New Firm on the Block

A trio of lobbyists has launched a new health care and education consulting firm called HCM Strategists. Terrell Halaska, most recently assistant secretary for legislation and Congressional affairs at the Education Department, has gone into business with Kristin Hultquist (formerly Conklin), a former senior adviser at Education, and Michael Manganiello, most recently a principal at Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek Government Affairs.

“Today is kind of our coming-out party,” Halaska said on Wednesday, the day the firm was holding a launch party at the home of lobbyist Robert Raben of the Raben Group. “We think that there are a lot of good policy issues in the health and education arena that organizations are trying to advance to the national stage.”

For example, one client, the State Higher Education Executive Officers group, is trying to get its policy items in front of both presidential candidates. HCM’s other clients include the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, New York Stem Cell Foundation and the testing company ACT.