Kelsey Guyselman
This week, Kelsey Guyselman joined the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation as Deputy Policy Director. Notably, she will be second in command — on the Republican side — for the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet, which is chaired by John Thune (R-SD). It is one of six subcommittees, and has far-reaching powers over telecommunications policy.
Like many committee staffers, Guyselman has prior experience lobbying the very committee where she will now work. She comes straight from a government affairs position with the Information and Technology Industry Council to the Hill. ITI is the leading association for tech companies, touting membership of America’s largest tech giants, including Facebook Inc., Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
As ITI’s Senior Director of Government Affairs, Guyselman helped lead the charge towards promoting the council’s array of policy interests. Central among these is the race to lead the world in the 5G revolution, a cause championed by Commerce Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and other leading members of the committee, who recently introduced the 5G Spectrum Act in an effort to beat other nations to the punch in 5G broadband access. In fact, the Commerce Committee will hold a hearing about 5G supply chain security next week, targeting headline names like ZTE Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co.
This is not Guyselman’s first foray into government policy on the Hill. Before ITI, she was a policy advisor and counsel with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for over two years and, before that, worked for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A graduate of The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, Guyselman is just one example of the revolving door — still wide open — between trade associations and government entities.
