About

Corporate and other entrenched interests devote vast resources to pursuing their policy agendas — resources that advocates representing everyday, working Americans often lack. This imbalance holds grave implications in the regulatory sphere, where successful advocacy requires access to expertise about agency laws and the rulemaking process.

Governing for Impact seeks to fill this gap at the federal level. Through collaboration with partners, we help drill down on the nitty gritty details of executive branch policy development and implementation.

Governing for Impact continues to take on new policy projects. If your organization would like to partner on an initiative, please reach out.

BOARD

Sam Fulwood III
Ilyse Hogue
Jess Morales Rocketto



staff

Rachael Klarman

Executive Director

Will Dobbs-Allsopp

POLICY DIRECTOR

Adam Grogg

Legal Director

Elisabeth Mabus

Director of Outreach and Strategic Initiatives

John Lewis

Deputy Legal Director

Jordan Ascher

POLICY Counsel

Anna Rodriguez

Policy Counsel

Reed Shaw

Policy Counsel

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Sam Fulwood III
Board Chair

Journalist, public policy analyst and author Sam Fulwood III is the Dean of the School of Communication at American University in Washington, D.C. His area of expertise and scholarship addresses key issues including media influences on American life; race relations; data-driven journalism; popular culture; and the intersection of media, technology, and democracy.

During a nearly three-decade career in popular and mass media, Fulwood reported and edited for a succession of U.S. newspapers, and in a variety of other communication forms, including television, radio, magazines and online/social media. From 2009 to 2020, he served as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, where he was the founder and director of the Leadership Institute, a program that advanced people of color and other underrepresented groups in the nation’s public policy process. In early 2021, he left CAP, as vice president for race and equity, to begin his tenure at American University. 

As a journalist, Fulwood was a metro columnist at Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer; a national correspondent in the Washington, D.C., bureau of the Los Angeles Times, where he contributed to the newspapers’ 1995 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of rioting in Los Angeles; an assistant city editor, business reporter, editorial writer and Johannesburg, South Africa bureau correspondent for the Baltimore Sun; and a police, sports and business reporter for his hometown newspaper, The Charlotte Observer.

Ilyse Hogue

Ilyse Hogue is a fierce advocate for justice and a leader, innovator and coalition builder across American and global progressive movements. As Purpose’s President, Ilyse supports the global team of passionate changemakers and steers strategic planning and development. A trained ecologist, she approaches social change from a systems perspective, looking to identify gaps and points of leverage at which to intervene and proactively anticipating trends where Purpose can apply knowledge and capacity to address emerging threats.

Ilyse, who has spent over a quarter century waging fights on behalf of humanity and our planet, most recently served in an eight-year tenure as president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, during which she helped transform the legacy organization into a modern-day organizing and political powerhouse. Under her leadership, NARAL tripled its membership, staff and annual budget in service advancing state and federal legislation to protect and expand abortion access, and fighting an unprecedented wave of abortion bans at the state level. She helped to position reproductive freedom as a central tenet of progressive politics and to engage organizations cross-movement in support of the full spectrum of reproductive freedoms being fundamental human rights. In doing this, they achieved what was said to be impossible: engaging the private sector in the fight to protect abortion access.

In 2016, Ilyse made history when she became the first speaker to share her abortion story at the Democratic National Convention. In 2020, she co-authored a best-selling book, The Lie That Binds, with former NARAL Research Director Ellie Langford on the history of the radical right, its authoritarian aims, and its reliance on white supremacy, misogyny and disinformation. Her commentary has been featured in The Washington Post, HuffPost, The Nation, Cosmopolitan, and ELLE. She is a frequent guest in the media, appearing as a progressive pundit on MSNBC, CNN, and NPR. She also spoke to popular New York Times podcast The Daily about the interlocking fights against dissolution of democracy, undercutting reproductive freedom and justice and disinformation.

Prior to her work for NARAL, Ilyse worked for MoveOn.org, Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, Media Matters for America, and the Friends of Democracy PAC. She holds a BA from Vassar College, an MS from the University of Michigan, and was named as one of the 10 Most Powerful Women in Washington DC by Elle Magazine. She currently serves on the boards of Demand Justice, a court reform organization, and Governing for Impact.

When not at work, Ilyse can be found spending time with her husband, six-year-old twins, and two dogs Ranger Rooster and Little Yellin. She’s an avid hiker, biker, and home cook, and an aspiring gardener.

Jess Morales Rocketto

Jess Morales Rocketto is the Civic Engagement Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Executive Director of Care in Action, where she spearheads advocacy and electoral campaigns for the 2.5 million domestic workers in this country. She is the Co-Chair of the Families Belong Together Coalition, the campaign to end family separation and detention, and a co-founder of Supermajority, a new women’s political action group. Jess is an alumna of Hillary for America, the AFL-CIO, Obama for America, and the Democratic National Committee. In 2019, Jess was honored in the first TIME 100 Next cohort, a list of rising stars who are shaping the future.

Rachael Klarman
Executive Director

Rachael is the Executive Director of Governing for Impact. Prior to joining GFI, she was a legal policy analyst at Democracy Forward, where she identified and developed litigation challenging the Trump Administration’s actions regarding health care, labor and education. She has worked on a number of electoral and issue campaigns, including as Deputy Chief of Staff on Tom Perriello’s gubernatorial campaign and as the National Director of Young American Outreach at Enroll America. Rachael is a native of Charlottesville, Virginia, and holds a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in History from the University of Virginia.

Will Dobbs-Allsopp
Policy Director

Will helps develop regulatory proposals that build power for workers, consumers, and the decarbonization movement. He previously worked as a political and policy reporter covering Congress for Morning Consult, and has contributed to projects at the Brennan Center for Justice, Protect Democracy, the Center for Health Law & Policy Innovation, and the Harvard Labor & Worklife Program. Will is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Washington University in St. Louis.

Adam Grogg
Legal Director

Adam is Legal Director at Governing for Impact and oversees the organization’s legal work, including its development of challenges to harmful regulatory policies, preparation of legal primers, and regulatory comment practice. Previously, Adam served as Deputy General Counsel at the Office of Management and Budget, where he advised the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and agencies throughout government on complex administrative law matters, and in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel and Office of the Associate Attorney General. Adam clerked for Judge Sidney Thomas on the Ninth Circuit and Judge Ellen Huvelle on the District Court for the District of Columbia. A graduate of Williams College, Oxford University, and Yale Law School, Adam grew up in Frederick County, Virginia, and is barred in New York and Washington, D.C.

Elisabeth Mabus
Director of Outreach and Strategic Initiatives

Elisabeth is the Director of Outreach and Strategic Initiatives at Governing for Impact. Prior to joining GFI, she was deputy legal counsel to the Governor of Colorado and a Ralph L. Carr Fellow for the Colorado Attorney General. She has worked on federal, state, and local political campaigns and with the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic. Elisabeth grew up in Jackson, Mississippi and is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College.

John Lewis
Deputy Legal Director

John is Deputy Legal Director at Governing for Impact and contributes to the organization’s legal work, including its development of challenges to harmful regulatory policies, preparation of legal primers, and regulatory comment practice. Previously, John served as an attorney with the Federal Programs Branch of the Department of Justice, where he defended major federal policies against legal challenge and advised federal agencies concerning litigation risk, and also worked at Democracy Forward, where he served as lead counsel in numerous lawsuits challenging unlawful federal action. John clerked for Judge Stanley Marcus on the Eleventh Circuit. A graduate of the University of Texas and Yale Law School, John grew up in Houston, Texas, and is barred in Texas and Washington, D.C.

Jordan Ascher
Policy counsel

Jordan Ascher is a Policy Counsel at Governing for Impact, where he produces legal analysis and writing on a range of topics in service of a progressive agenda. Previously, he was a litigator in the appellate practice group of a major law firm and a clerk for judges of the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and D.C. Circuits. Before becoming a lawyer, he was a consultant for urban school districts and state education agencies. Jordan is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Yale College.

Anna Rodriguez
Policy counsel

Anna is a Policy Counsel at Governing for Impact, where she helps advocacy organizations develop regulatory proposals that protect workers, consumers, and other groups. Previously, she was a Legal Fellow at the National Women’s Law Center, where she worked with state advocates and policymakers to protect access to abortion care. Originally from the Dominican Republic and Jacksonville, Fla., Anna is a graduate of Berkeley Law School and New College of Florida.

Reed Shaw
Policy Counsel

Reed is a Policy Counsel at Governing for Impact, where he develops progressive policy proposals and contributes to the organization’s legal work. He has worked at Governing for Impact, the Voting Section of the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Cohen Milstein, and Oasis Legal Services. Previously, he worked in political data analytics at OpenLabs and on electoral campaigns. Originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, Reed is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley Law School and Harvard College.