Staff and as Director of the Office of Management & Budget for President George W. Bush. McLarty served as Chief of Staff and as Counselor to President Bill Clinton. They each bring an exceptional level of experience advancing U.S. global leadership, and together demonstrate the strong bipartisan commitment that is the basis of 150PAC.ORG’s mission.
Year in Review and Look Ahead at 150PAC.ORG’s Engagement
The Challenge
However, the 150 Account faces many challenges. Base funding levels for the account have declined consistently over the past few years, resulting in budgetary challenges to fill gaps with overseas contingency operations and emergency appropriations funding. As global crises are increasingly large-scale and seemingly intractable, reductions in the account pits essential priorities against one another, compromising our ability to provide effective leadership that is essential to our national security.
Our Vision and Story
150PAC.ORG is committed to sustaining and cultivating support for the 150 Account by supporting candidates to federal office who have demonstrated an understanding of the strategic importance of the programs the account funds. 150PAC.ORG seeks to advance and grow the numbers of the next-generation of policymakers who recognize that, to strengthen America at home, we must strengthen alliances and engagement abroad.
150PAC.ORG was established in 2016 and is directed by Andrew King, Jen Olson, Michael Miller, and Jay Heimbach, who together have a long history of working to advance U.S. national security and humanitarian interests. 150PAC’s Advisory Board is essential to its success, actively supporting its operations and providing critical guidance to the directors. 150PAC.ORG welcomes contributions from individuals and organizations who share our belief in the importance of U.S. global leadership and support the continued commitment to robust funding for the 150 Account.
Board of Directors
Andrew King
Prior to Neale Creek, Andrew served for nearly two decades as senior staff to Senator Lindsey Graham. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing all appropriations issues, with an emphasis on defense, energy and water and the 150 Account, to include Africa, Mideast and State/USAID funding.
Andrew left Graham’s office in 2015 to manage the independent expenditure campaign supporting Senator Graham’s run for president of the United States. Since that time, Andrew continues to manage campaign strategies dedicated to political and issue advocacy campaigns. Andrew also manages government affairs and develops new business for North American Rescue, a defense and medical contractor dedicated to decreasing preventable death by providing medical products to governments, law enforcement and EMS. Andrew also gained additional experience in government relations as part of the team at the Glover Park Group.
Andrew currently serves on the Board of Directors of No Greater Sacrifice, an organization dedicated to honoring service members by investing in their children through education.
Michael W. Miller
Michael W. Miller has more than twenty-five years experience in foreign policy, global health and development policy, advocacy, and government. He is currently a partner at the Kyle House Group, a Washington-based consulting firm. Michael previously served as Republican Policy Director for Senator Bob Corker at the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Since 2010 he has served as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Global Health at Duke University.
Michael served for eight years in senior policy-making positions in the Executive Branch and the White House during the Bush Administration, including as a Senior Advisor in the office of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services; as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); and as Director for Africa on the National Security Council at the White House, where he was also an advisor to the President’s Special Envoy for Sudan and as a member of his delegation. Michael participated in the development and governance of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and led the design, launch, and rapid scale-up of the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI).
For six years prior to his Executive Branch service, Michael was Senator Bill Frist’s senior legislative assistant for foreign affairs on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He directed the Subcommittee on African Affairs, which Senator Frist chaired, and he authored legislation that passed into law on key health, development, humanitarian relief, and national security policies.
Michael served as an alternate U.S. board member of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; as a member of U.S. delegation to the World Health Assembly; and as the U.S. board member of the Roll Back Malaria partnership. He has three times been a lead witness in hearings before committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives on complex policy topics.
Michael began his career with the International Republican Institute (IRI) as a democracy and governance advisor in Africa, traveling and working extensively across the continent. He received his bachelor’s degree (with honors) from the University of Tennessee, and his master’s degree from the University of South Carolina.
Nathan Daschle
Nathan Daschle is the President and COO of The Daschle Group, a Public Policy Advisory of Baker Donelson. Nathan leverages his background in politics and the law to advise clients on the best strategies for reaching their political and policy objectives. In addition to overseeing operations at The Daschle Group, Nathan leads the firm’s international practice, where he advises numerous foreign governments, political parties, and private entities throughout Europe, Asia, and Central and South America.
Previously, Nathan served as the executive vice president for political strategy at Clear Channel Media & Entertainment (now iHeart Media), where he ran a business unit dedicated to political advertising. From 2007 to 2010, Nathan was the executive director of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), where he managed a $50 million annual budget and staff of more than 20. Over the four-year period in which he led DGA, the organization set numerous fundraising records and won a majority of its targeted races. Prior to this, Nathan was a litigation associate at Covington and Burling, where he focused on international trade and internal investigations. Nathan has also served in the legislative affairs office of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, as well as the 1996 U.S. Senate campaign of Tom Strickland (CO).
Nathan is also the founder and CEO of Ruck.us, a DIY website builder for political campaigns and non-profit organizations. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his two incredible sons, Henry and Truman, and his three less than incredible dogs. Nathan earned his B.A., with distinction, from Northwestern University, and his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Nathan has been recognizes as a “Top Lobbyist” by The Hill, November 2017; “The Influencers 50” by Campaigns & Elections, October 2014; one of Time magazine’s “40 under 40” rising stars in politics, October 2010; Details magazine’s one of “16 game-changers in the worlds of entertainment, politics, fashion, and technology” in a piece titled “Mavericks,” September 2010; and one of Washington’s “40 Top Lawyers Under 40” by Washingtonian magazine, July 2006.
Todd Webster
Prior to Cornerstone, Todd spent five years as the Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Democratic Leadership, and an active member of the Senate Appropriations, Judiciary, and Foreign Relations Committees.
Todd worked to help advance Senator Coons’ efforts to increase U.S. engagement with Africa, which included authoring white papers, holding Senate hearings, and hosting more than 40 African heads of state at the welcome reception on Capitol Hill for the first-ever African Leaders Summit in August 2014. During his tenure with Senator Coons, Todd met with five African Presidents, travelled to four African countries, and worked extensively on the Congressional reauthorizations of AGOA and the Ex-Im bank, as well as on President Obama’s Power Africa initiative.
He served as communications director and chief spokesman for then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle and held the same role for U.S. Senator Patty Murray, after spending a year in Nashville, Tennessee, as the deputy communications director on the 2000 Gore-Lieberman campaign in 2000.
Todd received his M.A. from The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, on whose board of advisors he now sits, and his B.A. from Bowdoin College.
Todd has been named a “Rising Star” by Campaigns & Elections Magazine and one of Roll Call’s “Fabulous 50: Movers and Shakers on Capitol Hill.” In 2014 Todd received the alumni achievement award from George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.
Honorary Advisory Board Co-Chairs
Joshua Bolten
Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty, III
As Counselor to President Clinton, Mr. McLarty advised on a broad range of international and domestic issues. He traveled to the Persian Gulf on the president’s behalf to build financial support for the Bosnian peace process, led the US delegation to the inauguration of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, and signed the peace accords that brought peace to Guatemala for the first time in three decades. Mr. McLarty planned US participation in the 1998 Summit of the Americas in Santiago, and participated in several G-7 and APEC Summits.
Prior to his government service, Mr. McLarty was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Arkla, a Fortune 500 natural gas company. During his tenure Arkla grew into the nation’s largest natural gas distributor, with customers in eleven states and significant exploration and pipeline operations. Mr. McLarty was appointed by President Bush to the National Petroleum Council and the Council on Environmental Quality, and he was a member of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Board from 1989 through 1992.
Mr. McLarty is a frequent public speaker, and has published numerous articles on US trade and foreign policy. He has served on the boards of many corporate and non-profit institutions including as a Director of Union Pacific and the Acxiom Corporation, and on the boards of the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund, the Council of the Americas, the InterAmerican Dialogue, Ford’s Theatre, and the Center for the Study of the Presidency. In addition, he serves as a Senior International Fellow at the US Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. McLarty is the recipient of the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Medal; the highest civilian honors of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Venezuela; and the Center for the Study of the Presidency Distinguished Service Award. Mr. McLarty is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Arkansas.
Advisory Board
Liz Schrayer
Liz Schrayer serves as President & CEO of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC), a broad based coalition of over 500 businesses and NGOs that advocates for strong U.S. global leadership through development and diplomacy. Under her leadership, the USGLC has grown to a nationwide network of advocates in all 50 states and boasts a bipartisan Advisory Council, chaired by General Colin Powell, which includes every living former Secretary of State, and a National Security Advisory Council consisting of nearly 200 retired three and four-star generals and admirals. In addition to running the USGLC, Ms. Schrayer serves as President of Schrayer & Associates, Inc., a nationwide political consulting firm founded in 1994, which works on a wide range of domestic and international issues.
Ms. Schrayer serves on the Secretary of State’s Committee on Public-Private Partnerships, USAID’s Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACFVA), and several advisory boards for the University of Michigan, including the Ford School of Public Policy. Prior to starting her own firm, Ms. Schrayer served as the national Political Director of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) for more than a decade. She worked on Capitol Hill, founding the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, and in state government. She has traveled across the country organizing citizen advocates in every state. Ms. Schrayer has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and resides in Maryland with her husband Jeff Schwaber, an attorney who helped launch the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.
Rachel Pearson
She founded Pearson & Associates in 1996 and has tremendous experience in numerous Senate campaigns and three Presidential elections. Her success has allowed her to form deep and extensive relationships with Members of both houses of Congress. Committed to reaching across the aisle, Pearson often convenes bipartisan Congressional staff in an effort to foster relationships that will result in legislative solutions.
Rachel co-founded a CEO Forum called Principal to Principal, which connects the CEO/C-Suite with Members of Congress and the Administration for intimate dinners several times a year.
Pearson has served as an advisor to several governments in Africa, with a focus on strengthening bi-lateral relationships and fostering U.S. investment in Africa.
An Ohio native, Rachel is a collector of works on paper and an avid supporter of the arts.
Jen Olson
Prior to joining the firm, Jen led Republican outreach strategy for The ONE Campaign, an advocacy organization co-founded by Bono aimed at ending extreme poverty in Africa. While at ONE, Jen led efforts to increase private investment in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the energy sector.
National Journal named Jen one of the “Hill 100,” a list of congressional staffers playing key behind-the-scenes roles. She is known for her expertise in legislative strategy from start to finish. From drafting legislative language to navigating complex Senate procedures and politics, Jen is able to help our clients achieve their advocacy goals in a highly partisan environment.
Lester Munson
Lester Munson is a Principal in the international practice at BGR Group, a leading government relations firm in Washington, D.C., where he consults with foreign governments, corporations, and advocacy groups. Lester leads BGR’s foreign assistance practice, which provides advisory and government relations services to companies, advocacy groups, and nongovernmental organizations in the international aid policy area. Before joining the private sector, he was most recently staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Lester also served as chief of staff to U.S. Senator and Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL). During the George W. Bush administration, Lester served as deputy assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he focused on legislative affairs as well as global health issues.
He also serves as adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University and speaks regularly on the foreign policy role of Congress and on U.S. foreign assistance issues. He is a co-chair of the executive committee of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, a senior fellow at George Mason’s National Security Institute, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a commentator on several news channels. In addition, Lester is the host of the weekly podcast “Fault Lines,” a bipartisan discussion of foreign policy issues associated with the National Security Institute.
Jane M. Adams
Vice President, Federal Government Affairs, Johnson & Johnson
Jane M. Adams serves as Vice President, Federal Government Affairs, Johnson & Johnson and manages a team of 18+ DC-based federal lobbyists and political programs professionals as well as the Canada government affairs team. Jane joined J&J’s Washington, DC office in 2003 to manage the medical device sector team and was promoted in March 2016 to direct all cross-sector federal portfolios that also include biopharmaceuticals, consumer health products and medical technology. She is responsible for all federal enterprise policy initiatives including innovation, tax, trade, IP, veteran’s issues, corporate responsibility and enterprise branding with federal policy makers and stakeholders while supporting the three primary sectors.
Jane’s experience in Washington, DC spans over 29 years in public health and biomedical research policy; patient advocacy and public affairs. She has led efforts on behalf of the medical technology industry and the US healthcare community on key patient-centric issues. Jane led efforts in key legislative packages for J&J including the Medicare Modernization Act, the Affordable Care Act, 21st Century Cures, drug and device user fee reform packages and comprehensive tax reform passed in 2017.
Prior to joining the Johnson & Johnson office, Jane served as Director, Government Affairs for Medtronic, Inc. managing medical technology advocacy and policy issues. Jane also previously directed government affairs efforts for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and continues to serve in several capacities for both the local and national JDRF organizations as a patient volunteer having been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 12. Jane directed congressional affairs for the National Association for Biomedical Research and worked in media and congressional relations for the National Cattlemen’s Association following an internship with the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Jane received her undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Vermont and her Master’s degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University where she serves as a guest lecturer throughout the academic year.
She is a board member of the Public Affairs Council; the Bryce Harlow Foundation; the Ford’s Theater Board of Governors; the US Chamber Foundation; the Government Relations Leadership Forum; and is founding member of RightNow, a professional women’s organization dedicated to electing women into public office. As a volunteer, she leads federal advocacy efforts for ChildHelp, a national organization dedicated to treating and preventing child abuse. She is a mentor for the US Chamber of Commerce Women in Business Foundation and she served as a member of the Global Citizen corporate advisory board. She has speaks at industry and advocacy events including the annual SXSW tech and music forum in Austin, Texas and regularly serves as a judge in student STEM competitions.
Jane was the 2017 as the Johnson & Johnson representative for the Global Moms Digital Relay/Moms for Social Good partnership with the UN Foundation that raised millions of dollars for global charities. She was selected as one of the top corporate lobbyists in the December 2018 edition of The Hill newspaper’s list of “2018 Top Lobbyists”.
Jane and her husband Scott Galupo have a son Sam and a daughter Abigail and reside in Arlington, Virginia.
Nelson W. Cunningham
Nelson W. Cunningham is President and Co-founder of McLarty Associates.
Under Mr. Cunningham’s leadership, McLarty Associates has developed into a firm with global reach and over one hundred employees and advisors in 21 countries around the world.
Mr. Cunningham is responsible for guiding our service to clients and is a skilled strategist on national and international policy issues. He travels extensively on firm business, helping ensure that we bring to our clients the broadest range of regional expertise and transnational perspectives.
Prior to co-founding McLarty Associates in 1998, Mr. Cunningham served in the White House as Special Advisor to President Clinton on Western Hemisphere affairs, and as General Counsel at the White House Office of Administration. He previously served as General Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee, under then-Chairman Joseph R. Biden. Before moving to Washington, Mr. Cunningham served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 1988 until 1994, having been hired by Rudolph Giuliani, and in 1984 he was a staffer on the successful Senate campaign of John Kerry.
Mr. Cunningham is active on foreign policy and political matters and frequently speaks to audiences in the United States and abroad. He is a frequent commentator on legal and political issues, appearing on MSNBC, CNN, Fox, NPR and other news programs, and he has written for The Washington Post, POLITICO, and The Wall Street Journal, among many others.
He is a member of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy, a past member of the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, and past Chairman of the Export-Import Bank Advisory Committee. He served as a volunteer advisor to the Biden For President campaign, and he was a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Team and a foreign policy and trade advisor to John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, as well as to several other Senate and political campaigns.
Additionally, Mr. Cunningham serves as Acting Chair of the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU). He is a member of the boards of Yale-NUS College in Singapore, NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the American Security Project, the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, and the Institute of the Americas. He is a member of the Yale President’s Council on International Activities, the Council of the Americas, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also on the national leadership council of the News Literacy Project. A lawyer by training, Mr. Cunningham is a member of the DC, New York, and Massachusetts bars.
Mr. Cunningham is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale College and Stanford Law School, where he served as an editor of the Stanford Law Review. He was raised in Latin America and has lived in seven different countries throughout the region. Mr. Cunningham speaks Spanish fluently and French passably.
Steven E. Marchese
Steve Marchese is a Principal at Cornerstone Government Affairs, a bipartisan consulting firm specializing in federal government relations, lobbying, public affairs, strategic communications, and business advisory services. Steve has extensive appropriations knowledge and provides support to international and national security clients, with a specific emphasis on developing relationships with the executive and the legislative branches, as well as key international organizations focused on global and regional approaches to health and development; infectious diseases in developing countries; improving the delivery of health products and services; strengthening health sector capacities; refugee issues; women’s health, child development, and financial inclusion; as well as assisting clients interested in foreign military sales and financing. He also works with several university clients engaged in global programs.
Before joining Cornerstone, Steve had 29 years of public service working for both Democratic and Republican Administrations, the United States House of Representatives, and the United States Senate. A senior professional in the field of government relations and public affairs with extensive knowledge of politics, policies, and the mechanisms of both the House and Senate, Steve’s expertise within the public sector spans technical budget and appropriations to high-level legislative processes. Steve has senior-level experience, within the Executive and Legislative Branches, and has developed an excellent, bipartisan reputation and a broad and diverse network of relationships. Steve is a subject matter expert in foreign affairs, working closely for 26 years, on all aspects of legislation, including funding and policy decisions, concerning international affairs, the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, and international organizations. Specialized areas include appropriations and budget procedures, program and policy management, project development and oversight.
Steve worked for 21 years on the House Appropriations Committee and served 14 years on the State & Foreign Operations subcommittee, 10 years of which he served as staff director. He was also staff director of the Legislative Branch subcommittee. Additionally, Steve spent seven years at the Department of State in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs as the Director of Appropriations, where he received two Superior Honor Awards and one Meritorious Honor Award. Before the Department of State, he worked on the Hill for multiple members of the Illinois Congressional delegation in the House and Senate. Steve received his undergraduate degree in History and Political Science from Illinois State University.
Chad Kreikemeier
Most recently, from 2019-2022, Chad served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations, Senate Appropriations, and Senate Armed Services Committees. Chad was also previously an advisor to the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition team (2020-2021), a professional staff member on the Senate Intelligence Committee (2017-2019), a Special Assistant to the President in the White House during the Obama Administration (2015-2017), and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs at the Department of State (2013-2015). A proud native Nebraskan, Chad received his Master’s Degree in Security Policy Studies from the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and his Bachelor’s from Saint Louis University in St. Louis, MO.
Matt Leffingwell
Amid his extensive Hill career, Matt served as the Director of Government Relations for the ONE Campaign, an advocacy organization focused on ending extreme poverty and disease in sub-Saharan Africa and co-founded by U2 front man Bono. As a senior lobbyist for ONE, he helped secure nearly $12 billion in funding for critical global health and development programs and led advocacy efforts for the Electrify Africa Act.
Matt began his career with roles on the 2004 Bush/Cheney campaign and as a spokesman for the Illinois Republican Party before joining the staff for then Reps. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Jon Porter (R-NV). In addition to his congressional and lobbying experience, he also consulted for former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, worked for a private wealth management firm, is a past chairman of the board for the Tsavo Conservation Group, a board member for One Village, and is a Member of the Venerable Order of St. John.
Contact Us
150PAC.ORG welcomes contributions from individuals and organizations who share our belief in the importance of U.S. global leadership and support the continued commitment to robust funding for the 150 Account.