0-5 years

Will Cousineau joined Cornerstone's Springfield, Illinois office in June 2017. Will comes to the firm after nearly 18 years working for Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, including eight years as political director for the Speaker and the Democratic Party of Illinois.
Will was the longest serving political director for Speaker Madigan and most recently served as senior advisor to the Speaker. Over the past 10 years, Will worked directly with Speaker Madigan to shape, develop and implement the strategy and messaging for the Speaker's legislative and political agenda and the agendas of every member of the House Democratic Caucus. He also developed the implementation of political, legislative and outreach strategies for House Democratic Caucus members and all aspects of the Illinois House's political operation.

During his time with the Speaker's office, Will was involved in the major initiatives that moved through the Legislature over the past ten years, including such legislation concerning utilities, conceal and carry, financial institutions, and civil laws. Additionally, Will was intimately involved in the 2010 drawing of legislative districts, including new districts in the suburban region that have helped House Democrats expand and maintain their majority. While many democratic legislative caucuses across the country lost record numbers of seats during his tenure and every legislative chamber in the Midwest outside Illinois became Republican controlled, Will guided the Illinois House caucus and the Democratic Party of Illinois through a period of expansion and maintained a healthy majority for Illinois House Democrats.

Will's long tenure with the House, experience with message development, crisis management, grassroots organizing and input on political campaigns for offices throughout the state, gives Will an ability to understand complex legislative and political problems, easily digest those issues for members and clients and put together a collaborative and detailed action plan for moving forward.

In 2014, Will and his wife, Macy, adopted three sisters from Latvia. This experience has shaped their family, has given them the opportunity to speak with others about adoption and has encouraged their family to assist others who are adopting children both internationally and domestically. In 2016, Will and Macy's family grew with the arrival of their son.

In his spare time, Will is active in his church and serves on the Board of Elders. Will currently resides in Chatham, IL with his wife and four children.

Maura Weston brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in political and legislative advocacy to our Concord office.

Maura previously served as President and Founder of MM Weston & Associates. With extensive experience representing a wide range of clients before the New Hampshire legislature and regulatory agencies, she specializes in crafting and executing both short- and long-term legislative strategies, drafting testimony and working closely with policymakers to advance client interests. After founding her own government relations practice, Maura successfully represented clients in key sectors such as telecommunications, healthcare, energy and contract procurement.

Her notable achievements include advocating for the deregulation of VoIP services, reforming wireless facility siting processes and advancing net energy metering laws to expand renewable energy markets. Maura has also played a pivotal role in creating new healthcare legislation for collaborative practice agreements and helped invalidate restrictive covenants in physician employment contracts.

Prior to founding MM Weston & Associates in 2006, Maura was a Partner at Rath, Young, and Pignatelli, where she honed her expertise in government relations. Earlier in her career, she worked as an Associate Attorney and Law Clerk at the same firm.

Maura holds a Juris Doctor from the University of New Hampshire School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire. In addition, she is an active member of the American Bar Association and New Hampshire Bar Association and became the sole New Hampshire member of the National League of Women Lobbyists.

6-10 years

Mr. Cuzzi launched Prospect Hill Strategies in 2012. Today, David brings over two decades of experience to benefit some of New Hampshire's largest and smallest companies. The results achieved in both New Hampshire and Washington, DC for a diverse client roster demonstrate the Firm's ability to provide full service public affairs and government relations solutions to organizations with varying needs across a range of industries.

David previously worked for BAE Systems' Electronic Systems sector and its legacy businesses in Nashua, NH, in the roles of Manager, Business Development and Director, Government Relations. As a Business Development Manager, he led the strategy, resource planning, and execution of efforts to maintain core business and capture new business for a product line with annual sales of $240 million, including one of the company's most important programs. As Government Relations Director, David was responsible for advocacy at the federal, state and local levels for the Nashua, NH-based sector, which then employed 9,000 people at 16 sites across 7 states, with annual sales of $3.5 billion.

Prior to joining BAE Systems, David served as a top aide to then-U.S. Senator John E. Sununu (R-NH) on Capitol Hill, advising the Senator on National Security, Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Veterans' matters, and all issues pertinent to the Senator's service on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Mr. Cuzzi played a critical role in reversing the Department of Defense's recommendation to close the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in the 2005, and was a key negotiator in the drafting and passage of legislation reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT ACT in 2006 and 2007, and reforming the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States in 2007.

Mr. Cuzzi also served in New Hampshire and Washington, DC as an aide for two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, handling a wide portfolio of issues, including all committee work for a member of the Appropriations Committee. His other career assignments include posts with Podesta Associates in Washington, DC, Putnam Investments in Andover, MA, Bob Dole's 1996 New Hampshire Presidential Primary campaign, and the National Restaurant Association in Washington, DC.

David was born and raised in Waltham, MA. He is a graduate of St. Anselm College, and lives in Bedford, NH with his wife, Christina, and their twin boys. An avid sports fan and golfer, Mr. Cuzzi is active in business and civic organizations. He is honored to serve on the following Boards of Directors: Elliot Health System, McAuliffe-Sheppard Discovery Center, NH Scholars, NH Research and Industry Council, Rivier University President's Circle, and the New Hampshire Advisory Committee of the U.S. Global Leadership Council. David is Chair of the New Hampshire State Society's annual Educational Opportunity Fund golf tournament, and was an appointed member of the of the NH Telecommunications Planning and Development Advisory Committee, and Board Vice-Chair of the Manchester Community Health Center.

15-20 years

Penn Lincoln Strategies has fostered many relationships with members of the Connecticut legislature, General Assembly staffers, the Office of the Governor, the Office of the Attorney General, the Secretary of State and agency heads.

Liam's background involves a wide range of experience in government relations, public service, and politics. Liam has worked on both national and statewide campaigns, and lobbied on the local, state and national levels.

Prior to joining Penn Lincoln Strategies, LLC in 2017, Liam served as the Director of Government Relations and Political Affairs at ConnCAN, the state's largest education advocacy organization. In that role, Liam coordinated and directed ConnCAN's diverse legislative agenda at the federal, state and local levels. Additionally, Liam worked in tandem with the organization's leadership and various coalitions to develop strategies that improved educational outcomes for Connecticut students.

Before Liam joined ConnCAN, Liam worked for former U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd in his district legislative office and Presidential campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire. Liam also supported the Connecticut Senate President Pro Tempore's office where he monitored the Majority's legislative proposals and worked on several key legislative campaigns. Additionally, Liam has worked with a wide range of clients from nonprofit organizations to major utility companies and has had several legislative victories ranging from helping pass the State's nationally recognized Minority Teacher Recruitment legislation, authorizing Electric Bikes in Connecticut and establishing the State's Hemp program.

Liam is a member of the Town Council in West Hartford. Liam is also a founding board member of Active City, a Hartford based non-profit group centered around getting 600+ kids in the area active in youth sports. Liam lives in West Hartford with his wife, Whitney and their children Rory and Claire.

15-20 years

Penn Lincoln Strategies has fostered many relationships with members of the Connecticut legislature, General Assembly staffers, the Office of the Governor, the Office of the Attorney General, the Secretary of State and agency heads.

Chris, as the Founder and CEO of Penn Lincoln Strategies, LLC (PLS), oversees government relations and strategic communications for his firms' multitude of clients. PLS specializes in providing its clients with streamlined and precise consultation for all of their public affairs and advocacy needs. The firm advises client interests before state legislatures around the country, specializing primarily in the Connecticut legislature while, for some clients, managing their day-to-day association operations and providing strategic communications counsel on how to manage press inquiries and crisis communications/public relations.

PLS, established by Chris in 2016, is a full service firm that is proud of the commitment and professionalism it provides its clients.

Before PLS' founding, Chris worked as the Director of Government Relations for Connecticut based company, TicketNetwork, overseeing and managing the company's government relations for all 50 states and the federal government. In concert with the company's legal department and C-Suite, Chris oversaw a robust consultation and travel budget while managing a network of nearly two dozen national government relations and public relations consultants and professionals.

Prior to joining TicketNetwork in 2015, Chris spent over twelve years with the government relations firm Tobin, Carberry, O'Malley, Riley and Salinger (TCORS) a Hartford, CT based firm that specializes in association management and government relations. In the role of Principal, Chris led daily legislative management for dozens of clients on wide ranging issues from environmental regulation to state budgetary issues, gambling issues to freedom of press matters before the Connecticut State Legislature.

Chris got his start in the political field nearly twenty years ago as a political and campaign consultant on numerous successful local and statewide races in Connecticut.

Chris has a B.S. in Political Science from Ohio Dominican University and currently lives in West Hartford, CT with his wife, Maureen, their son Jake and the family dog, Ripken. Chris is an avid Ohio State Buckeyes fan and believes that Die Hard is absolutely a Christmas movie.

6-10 years

With more than 20 years of experience in building relationships between the public and private sector, Tommy Alsup leads all state and local government relations efforts for The Vogel Group.

Tommy previously served as Vice President of Government Affairs for Envision Healthcare, a $15 billion healthcare and national hospital-based physician group. At Envision, Tommy was responsible for sourcing and managing state-level lobbyists to ensure that the company's strategic goals were met with governors, state legislators and local officials across the country. His efforts were critical in securing favorable public policy on surprise medical billing issues in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee.

Tommy is an expert in managing national sales and procurement teams for companies seeking to grow revenue through state and local funding initiatives. He has overseen multiple requests for proposals (RFP) and large-scale procurement contracts for companies and industries alike.

In previous roles, Tommy was a senior-level government relations executive at Corizon Health and CoreCivic, the nation's largest owner of correctional, detention and residential reentry facilities.

With a strong, bi-partisan background in the state of Tennessee, Tommy served as Mayor of Oak Hill from 2002 to 2010, where he worked in partnership with Governor Phil Bredesen (D-TN) and Mayor Bill Purcell (D-Nashville, TN).

Tommy remains strongly engaged with the office of Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) and his administration.

Marc Goldberg joined Cornerstone in July 2023, expanding the firm's public affairs presence to New Hampshire and bringing 17 years of media and strategic communications experience to the Public Affairs team.

Previously, Marc served as chief of staff for the office of Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) since 2016. In this role, he managed a team of nearly 50 staffers across the Senator's D.C. office, five state offices and subcommittee office through the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Before that, he also served as Sen. Hassan's campaign manager as well as her communications director when she was New Hampshire's governor. Other communications roles include press secretary for former Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and communications director for former Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL).

Marc has also served as the independent expenditure director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In this role he focused on running paid-media efforts across the committee's targeted states and building teams of TV, digital and polling consultants for each state.

Marc holds a bachelor's degree in political science with a concentration of American politics and a minor in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Julia Larkin joined Cornerstone Government Affairs in February 2020 with more than 12 years of legislative experience in the state of Illinois. In her role as vice president, Julia uses her skills to help clients in Illinois advance their advocacy goals. Prior to joining Cornerstone, Julia served as the director of advocacy and government relations at AMITA Health, one of the largest health systems in Illinois. During her time in this role, Julia represented the organization's mission with state and local officials and executive agency staff, while also creating and executing strategies to ensure specific policy goals were met.

Previously, Julia served as legislative coordinator to Speaker of the Illinois House Michael J. Madigan for 10 years, where she assisted in the development of a wide array of policy positions and legislative initiatives. Julia has also supported the Democratic Party of Illinois, where she led state representative campaigns, managed opposition research and oversaw state representative candidate recruitment efforts.

Julia received her Bachelor of Arts with a double major in political science and international studies from Loyola University in Chicago.

Mandy Drendel joined the Cornerstone Illinois team as a vice president in January 2021. She is an attorney and registered lobbyist with experience advocating on behalf of clients before the Illinois General Assembly and Executive Branch. As a contract lobbyist, Mandy's worked on behalf of industries including telecommunications, energy, gaming, healthcare, insurance, education and cannabis.

Prior to joining Cornerstone, she served as senior legal counsel in the Illinois Senate President's office where she worked on telecommunications, insurance, tax, and pension issues. During her tenure, Mandy helped lead major legislative initiatives including a telecommunications rewrite, small cell wireless deployment, major insurance legislations, revenue packages, property tax relief and pension reform.

Before that, Mandy served on the Senate Democratic legal team, and acted as the caucus's key regulatory and administrative rule specialist where she staffed the General Assembly's administrative rulemaking committee. This experience provided her direct access and insight into the regulatory arm of Illinois state government.

Mandy received a Juris Doctorate from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Kirsten Koch joined Cornerstone's Concord team in October 2024, serving as Vice President to assist with executing strategic client initiatives and helping them cultivate strong relationships throughout the state.

Kirsten came to the firm following her time at the Business & Industry Association of New Hampshire (BIA) most recently serving as Vice President of Public Policy. In this role, Kirsten advised the public policy team, driving proactive advocacy efforts and overseeing the policy development process among BIA members. She regularly testified before the state legislature representing the business community on a variety of energy and environmental issues. Kirsten successfully advocated changes to make New Hampshire a more competitive state for doing business, including spearheading key policy initiatives to streamline permitting processes and drive the development of local energy sources. She also directed BIA's largest coalition of businesses while producing educational conferences for the organization.

Before her time at BIA, Kirsten worked as a Legislative Aide for the New Hampshire State Senate, gaining an in-depth understanding of the legislative process and building strong relationships with legislators and state agencies. She served as the aide to the Health and Human Services Committee and the Transportation Committee. Additionally, Kirsten served as Strategic Initiatives Director for the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, leading grassroots initiatives and managing statewide coalitions for federal, state and local elections.

Kirsten is proud to be a lifelong Granite Stater. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science with a law minor from Plymouth State University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude.