Gephardt Government Affairs, the lobby shop of former Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.), has added Rob Epplin as a vice president. Epplin was legislative director for Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and spent 23 years in government service, including on the Senate Finance Committee and with the Office of Management and Budget.

He will focus on budget and tax issues for the firm’s clients.

“We are thrilled to have Rob on board,” Gephardt said in a statement. “With two decades of experience in federal government on tax and budget issues, Rob has just the kind of background that is critical to excellent client service.”

A Dose of Simmon

The Generic Pharmaceutical Association has filled a prescription for its new senior vice president for policy and strategic alliances in Christine Simmon.

Simmon most recently was senior director of public policy at CVS/Caremark, but she previously worked at GPhA.

“We are delighted to welcome Christine back to our professional team,” said Ralph Neas, GPhA’s president and CEO. “She will play a leading role in our mission to show that safe, effective and affordable generic medicines are a critical part of the solution to controlling costs and lowering the nation’s health care bill.”

DeFife’s Bigger Portion

The National Restaurant Association has restructured its policy and government affairs team to include all communications and research employees, the group announced today.

Scott DeFife, the association’s executive vice president of policy and government affairs and a former aide to Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), will now oversee a staff of 40, more than double the size of his previous team.

“This integration will ensure we are even stronger in our mission to promote pro-restaurant policy and regulations, elect a pro-restaurant Congress, have the financial support to win restaurant-related policy battles across the nation, and engage all segments of the industry in our efforts,” said Dawn Sweeney, the association’s president and CEO, in a statement announcing the reorganization.

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