Joe balances experience on campaigns with a strong public policy background. Having worked on successful statehouse, gubernatorial, and Presidential campaigns, Joe learned the importance of strong public policy and messaging when dealing with complicated issues. Joe has also run several successful small businesses and brings those personal experiences to the table when working through business issues with policy makers. He draws on his vast experience working inside state government and private sector consulting to help clients with public policy procure contracts, build their PAC strategy, and to position Shumaker Advisors clients to be their own best advocates. Understanding the language of business and politics has helped Shumaker Advisors’ clients become successful in creating their own opportunities in the political landscape.
Joe started his career while studying Political Science at The Ohio State University and working for Ohio State Senator Merle Grace Kearns. Working for a passionate and dedicated public official like Senator Kearns was instrumental for Joe to continue pursuing a career in politics and government and was a true education in State Government.
While working in the Ohio Senate and around capitol square, Joe had the opportunity to be a part of several political campaigns ranging from local school board to managing a race for State Representative and successful Ohio gubernatorial campaigns.
In 1999, Joe served as an Assistant to the Chief of Staff in the Office of Ohio Governor Bob Taft acting as a liaison between the chief of staff, governor’s office staff, and executive department staff, in addition to working as an advance coordinator for the Governor.
Returning to the political field in 2000, Joe became the Political Director for the successful Ohio Victory 2000/Bush-Cheney Ohio Campaign where he managed 24 county political organizations and 15 statewide regional phone banks to reach campaign goals. He also staffed or performed planning and advance duties for all candidate visits and major campaign events in Ohio.
Joe returned to work in state government as a Legislative Liaison at the Ohio Department of Commerce, in 2000, where he represented the department and the divisions of Real Estate, Financial Institutions, Industrial Compliance, Liquor Control, Unclaimed Funds, State Fire Marshal, and Labor and Worker Safety before the Ohio General Assembly on behalf of the governor. He was responsible for coordinating all Ohio Revised Code, Administrative Code, State Budget, Controlling Board, legislative and rule making initiatives for the divisions he was assigned, and was the principal contact to legislators, governor’s constituents, and interested parties regarding all department policy, regulatory, and legislative matters.
In 2003, Joe joined and later became the Vice President of LNE Group, a public policy advocacy and government relations consulting firm representing public and private sector clients including: state and local governments, trade associations, multinational corporations, and non-profit organizations. Joe was directly responsible for managing all state, federal, and local lobbying clients and all legislative, executive and procurement initiatives.
Prior to joining Shumaker Advisors Ohio, Joe served as principal of JMH Management, an independent and multiple client government affairs, business development and trade association management firm representing a variety of corporate, association and industry clients at the state and local level. The firm specialized in the development and execution of government relations initiatives, public policy and lobbying, political campaign strategy, procurement opportunities, economic development and grant proposals, and state trade association management.