Founded in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1998, Ballard Partners has since become a major player in the public affairs and government relations space. Following the inauguration of Donald Trump, Ballard Partners founder and president Brian Ballard expanded his firm outside of Florida for the first time in 2017, when he established an office in the US capital.
Since then, Ballard Partners has rapidly grown into a firm with a global reach. Along with offices located around the country, it maintains several overseas locations. In addition, through the Ballard Global Alliance it has forged strategic partnerships with like-minded firms in Europe, Asia, Canada, Latin America, and Australia.
The correlation between the firm’s growth and President Donald Trump’s rise to power hasn’t been incidental. Brian Ballard maintains deep ties to Trump, having chaired the then-candidate’s 2016 Florida Finance Committee and having even been responsible for introducing current White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to him. In 2025, the Financial Times called Brian Ballard the “go-to” governmental relations professional in Trump’s Washington.
Today, Ballard Partners leverages Brian Ballard’s ties to President Trump to assist clients. It has also strengthened its connections to the highest levels of government by hiring the following former members of the Trump administration to serve as partners in its Washington, DC, office.
Thomas Boodry
Thomas Boodry came to Ballard Partners following a tenure as a special assistant to President Trump and senior director for legislative affairs at the National Security Council. Along with his responsibilities as a partner in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, he belongs to Ballard Partners’ newly formed Western Hemisphere Affairs Group and the associated Venezuela Task Force.
Outside of President Trump, Boodry formerly served as a legislative aid to then-Senator Marco Rubio and as the legislative director to then-Florida Congressman Michael Waltz.
Micah Ketchel
Like Boodry, Micah Ketchel is a former special assistant to Trump who also spent time on Representative Waltz’s staff. In fact, Ketchel led the congressman’s office as chief of staff, and his time in the White House also saw him serve as a senior advisor to the National Security Council.
In addition to working with Representative Waltz, Ketchel developed additional connections on Capitol Hill by applying his skills as an attorney to serve as a counsel for the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee led by then-chair Jeff Miller, who now chairs Ballard Partners’ Veterans Practice Group. Ketchel himself now leads another of the firm’s specialty divisions, the newly established Critical Minerals Practice.
Hunter Morgen
During his time under the first Trump administration, Hunter Morgen served as a special assistant to the president and as a senior advisor for policy and strategy. He spent three years in these roles with a focus on advancing the trade and immigration goals of the president.
Morgen specifically led the Buy American/Hire American initiative and spearheaded efforts to reform the Universal Postal Union, an agency of the United Nations. He entered into the future president’s orbit as a speechwriter and policy advisor for the Trump 2016 campaign, and he was later appointed by President Trump to the Presidential Council on Improving Federal Civic Architecture.
William Russell
William Russell also became affiliated with Trump by working on his 2016 campaign. A veteran of Capitol Hill who previously served as a staff member for two Mississippi legislators, Senator Thad Cochrane and Congressman Alan Nunnelee, he was appointed to the Department of Agriculture following Trump’s victory. Beginning on Inauguration Day, he advised the office of the undersecretary of farm and foreign agriculture services.
Later, Russell became a special assistant to the president and was responsible for planning President Trump’s daily travel. Most recently, he drew on knowledge of his native Mississippi to serve as the Mississippi state director for Trump’s 2024 campaign.
