Ballard Partners is launching a new Western Hemisphere Affairs Practice and a dedicated Venezuela Working Group, positioning the firm to provide comprehensive strategic advocacy and advisory services throughout the hemisphere.
The new practice will focus on issues spanning Latin America, Mexico, Canada and Greenland, while the Venezuela Working Group will concentrate on the increasingly complex landscape surrounding U.S.-Venezuela relations, including sanctions policy, diplomacy and cross-border commercial activity.
“The geopolitical and economic integration of the Western Hemisphere has never been more vital to U.S. national interests,” said firm founder and President Brian Ballard.
“By formalizing this practice group and the Venezuela Working Group, we are ensuring our clients have access to the deep regional expertise and bipartisan institutional knowledge required to succeed in these critical markets. 2026 marks a transformative year for hemispheric policy, and Ballard Partners is uniquely positioned to lead at this frontier.”
The practice brings together former senior officials from the White House National Security Council, the State Department, Congress and Capitol Hill leadership offices. The team is expected to advise clients on international trade, diplomatic engagement and regulatory matters, with particular emphasis on energy, infrastructure and critical minerals.
The roster includes Micah Ketchel, a former senior adviser at the National Security Council and the State Department, and Tracie Pough, who spent nearly two decades as Chief of Staff to U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and has long-standing ties to policymakers on Latin America and Caribbean issues.
The group also includes Tucker Knott, a former Chief of Staff to U.S. Sen. Ted Budd, and Thomas Boodry, who served in senior legislative roles at the White House and on Capitol Hill.
Florida-based expertise is represented by Jose Felix Diaz, a former state legislator and lawyer who has played a role in Ballard Partners’ expansion into Latin American markets, and Scott Wagner, a lawyer with extensive experience advising on large-scale infrastructure and energy projects throughout the region.
Ballard Partners said the creation of the Western Hemisphere Affairs Practice and Venezuela Working Group builds on its global expansion strategy, adding to an existing footprint that spans major U.S. and global markets.
