The House Republican Conference is staffing up heading into the 119th Congress. Chair Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) announced a slate of senior staff, pulling many from her own staff and from GOP conference staff under Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.):
Chief of staff: Nick Hawatmeh, who had previously served as McClain’s chief in her personal office.
Deputy chief of staff: Jake Ronan, who served as scheduling and operations director for McClain.
Communications director: Zach Barnett, who most recently served as communication director for Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Member services director: Alyssa Erdel, who was already running members services for the House GOP conference under Stefanik.
General counsel: Tara Hupman, who was most recently chief counsel to the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Policy director: Erik Kinney, who was McClain’s legislative director.
Coalitions director: Garrett Puckett, who worked for McClain as director of member services and as a legislative assistant.
Senior adviser: Anderson Okoniewski, who ran operations and scheduling for the GOP conference under Stefanik.