lobbying k-street bipartisan defense energy tech financial-services class-analysis
related: PhRMA · Goldman Sachs · Fossil Fuel Bloc
Who They Are
Crossroads Strategies (CRS) is a bipartisan lobbying and federal advisory firm founded in 2010 by John Green and Stewart Hall, both formerly founding partners of what became Ogilvy Government Relations. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the firm grew from a small Republican-leaning boutique into a top-10 national lobbying firm through a deliberate bipartisan expansion strategy — most dramatically through its 2017 merger with Democrat-leaning Capitol Strategies and the 2020 recruitment of former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and former Senator John Breaux (D-LA).
CRS earned $25.2 million in lobbying revenue in 2024 from 152 clients, up from approximately $2 million when founded in 2010. By 2025, the firm reported $28.3 million in revenue with 26 registered lobbyists and 149 clients. Bloomberg Government ranked CRS among top performers in both its 9th and 10th Annual Top-Performing Lobbying Firms reports; the 10th Annual (2025) tracked a record $4.5 billion in total federal lobbying for 2024 — with CRS billing $25.2M placing it firmly in the top-10 cohort alongside Brownstein, Akin Gump, Holland & Knight, BGR, Invariant, Thorn Run, Forbes Tate, Mehlman, and Cassidy.
The firm offers direct advocacy, strategic intelligence, political risk management, agency and regulatory lobbying, and government procurement consulting. Its areas of focus span telecommunications, transportation and infrastructure, energy, financial services, federal procurement, defense, agriculture, and intellectual property — a portfolio deliberately built to cover every major appropriations and regulatory pipeline in the federal government.
Client List
CRS maintains one of the broadest client lists in K Street — 152 clients in 2024 spanning virtually every major industry sector. The client roster reads as a cross-section of corporate America’s federal government exposure.
Defense & Aerospace
- Boeing
- General Atomics
- GE Aerospace
- Shield AI
- nLight Corp
- Ocean Aero
- Motorola Solutions
- TCOM LP (Aerostar International)
- ADS Inc
- Accrete AI
Tech & Telecom
- Alphabet Inc (Google)
- ByteDance Inc (TikTok)
- Broadcom Inc (VMware)
- Salesforce.com
- Micron Technology
- Block Inc
- Netgear
- Data Center Coalition
- Array Technologies
Energy & Chemicals
- American Chemistry Council
- Solv Energy (via American Securities)
- ALPHA Facilities Solutions
- Albacore Ocean Systems
Financial Services & Wall Street
- Morgan Stanley
- PNC Financial Services
- Berkshire Hathaway (Charter Brokerage)
- Securities Industry & Financial Markets Assn (SIFMA)
Healthcare & Pharma
- Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
Transportation & Other
- Airlines for America
- Norfolk Southern
- Nippon Steel (US Steel)
- 3M Co
- Altria Group
- Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas
- Friends of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base
- National Medal of Honor Museum
- Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Money
The client list reveals CRS’s structural function: it provides a single point of access to both parties for corporations navigating federal policy. A defense contractor like Boeing or General Atomics doesn’t need one firm for Republicans and another for Democrats — CRS covers both through its bipartisan team. The firm extracts revenue from every major sector precisely because it has built relationships on both sides of the aisle. The merger with Capitol Strategies in 2017 and the Lott-Breaux hires in 2020 were investments in bipartisan coverage, not bipartisan conviction.
The Revolving Door
CRS has a 76.9% revolving door rate — 20 of 26 registered lobbyists are former government employees. The firm also employs 2 former members of Congress, making it a textbook example of the revolving door hub pattern.
Former Senators
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Former Position: U.S. Senator (1989–2007), Senate Majority Leader (1996–2001, 2003), Senate Minority Whip Joined CRS: 2020 (from Squire Patton Boggs) Named in The Hill’s Top Lobbyists 2023. Lott’s value to CRS is his personal relationship with virtually every Republican senator who served during his 18-year tenure. As former Majority Leader, he retains floor access privileges and institutional relationships that no amount of policy expertise can replicate.
John Breaux (D-LA)
Former Position: U.S. Senator (1987–2005), U.S. Representative (1972–1987), Senate Finance Committee, Senate Commerce Committee Joined CRS: 2020 (from Squire Patton Boggs, where he and Lott had co-led the firm’s bipartisan practice) Named in The Hill’s Top Lobbyists 2023. Breaux served 33 years in Congress total — 15 in the House, 18 in the Senate. His Finance Committee background makes him the firm’s primary asset for tax, healthcare, and trade lobbying. Breaux and Lott had previously co-led a practice at Squire Patton Boggs before moving to CRS together.
Key Founding Partners
John Green — CEO
Former Position: Senior aide to Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS); founding partner of what became Ogilvy Government Relations Green’s career trajectory maps the revolving door precisely: Senate leadership staff → founding a lobbying firm → selling it to a global conglomerate (WPP/Ogilvy) → founding CRS → hiring his former boss (Lott) as the firm’s marquee lobbyist. The boss-staffer relationship inverted: Lott now lobbies under Green’s firm.
Stewart Hall — Founding Partner
Former Position: Legislative Director to Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), 1992–1996; founding partner of Ogilvy Government Relations Hall’s Shelby experience gave CRS its initial edge in defense appropriations, financial services, and Senate procedure — Shelby chaired or ranked on Senate Appropriations and Banking committees for decades.
Recent Hires
Lucy Panza — Executive Vice President
Former Position: Counsel to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Panza’s hire from Schumer’s office extends CRS’s bipartisan access model into the current Democratic Senate leadership. Combined with the Lott hire, CRS now has personal-relationship access to both a former Republican Majority Leader and the current Democratic leader’s inner circle.
Jackson Stuteville — Senior Vice President (2025) Former Position: Congressional Liaison, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Mission Capabilities Stuteville brings unique insight into congressional defense committee priorities and strategic counsel on legislative matters pertaining to defense innovation. Previously represented the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma as the Tribe’s sole Federal Government Affairs representative in Washington, DC — adding Native American advocacy expertise to the firm’s portfolio.
Stephen T. Voljavec — Senior Vice President (2025) Former Position: Legislative Director, Ways and Means Committee Vice Chairman Vern Buchanan (R-FL) Voljavec served as chief advisor to the Health Subcommittee on Ways and Means, driving legislative strategy on health policy, veterans’ affairs, and appropriations. Co-founded the bipartisan Congressional Preventive Health and Wellness Caucus to advance prevention and early detection policies — positioned to manage CRS’s healthcare and appropriations lobbying.
What They Deliver
CRS’s broad client base and bipartisan team make it a generalist firm — it doesn’t specialize in a single industry the way some boutiques do. Instead, it specializes in access across multiple sectors simultaneously. The firm’s documented areas of legislative and regulatory work include:
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Defense appropriations and procurement: CRS lobbyists work the Defense appropriations and authorization bills for Boeing, General Atomics, GE Aerospace, and multiple defense tech startups (Shield AI, nLight, Accrete AI). The firm’s Senate roots — Hall’s Shelby connection, Lott’s leadership relationships — give it direct access to the Armed Services and Appropriations committees.
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Tech policy and Section 230: CRS represents both Alphabet/Google and ByteDance/TikTok — companies that are often on opposite sides of tech regulation debates. This is a classic client conflict laundering scenario: CRS bills both sides of the same policy fight.
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Financial services regulation: Morgan Stanley, PNC Financial, SIFMA, and Berkshire Hathaway are all CRS clients navigating banking regulation, SEC oversight, and financial services legislation.
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Pharmaceutical pricing: PhRMA and Bristol-Myers Squibb rely on CRS alongside their other lobbying firms to maintain the pharmaceutical industry’s pricing power against legislative reform efforts.
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Industrial policy: Nippon Steel/US Steel (trade and CFIUS review), Micron Technology (CHIPS Act implementation), and Norfolk Southern (rail safety regulation post-East Palestine) all represent active industrial policy lobbying.
The Bipartisan Model
CRS represents the constructed bipartisan model — a firm that deliberately built bipartisan access through strategic mergers and hires rather than evolving organically.
The timeline reveals the strategy:
- 2010: Founded by Green (Republican, Lott orbit) and Hall (Republican, Shelby orbit) — initially Republican-leaning
- 2017: Merged with Capitol Strategies, founded by Wally Burnett (former Senate Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee clerk) and Shay Hancock (former Sen. Patty Murray legislative assistant) — adding Democratic relationships and transportation/defense/infrastructure expertise. Combined revenue exceeded $11 million.
- 2020: Recruited Lott and Breaux as a package from Squire Patton Boggs — adding two former senators, one from each party, who had already built a bipartisan practice together
- 2024: Hired Lucy Panza from Schumer’s office — extending the Democratic side into current leadership
Each step was a deliberate investment in bipartisan coverage. The firm’s website emphasizes that all partners and associates engage on matters relevant to the entire client list — eschewing the “siloed work structure” common at larger firms. This collaborative model means that a defense contractor client benefits from the firm’s financial services relationships, and vice versa.
Contradiction
CRS’s bipartisan model is sold as principled pragmatism — the firm claims it works “both sides of the aisle” because good policy requires it. But the business model reveals a different logic: bipartisanship is a product that CRS sells to corporate clients who need access regardless of which party controls Congress. The firm’s investments in bipartisan coverage (the Capitol Strategies merger, the Lott-Breaux hires) were revenue plays, not ideological commitments. When CRS lobbyists represent TikTok to Democrats and Boeing to Republicans using the same institutional relationships, the bipartisanship serves the donor class, not the public.
Billing vs. Outcomes
| Year | Revenue | Clients | Lobbyists | Revolvers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | ~$2M | ~20 | ~5 | Unknown |
| 2017 | ~$11M (post-merger) | ~80 | ~16 | Unknown |
| 2024 | $25.2M | 152 | 26 | 20 (76.9%) |
| 2025 | $28.3M (annualized) | 149 | 26 | 20 (76.9%) |
CRS has grown approximately 14x in revenue since founding — from ~$2M to $28.3M — through a combination of organic growth, the Capitol Strategies merger, and the Lott-Breaux marquee hires. The growth trajectory tracks the firm’s expanding bipartisan coverage: each major hire or merger added a new political relationship network and attracted new clients.
Lobbying-to-Policy Timeline
| Date | Recipient/Target | Amount | Policy Return | Time Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Founded by Green/Hall | N/A | Republican-leaning firm with Shelby/Lott orbit access to Appropriations, Banking | N/A |
| 2017 | Capitol Strategies merger | Combined $11M+ | Added Democratic relationships (Murray orbit), transportation/defense clients (FedEx, Northrop Grumman) | Immediate |
| 2020 | Lott + Breaux join CRS | Undisclosed | Two former senators (one R, one D) bring personal relationships with every senator who served 1987–2007 | Immediate |
| 2023 | Defense clients (Boeing, GA, GE) | Est. $3-5M combined | Defense appropriations and authorization lobbying — NDAA provisions, procurement contracts | Ongoing |
| 2023 | PhRMA + Bristol-Myers Squibb | Est. $1-2M combined | Pharmaceutical pricing defense — blocking Medicare negotiation expansion | Ongoing |
| 2021–2025 | ByteDance/TikTok | Q3 2025: $110K | TikTok/ByteDance divestiture lobbying — CRS (via Lott, Breaux bipartisan team) lobbied on H.R.1153 DATA Act, H.R.503 and S.85 No TikTok Acts, ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Acts (H.R.1081, S.347) attempting to block or delay divestiture; Senate resistance built but PAFACA ultimately signed April 2024; ByteDance paid $8.33M total lobbying across multiple firms 2025; final divestiture deadline implementation contested through 2025 | 4+ years, partial success |
| 2024 | Nippon Steel (US Steel) | Undisclosed | CFIUS review lobbying for Nippon Steel’s proposed acquisition of US Steel | Ongoing |
| 2024 | Lucy Panza joins from Schumer office | N/A | Current Democratic leadership access — extends firm’s bipartisan coverage into Senate Majority Leader’s orbit | Immediate |
| 2024 | Alphabet/Google | Undisclosed | Tech regulation, antitrust defense, AI policy — CRS provides Senate access for Big Tech | Ongoing |
| 2025 | Stuteville/Voljavec strategic hires | Staff cost | Defense innovation (Stuteville) + Ways & Means health/appropriations (Voljavec) — expands access to Defense and Health committees | Immediate |
| 2025 | 162 clients, $28.3M | $28.3M | Top-10 lobbying firm — Bloomberg Government 2025 recognition; client retention 80%+ from prior year | N/A |
Money
The Lott-Breaux hire in 2020 is the defining transaction. Two former senators — one who ran the Republican Senate, one who served 33 years across both chambers as a Democrat — joined a mid-tier lobbying firm and instantly made it a destination for any corporation needing bipartisan Senate access. CRS didn’t just hire two lobbyists; it acquired 51 combined years of congressional relationships. The subsequent revenue growth from ~$15M to $28M tracks directly to the expanded access these hires provided.
Class Analysis
Crossroads Strategies represents the professionalization of bipartisan access as a commodity. The firm’s growth trajectory — from a small Republican boutique to a top-10 bipartisan operation — maps the corporate class’s demand for political insurance. Corporations don’t want to bet on one party winning; they want access to whoever wins. CRS packages that insurance into a single retainer.
The Lott-Breaux model is particularly revealing. These two senators — one who led the Republican conference, one who was a centrist Democratic deal-maker — built a shared lobbying practice at Squire Patton Boggs and then moved it to CRS intact. The bipartisan relationship was itself a portable asset, transferable between firms. What looks like political moderation — two former senators from different parties working together — is actually a business model for selling access to both parties simultaneously.
The client list confirms the structural function. CRS represents PhRMA alongside Bristol-Myers Squibb, Boeing alongside defense tech startups, Morgan Stanley alongside SIFMA, Google alongside TikTok. These clients don’t need CRS for policy expertise — they have in-house government affairs teams and other lobbying firms for that. They need CRS for the relationships that Green, Hall, Lott, Breaux, and Panza carry in their personal networks. CRS is selling phone numbers, meeting access, and the implicit credibility that comes with having a former Senate Majority Leader making your case.
The 76.9% revolving door rate is the business model expressed as a statistic. More than three-quarters of CRS’s lobbyists walked through the revolving door from government to K Street. Each one brought a network of relationships, committee contacts, and procedural knowledge that cannot be acquired any other way. CRS doesn’t hire lobbyists — it harvests government employees.
Sources
- OpenSecrets: Crossroads Strategies Lobbying Firm Profile — 2025 (Tier 1)
- OpenSecrets: Crossroads Strategies Lobbyists — Revolving Door Data (Tier 1)
- OpenSecrets: Crossroads Strategies Bills Lobbied — 2025 (Tier 1)
- The Hill: Lott, Breaux Join Lobbying Shop Crossroads Strategies (Tier 2)
- Roll Call: Ex-Sens. Lott, Breaux Announce Move to Crossroads Strategies (Tier 2)
- The Hill: Lobbying World — Schumer, Amazon Alum to Join Crossroads Strategies (Tier 2)
- Crossroads Strategies: Strengthens Offerings with Strategic Hires and Key Promotions (2025) (Tier 3)
- Bloomberg Government: 10th Annual Top-Performing Lobbying Firms Report — Federal Lobbying Reached $4.5B High in 2024 (Tier 2)
- LegiStorm: Crossroads Strategies LLC Summary (Tier 3)
- LegiStorm: Stewart Hall Biography (Tier 3)
- Crossroads Strategies Official Website — About (Tier 4)
- CNBC: ByteDance, TikTok shelled out $7 million on lobbying and ads to combat potential U.S. ban (April 2024) (Tier 2)
- Washington Examiner: Inside TikTok’s army of lobbyists of ex-senators, congressmen, and staffers (Tier 2)
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