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MARY-PATRICIA WRAY

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MARY-PATRICIA WRAY

(Louisiana, )

Top Drawer Strategies

mpwray@topdrawerstrategies.com
225-395-9961
711 N. 6TH STREET, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA, 70806,

Subjects: All Subjects, Alcohol, Cannabis/Drug Legalization, Corrections/Criminal Justice, Criminal, Gaming, Health Care, Housing/Real Estate/Development/Construction, Labor/Unions, Medicare/Medicaid, Planning/Land Use/Zoning, Professional/Vocational Licensing, Public Safety, RFP/Procurement, Taxes

Links:Website, LinkedIn

Top Drawer Strategies is a full-service government relations, political consulting, public relations and media production firm with a record of success managing budgets of every size to set our clients up for their next policy, messaging, or campaign victory. At every level of government, our award winning in-house advocacy has a reputation of delivering results and garnering national attention for our clients. At Top Drawer Strategies, we turn long shots into serious contenders.

1) Americans for Contraception

2) CommuniHealth Services

3) Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana

4) Girl Scouts Louisiana East

5) Gulf States Renewable Energy Industries Association

6) Louisiana Housing Council

7) Louisiana School Based Health Alliance

8) Louisiana School Bus Operators Association

9) PJI

10) Safety and Advocacy for Empowerment

11) Smart Start

12) Trinity Community Health

13) Vera Institute of Justice

14) Vulcan Technologies Inc.

15) Wisznia Architecture & Development

6-10 years

At our legislature and dozens of boards and commissions across the state, decisions that impact our quality of life happen at warp speed. Top Drawer's effective relationship building and intensive bill and regulation monitoring give our clients the edge they need to impact everything from professional licensing to environmental permitting. Our advocacy has made the difference for clients on controversial issues that tend to divide policy makers, because we find ways to bring people together. From department rate setting to legislative education on pension sustainability, to healthcare policy, to labor and employment issues, we've found ways to make the impossible happen for our clients because of our credibility with decision makers at all levels of government.

Over a decade of advocacy, Top Drawer has brokered hundreds of millions in investments for Louisianans. Our work to secure a steady investment in the historic Morgnaza to the Gulf flood protection system will ensure that the Louisiana way of life is a reality for generations to come. Repeated against-all-odds work to invest in K-12 education after a decade of devastating spending freezes has produced important results for school districts across the state. Our commitment to state investments in smart partnerships with business and industry have borne fruit for organizations like the Port of South Louisiana - the largest tonnage port in the Western Hemisphere - completing capital projects years ahead of schedule to keep our goods and services moving. We're especially proud of our work to fund worthy non-governmental organizations that serve our children and communities, like our three-year successful effort to fund an emergency project for Girl Scouts Louisiana East and protect the camp experience for more than 14,000 young women in Lousiana.

Mary-Patricia Wray, founder of Top Drawer Strategies, is a graduate of The Ohio State University (B.A.) and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (J.D.). Before moving to Louisiana from Ohio in 2008, she worked for Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, later head of the Consumer Affairs Protection Agency. After focusing on constitutional law and administrative procedures in law school, MP, as she is affectionately known, put her knowledge to good use at the Louisiana Capitol. In 2012, she began representing clients focused on improving their communities by investing in public education and increasing access to high quality healthcare. She also works on policy issues surrounding criminal justice reform, healthcare delivery systems, economic development, multimodal transportation, coastal transportation, affordable energy, finance and tax issues, non-profit advocacy and local and municipal government. MP is an adjunct professor of law at Tulane Law School in New Orleans where she teaches Legislative and Administrative Advocacy focusing on legislative drafting and agency rule making.

MP was among the first true believers in the candidacy of John Bel Edwards for Governor, and served as one of the only staffers in the early years of his campaign, securing victory for the only Democratic statewide elected official in Louisiana and the only Democratic governor in the Deep South. Her award winning advocacy contributed to another upset victory, 2018's "Yes on 2" ballot initiative to erase one of Louisiana's last remaining Jim Crow era laws and require the use of unanimous juries.

Mary-Patricia serves her community through volunteer leadership in Girl Scouts Louisiana East as a lifetime member of Girl Scouts USA, having earned her Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting as a member of Buckeye Trails Girl Scout Council Troop #1567. She is a member of the BREC Foundation Board, chairing its public relations committee and focusing on work to reinvest in the life and health of the greater Baton Rouge community. She is involved in the Tulane and Loyola University communities, working to promote public interest as the highest good in every curriculum. She is the proud mother of Henry Lee Wray and resides in Baton Rouge with her husband, Ira.

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DANA SIMPSON

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DANA SIMPSON

(North Carolina, )

Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchel & Jernigan LLP

dsimpson@smithlaw.com
919-821-6756
Post Office Box 2611, Raleigh, NC, 27602,

Subjects: All Subjects

Links:Website, TAG Profile

Dana Simpson co-chairs the Government Relations practice at Smith Anderson and regularly represents clients before the North Carolina General Assembly and with State agencies.

Dana advises clients regarding legislative and regulatory advocacy, public relations, issues management, economic development initiatives, ethics, and campaign finance law compliance. Dana has been consistently rated one of the most influential lobbyists in North Carolina by both the nonpartisan N.C. Center for Public Policy Research and The North State Journal.

Prior to law school, Dana served as Special Assistant for Communications and Policy to the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Dana also has experience representing clients on rule-making and administrative law matters. He served as a member of the North Carolina Rules Review Commission from 2003-2006.

20+ years

"North Carolina's Top Lobbyists" - North State Journal (2020)
Best Lawyers Government Relations Practice (2009-2022)
Business North Carolina Legal Elite
Triangle Business Journal "40 Under 40 Leadership Award (2012)