Suzanne Gragg Email & Phone Number

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

• Served as a representative for the Advocacy Department on Capitol Hill, focusing on the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and Veteran Service Organization (VSO) community.• Communicated with the Casework department to gain information and a complete understanding of Veteran challenges and develop a strategy to escalate those challenges to the appropriate committee or agency.• Drafted Congressional testimony and prepared witnesses to testify in front of Congress.• Created responses to relevant Notice of Proposed Rulemaking solicitations, authored white papers on issues of critical importance, and developed an annual Advocacy Strategy and presented it to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).• Established a coalition with critical VSOs concerning mental health issues and led the conversation on Capitol Hill, securing the introduction of 3 pieces of legislation and 2 hearings. • Directly responsible for attending multiple Congressional hearings, creating detailed summaries, and sharing with the team. • Implemented a strategy to meet with all House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Members and staff, as well as Committee Members and their staff, facilitated ~200 Congressional meetings building advocacy for pressing issues, resulting in 3 submitted Congressional testimonies, 2 hearings, and 3 pieces of legislation establishing access standards for Veterans health. • Identified a pattern of denial in MH RRTP Community Care requests and took concerns to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC), Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention (OMHSP), and House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC), although the VA was unresponsive to the concerns, the House and Senate both acted through legislation establishing standards for MH RRTP. • Advocated on behalf of 6K+ constituents and led the successful advancement of 67 mental health and caregiver cases.

Kansas City, Missouri, United States

• Performed as an integral executive leader and oversaw the agency's external and internal Communications teams while serving as the primary spokesperson, personally managing an extensive portfolio of clients, ensuring goals for social media and marketing were achieved or exceeded.• Oversaw the public website and the Office of Communications Hub site, developing content to explain programs and operations, report the results of audits, research, and investigations, announce regulations, and interpret themes and conflicting points of view in expository narratives. • Leveraged competitive research to develop and implement a broad social media strategy, including platform determination, benchmarking creative messaging and audience identification, and maintaining social media components that are continuously aligned with communications, marketing, and events to ensure consistent branding.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Functioned as a member of the senior leadership team, top government relations professional, and representative, focusing on cultivating relationships and trust among elected officials and staff, political appointees, senior civil servants, and critical stakeholders in relevant private sector organizations.• Directed the Government Relations team and created and executed the advocacy priorities focusing on the growth of the Political Action Committee (PAC), leveraging innovative technology, data, and performance metrics to drive advocacy outcomes.• Led the ongoing communication of advocacy priorities to organizational members, media, and various other stakeholders, established and managed the Government Relations office budget, and ensured continuous compliance with all state and federal laws, regulations, and ethical standards.• Represented the organization concerning various subjects before the legislative bodies, executive and regulatory agencies, advocacy groups, and citizens, delivering government affairs goals.• Researched, monitored legislation, and directed both internal and external communications while interfacing with media outlets. • Developed strategies, drafted legislative proposals, and prepared and presented testimony before legislative committees, agency hearings, and investigations. • Personally selected to participate in roundtables at the FTC and Iowa Attorney General’s office, discussing lead generations and potential regulations for lead generation, successfully staving off any significant regulatory changes during tenure.

Washington Dc-Baltimore Area

• Communicated with local, state, and federal legislative bodies and government agencies to represent and protect APSCU’s business plans and interests, improving the federal lobbying efforts and enactment P.L. 112-249.• Successfully solicited 90 letters from Members of Congress to the US Department of Education (ED) opposing a damaging proposed rule, cultivated government relations, and developed political strategies that secured the passage of H AMDT 214 to HR 1. • Responsible for leading a task force of 15 members in the development of a report published in 2013 while serving as the staff lead for the Blue-Ribbon Task Force for Military and Veteran Education.• Planned and spearheaded a student rally on Capitol Hill with 200 students and 5 Members of Congress participating.• Created new APSCU messaging and issue positions that identified, uncovered, and mitigated potential critical errors.

Washington, Dc

• Responsible for training and managing legislative staff, assigning areas of responsibility, and scheduling and directing legislative staff meetings, establishing a focus on the Member’s legislative goals, and working to establish positions on legislative issues.• Analyzed legislative activities on the House floor and managed the long- and short-term legislative planning for the Member.

Political Science

Washington Semester Program