Mindset is proud to announce the expansion of its leadership team, adding Former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn and promoting Senior Democrat Langston Emerson to Partner.

Mindset is a strategic advisory and advocacy firm that counsels clients on public policy risk and opportunity, designs strategic plans for government affairs, develops tools for measuring and managing political risk, leads issue coalitions, and advocates to the policy community on behalf of its clients. The firm draws from a diverse background in government, business, and law to formulate its views of how legislative and regulatory changes affect companies.

Rick Dearborn.

Dearborn will expand Mindset’s Advisory practice, which works with clients to develop short- and long-term strategic plans to promote government relations as a center of opportunity within an enterprise. He brings over 30 years of Washington experience, having served two U.S. Presidents and six U.S. Senators. From January of 2017 until March 2018, Dearborn served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the White House, where he oversaw the political operations, public outreach and legislative affairs teams. Dearborn also served as Executive Director of the Presidential Transition Team. Prior to his service to President Trump, Dearborn was Chief of Staff for then-Senator Jeff Sessions for over a decade. In 2003, Dearborn was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become Assistant Secretary of Energy for Congressional Affairs.

Langston Emerson.

As part of its leadership expansion, Mindset has also promoted senior Democratic lobbyist Langston Emerson to the position of Partner. While at Mindset, Emerson has led the firm’s asset management practice, and been a significant contributor to the firm’s growth. Emerson brings over 15 years of experience in government affairs consulting for a spectrum of clients in the financial services sector. Prior to his time at Mindset, Emerson was a lead advocate and Washington adviser for the private equity industry at the American Investment Council (AIC) and at TIAA, where he led efforts to address matters related to the Dodd-Frank Act, including systemic risk, the Volcker rule, and consolidated capital rules for non-bank financial companies. Emerson’s significant Hill experience includes stints working for Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), and Rep. Mike Capuano (D-MA).

Langston has been an invaluable part of our team during his time at Mindset, and we are pleased to promote him to Partner. His strategic acumen, deep relationships, and strong track record of success as an advocate will continue to serve our clients well.

Bridget Hagan, Partner