DC Strategies and The Velasquez Group LLC have formed a joint venture of two highly successful lobbying firms with strong ties to the lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who chair the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee.
Jay Velasquez is a lawyer/lobbyist who has been in the political arena for over 25 years. He founded The Velasquez Group, L.L.C. which has become one of the more successful financial services lobby boutiques in Washington, D.C. The New Yorker Magazine has cited Velasquez’s success on behalf of the accounting industry and Institutional Investor Magazine has described Velasquez as one of the “Most Effective Beltway Lobbyists.”
A few of Mr. Velasquez’s clients and former clients include Visa, Charles Schwab & Co., KPMG, BBA Group, The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, Mortgage Bankers Association of America, UBS Warburg, Arthur Andersen, Instinet, Deloitte & Touche, Interactive Brokers, Timber Hill, the Investment Company Institute (mutual fund industry), AICPA, Mortgage Insurance Companies of America, The Livingston Group, Public Strategies, Inc., Overstock.com, the American Land Title Association, the American Society of Anesthesiologists and Aventis Pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Velasquez is best known in Washington, D.C. for his years of service to Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX). Now Congressman Jeb Hensarling (TX-5) gave Mr. Velasquez his start in national politics hiring him as part of Phil Gramm’s senate staff. Over the years, Mr. Velasquez would serve Senator Gramm as political operative, state regional campaign director, senate staffer and General Counsel. In his final tour of duty for Senator Gramm, Mr. Velasquez helped start Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s (R-TX) senate office and would serve as her General Counsel and Legislative Director until permanent staff was brought aboard. Mr. Velasquez continues to work with Senator Gramm who is now Vice Chairman of UBS Securities.
Mr. Velasquez has also served as General Counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and counselor to then NRSC Executive Director Jeb Hensarling. Mr. Velasquez is a proven Republican fundraiser having chaired numerous events. The Legal Times has identified Mr. Velasquez as one of the “prosperous lobbyists with a seemingly effortless ability to raise vast sums of money.” Mr. Velasquez was Chairman and CEO of Friends of Phil Gramm PAC until he terminated the PAC in 2008.
In addition to these roles, Mr. Velasquez’s legislative experience includes a four-year stint as the principal senate lobbyist for the American Medical Association.
Mr. Velasquez has an undergraduate degree in Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin and is a 1985 graduate of The University of Texas School of Law. He is a member of the Texas and Washington, D.C. bars and has been published in the Texas Bar Journal (Federal Election Law: An Election Year Primer, Texas Bar Journal, Volume 55, No. 10, page 1034 (1992).