PEOPLE

People

Tue. Apr. 29, 2008


BUDGET HAWK. Diane Lim Rogers is taking a position as chief economist at the Concord Coalition, the fiscal discipline group. Rogers was most recently chief economist at the House Budget Committee. During 2006, she was research director on a budget project for the Brookings Institution and before that was chief economist for House Ways and Means Committee Democrats. She held a similar position at the Joint Economic Committee. In addition, Rogers worked on the White House Council of Economic Advisers and spent time at CBO. She is married to John Rogers, an economist at the Federal Reserve. The Concord Coalition is co-chaired by former Sens. Warren Rudman, R-N.H., and Bob Kerrey, D-Neb.

AG-MAN. Keith Menchey, who most recently worked at the Agriculture Department and previously worked for the Maryland Agriculture Department, has rejoined the National Cotton Council. Menchey is a former Congressional Science Fellow at the House Agriculture Committee.

THEATRICAL RELEASE. Karen Batra, who has spent the past five years as director of public affairs at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, is about to start working as director of food and agriculture communications at the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Batra hails from Greensboro, N.C., and came to Washington in 1989. Before her time with the Cattlemen. she worked at the Credit Union National Association and the National Mining Association. On the side, Batra has been quite involved in theatre: she is an actor and is on the board of The Arlington Players. Batra, who earned her bachelor’s degree in acting, says her most enjoyable work on stage has been with the Hexagon Group, which does political satire. “I got to play Jenna Bush one year,” she says. “It allows me to combine my life at work — which is politically based — with the theatre hobby.”

by Gregg Sangillo

Tue. Apr. 29, 2008