Vicki is a well-known and highly regarded leader who has high-level professional relationships with members of Congress and their staff and officials in the federal executive branch agencies. She is well respected within the Washington food and agriculture industry, and the Washington political community, including government affairs executives across a significant cross-section of industries. Vicki is a proven leader who understands how to navigate legislative and regulatory challenges. She is a recognized expert on crisis management, political risk assessment, public policy advocacy, strategic partnerships and alliances, and political strategy and fundraising.
Vicki has significant experience in providing counsel to C-Suites and clients, and she is known for achieving results. She has served as the head of the Washington office for a large bank and has engaged in a government affairs practice at prominent Washington law and lobbying firms. Her government relations practice has been focused on counseling clients from a wide array of agribusiness and commodity interests, technology companies, large state universities, and food and drug companies.
Before joining the private sector, Vicki previously served as a political appointee at the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Clinton Administration, where she directed a staff of 400 employees and managed a multibillion-dollar operation as the Farm Service Agency’s Deputy Administrator, Commodity Operations. Before her appointment to USDA, Vicki was a legislative assistant for agriculture, foreign affairs, and international trade for Senator Quentin Burdick (D-N.D.), who served as Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and as Chairman of the Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee.