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Joel Kaplan
The variety of clients who’ve sought Joel Kaplan’s help reflects his own rich and varied past - as lobbyist, top Capitol Hill staffer, Executive Office of the President budget hawk, Ph.D. economist, and Marine.

Mr. Kaplan’s portfolio includes energy, with on- and off-shore oil and gas development; science, including space exploration, and natural resources.

“I like to look at the nexus of policy and financing, where ideas and money come together, then develop a strategy for achieving a client’s goals. It’s not just a matter of requesting funding from the right program,” he said.

Mr. Kaplan, a vice president for Van Scoyoc Associates, spent 11 years as a top staff member for the House Appropriations Committee, following six years as an executive at the Office of Management and Budget, the agency that reins in the federal government’s entire bureaucracy.

For over seven years with the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, he had responsibility for about one-third of the Department of Interior’s budget, including the Bureau of Land Management, Minerals Management Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Office of Special Trustee for American Indians. His duties also covered the Indian Health Service, within the Department of Health and Human Services.

With the Science, State, Justice, and Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee, he handled the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s budget, balancing funding for new space exploration missions with continuing science and aeronautics programs.

His time as clerk for the District of Columbia Appropriations Subcommittee, which no longer exists, afforded Mr. Kaplan a unique perspective into the problems and politics of metropolitan areas.

As deputy chief of the Interior branch at the Office of Management and Budget, Mr. Kaplan was responsible for the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey. He represented the OMB on the White House’s Domestic Policy Council Interagency Wetlands Task Force and in the delicate deliberations after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Before entering government, Mr. Kaplan directed conservation policy for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. He coordinated the foundation’s annual congressional briefing preparations and worked with all the major federal natural resource agencies to further non-traditional programs for protecting and improving natural resources.

Mr. Kaplan holds a doctorate of economics from The American University, Washington, D.C. He served in the United States Marine Corps.

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