Simon Wlodarski has served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now he is working for Bank of America. Tune in to hear his story.
Release Date: 11/04/2024
Meet Kellie Rittershausen - Executive Director for the National Lieutenant Governors Association.
The Political Life
*Recorded on October 1, 2024.* This is a rebroadcast of a MultiState webinar 'Meet the Exec' with Kellie Rittershausen, new executive director of the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA). Kellie Rittershausen serves as the Executive Director of the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA), overseeing all functions and services of NLGA in serving the nation’s lieutenant governors and seconds-in-command. NLGA is the nonprofit, nonpartisan, professional association for the gubernatorial successors in state and territorial government. As Director, Kellie leads the...
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Meet Ches McDowell – Managing the GR team at Checkmate Government Relations.
The Political Life
**This episode was recorded prior to the 2024 election** Ches McDowell leads the Checkmate Government Relations team and focuses primarily on the North Carolina General Assembly and the North Carolina Congressional Delegation. He has delivered victories for clients in health care, financial services, entertainment, technology, outdoor sports, aviation,municipal government, nonprofits, state-wide associations, elections, energy, pharmaceuticals, real estate development, gaming, and professional sports. He has been selected as one of the top 10 lobbyists in North Carolina by the North State...
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Simon Wlodarski has served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now he is working for Bank of America. Tune in to hear his story.
The Political Life
SIMON WLODARSKI, is a Senior Vice President at Bank of America and is a member of the U.S. State and Local Government Relations Team, overseeing State/Local Government Relations for the company in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Colorado. In this regional role with the company, Simon works on public policy issues impacting the financial services industry. In his leadership role with the company, he engages with public officials and banking industry leaders across the country. Simon serves as the Bank’s liaison with the National Council...
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Meet Tre Hargett – the Secretary of State from the Greatest State in the Union!
The Political Life
Tre Hargett was elected by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2009 to serve as Tennessee’s 37th Secretary of State. He was reelected to four-year terms in 2013, 2017, and 2021. Secretary Hargett is the chief executive officer of the Department of State with oversight of approximately 300 employees. With his role on fifteen boards and commissions; oversight of nine functional divisions, including elections and the Tennessee State Library & Archives; and his responsibility for rules and regulations, the department interacts with all three branches of state government and impacts every...
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Rachael Eckles – Policy and Public Affairs Expert, lawyer, bioethicist and Author of Trading Secrets and its sequel, Risky Assets. Rachael is currently working on the third book in the series.
The Political Life
Rachael Eckles has worked in the health care industry for over twenty years. A lawyer and bioethicist by training, she began her career in clinical research, ran a hospital medical ethics committee, and began a bioethics program at a pharmaceutical company. Her love of shaping the environment evolved into a career in policy and government affairs. During a brief stint away from health care, she worked in securities litigation. It was then that she began writing fiction, which has evolved into the award-winning Wall Street thriller series, Trading Secrets, with two books released and a...
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“You have to Learn to Lobby on behalf of Yourself”. Meet Suzanne Swink.
The Political Life
Suzanne Swink is Vice President of Government Relations for KORE Power, the leading U.S.-based developer and manufacturer of battery cell technology for the clean energy industry. In this role, she is responsible for the company’s legislative and regulatory strategy for federal and state affairs, community engagement, and sustainability. Ms. Swink joined KORE Power from bp, where she spent the better part of 12 years as a government affairs and strategic communications leader. She has nearly 20 years of government, advocacy, and policy communications expertise. Prior to joining...
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Reflecting on 9/11 with Garrett Graff the author of "The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11.
The Political Life
Today we are joined by bestselling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff who has spent two decades covering politics, technology, and national security, and is now recognized as one of the nation’s most prolific and wide-ranging journalists and historians. His award-winning work—including nine books on topics ranging from presidential campaigns, Watergate, 9/11, and cybersecurity, to D-Day and the U.S. government’s Cold War Doomsday plans, as well as dozens of magazine articles, essays, podcasts, and documentaries—uses history to explain the story of today,...
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How do you get a job on Capitol Hill? Take a sabbatical and move to Washington, DC - meet Amy Efantis who did just that and has never looked back.
The Political Life
Amy is currently SVP of Corporate Affairs and Public Relations at Ascension. Amy is an experienced leader who has guided successful teams in the U.S. and abroad & believes strongly in servant-leadership; over two decades of experience in Washington, D.C. leading organizations, managing budgets, imaging strategy and developing people; 10+ years of lobbying & health care policy success in the bio-pharmaceutical space; keen appreciation for our dynamic, changing environment & the necessity to be at once strong and nimble.
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This week we sit down with Steve Yeager, Speaker of the Nevada Assembly, one of the key political leaders in a battleground state.
The Political Life
Description: Steve Yeager has been serving as the speaker of the Nevada Assembly since 2022. Yeager graduated from the University of Michigan in 2001 and then attended Cornell Law School, graduating in 2004. After law school, Yeager practiced law and later worked as a chief deputy public defender of Clark County until his election to the Nevada Assembly in 2016. Yeager first ran for the Nevada Assembly in 2014, winning the Democratic primary but losing the general election. He ran for Assembly again in 2016, defeating Gardner with 55% of the vote. He has been re-elected three times...
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More interviews from NCSL
The Political Life
In this week’s episode, you will continue to join Maggie Mick in her home state of Kentucky for a constellation of conversations had with colleagues and friends attending the National Conference of State Legislatures' 2024 Legislative Summit in Louisville.
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SIMON WLODARSKI, is a Senior Vice President at Bank of America and is a member of the U.S. State and Local Government Relations Team, overseeing State/Local Government Relations for the company in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Colorado. In this regional role with the company, Simon works on public policy issues impacting the financial services industry. In his leadership role with the company, he engages with public officials and banking industry leaders across the country. Simon serves as the Bank’s liaison with the National Council of State Legislators, a national trade association of state legislators. He also serves as Vice Chair on the Executive Board of the Civic Federation, a non-profit organization advocating for responsible fiscal health of state and local government in Illinois.
Prior to joining Bank of America, Simon served in the Administration of Pat Quinn, Governor of Illinois. Simon began his public policy career supporting the Office of Management and Budget before serving as Chief of Staff of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In that capacity, Simon oversaw finance, human resources, operations and legislative affairs.
Simon served in the United States Marine Corps, enlisting in 1995 as an infantry Marine. Transferring to the Reserves to attend college, Simon went on to pursue a commission in 2003, serving as an Infantry Officer during combat tours in Iraq. Simon transferred to the Illinois National Guard in 2011, serving in Afghanistan as an advisor, as well as an embedded officer in the Polish Task Force. Simon most recently served in Ukraine as an advisor, leading a multi-National NATO team working with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Amongst his awards, Simon is most proud to have earned the Army’s Combat Infantryman’s Badge and the Marine Combat Action Ribbon, and retired in December 2022 as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army National Guard.
Simon was born in Chicago, Illinois, and currently lived in Arlington Heights with his wife and two sons. He completed a BS in Engineering from Iowa State University and an MBA from Northern Illinois University.