Team Category: Advisory Board

John Taylor serves on BGR Group’s Advisory Board and provides strategic guidance on public health issues. As the Head of the Quality and Compliance Practice for ELIQUENT (formerly Greenleaf Health), John leads the company’s work with life science companies on quality and compliance issues that impact their ability to develop innovative solutions to public health challenges around the world. 

John has had a lengthy career in public health in both the public and private sectors. Over the course of three decades, he has served in senior leadership positions within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), industry, trade association, and consulting services. John joined ELIQUENT following a distinguished career of more than 20 years at the FDA.  

From 2009 to 2014, John held three high-profile positions at the FDA: Counselor to the Commissioner, Principal Deputy Commissioner, and Acting Deputy Commissioner for Global Regulatory Operations and Policy. 

As Counselor to the Commissioner, John served as the principal advisor to Commissioner Margaret Hamburg on issues that affected the agency’s programs, policymaking, management, budget, and administration. In his role as Acting Deputy Commissioner for Global Regulatory Operations and Policy, John provided leadership and direction to more than 4,000 employees in the FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) and Office of International Programs. 

John began his career at the FDA in 1991 as an attorney within the Office of the Chief Counsel, responsible for all phases of criminal and civil litigation related to violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and other federal laws. In 1997, John was promoted to Senior Advisor for Regulatory Operations and Policy within the FDA’s Office of the Commissioner. He was later named Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research’s Office of Compliance. In 2000, John accepted the position of Director of ORA’s Office of Enforcement. Two years later, John was promoted to Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs. 

In 2005, John left the FDA to spend four years working in industry, first as Divisional Vice President for Federal Government Affairs at Abbott, then, in 2007, as Executive Vice President for Health at the Biotechnology Industry Organization. 

Douglas Sellers, Jr. is a Senior Counselor at Palantir Technologies and a member of BGR Group’s Advisory Board.

During President Trump’s first term, he served as Special Assistant to the President and Associate Staff Secretary in the White House. In this role, Douglas worked with a small, trusted team to coordinate paper flow to and from the Oval Office.

Earlier in the administration, Douglas served in the White House Office of Management and Budget before being asked to be Chief of Staff of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which is now the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). While at OPIC, he oversaw the agency’s day-to-day operations and served as the Board Liaison to the agency’s Board of Directors.  

During his time at OPIC, Douglas played a key role in working with members of the executive branch and Congress to pass the BUILD Act—legislation that transformed OPIC into the DFC and significantly expanded its resources and authorities.

Following its passage, Douglas led the team responsible for implementing the legislation, drafting the agency’s bylaws, and designing its organizational structure. During his time at OPIC, he also represented the U.S. Government at major international summits and led official delegations abroad.

In addition to understanding West Wing operations, Douglas has a particular expertise and experience with DFC and international development banks. Earlier in his career, he served as a policy aide for Republicans in the United States Senate.

Former Congressman Patrick McHenry, who represented North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2005 to 2025, serves on BGR’s Advisory Board. In this role, he works with BGR Group’s Financial Services and Tax Practice Group to provide strategic counsel on issues ranging from expanding access to financial markets to tax and reconciliation process. During his time in the House, McHenry served as Republican Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, a committee he served on throughout his tenure in Congress. 

Also during his time in Congress, McHenry served in various positions of leadership. In 2015, he was selected by then House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (LA) to be the Chief Deputy Whip. As Chief Deputy Whip, Chairman McHenry directly assisted Majority Whip Scalise by building consensus for the conservative policy agenda of the House Republican Conference. One of his proudest accomplishments as Chief Deputy Whip was the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which helped to fix our nation’s broken tax code and provided much-needed tax relief to American families and businesses.  

During the 113th Congress, Chairman McHenry served as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. In this role, he provided oversight of the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other federal financial regulators.  

McHenry previously served a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Prior to being elected to Congress in 2004 at the age of 29, Chairman McHenry represented the 109th District in the North Carolina House of Representatives. He also served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, a post he was appointed to by President George W. Bush.  

Mayor Steve Benjamin is a Co-Chair of BGR Group’s Advisory Board. Steve was previously a member of the Advisory Board before he served as a Senior Advisor to President Biden and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. He brings decades of experience in government, public engagement, and municipal leadership to his work with BGR and its clients. He is a remarkably credentialed and distinguished leader who connects people and builds coalitions to find solutions to tough challenges.  

Prior to his service in the Biden-Harris administration, Steve was the Mayor of Columbia, South Carolina from April 2010 through December 2021. During his time as Mayor, he served as President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (2018-2019), as President of the African American Mayors Association, Vice Chairman of the Global Parliament of Mayors, Executive Chairman of Municipal Bonds for America, Chairman of the FirstNet Authority, a Member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee. 

Mayor Benjamin also has a background in education. He was the Spring 2022 Richard L. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He previously served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Carolina’s top ranked Honors College teaching a course titled “Columbia, South Carolina: Building a Great City” and is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities. Benjamin is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he served as President of Student Government and as President of the Student Bar Association.    

Briget Polichene serves on BGR’s Advisory Board and focuses on financial services issues. She is the former CEO of the Institute of International Bankers (IIB), a trade association that represents internationally-headquartered financial institutions that engage in banking and securities activities in the United States.

In addition to her position at IIB, Briget’s private sector roles have included senior advocacy and regulatory affairs roles with MetLife and Citigroup, Director with Promontory, financial Group and of counsel and associate positions at nationally-recognized law firms. Prior to joining the IIB in 2018, Briget was Vice President and Head of Federal Government Relations at MetLife, where she developed and executed MetLife’s federal advocacy strategy. Briget was previously at Promontory Financial Group, advising clients on regulatory compliance and risk management. She joined Promontory from Citigroup, where she was a Managing Director and General Counsel of State and Local Government Relations. Briget also served as General Counsel to the House Banking Committee (now the House Financial Services Committee), as the General Counsel of the Indiana Department of Insurance, and as a governor-appointed member of the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions Board, which is charged with policy making for state-chartered financial institutions.

Briget received her J.D. with honors from Duke University and a B.A. in economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Deborah L. Birx, M.D., has spent her first career serving the United States, as an Army Colonel and later, running some of the most high-profile and influential programs at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of State. Most recently, Dr. Birx served as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, where she made recommendations to the Vice President using complex data integration to drive decision-making, as well as worked closely with state officials across the country to provide state-specific advice and guidance. In 2014, Dr. Birx became an Ambassador-at-Large, when she assumed the role of the Coordinator of the United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS and U.S. Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy. Dr. Birx is a world-renowned medical expert and leader whose long career has focused on clinical and basic immunology, infectious disease, pandemic preparedness, vaccine research, and global health. As the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, she oversaw the spending of the $6 billion annual budget of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in history, as well as all U.S. Government engagement with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

She is dedicated to program improvement and change management to increase the health impact of every dollar spent; she has spent a lifetime mentoring young women in the Federal Government and translating science into effective implementation.

In 1985, Dr. Birx began her career with the Department of Defense (DoD) as a military-trained clinician in immunology, focusing on HIV/AIDS vaccine research. Through her professionalism and leadership in the field, she progressed to serve as the Director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research from 1996-2005. Dr. Birx lead one of the most influential HIV vaccine trials in history (known as RV 144 or the Thai trial), which provided the first supporting evidence of any vaccine’s potential effectiveness in preventing HIV infection. During this time, she also rose to the rank of Colonel, bringing together the Navy, Army, and Air Force in a new model of cooperation – increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the U.S. Military’s HIV/AIDS efforts through inter-and intra-agency collaboration. Then known as Colonel Birx, she was awarded two prestigious U.S. Meritorious Service Medals and the Legion of Merit Award for her groundbreaking research, leadership and management skills during her tenure at the DoD.

From 2005-2014, Dr. Birx served successfully as the Director of CDC’s Division of Global HIV/AIDS (DGHA) in the CDC Center for Global Health, where she utilized her leadership qualities, superior technical skills, and infectious passion to achieve tremendous public health impact. As DGHA Director, she led the implementation of CDC’s PEPFAR programs around the world and managed an annual budget of more than $1.5 billion. Dr. Birx was responsible for all of the agency’s global HIV/AIDS activities, including providing oversight to more than 1900 staff, and more than 50 country and regional offices in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, and Latin America. Recognized for her distinguished and dedicated commitment to building local capacity and strengthening quality laboratory health services and systems in Africa, in 2011, Dr. Birx received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the African Society for Laboratory Medicine. In 2014, CDC honored her leadership in advancing the agency’s HIV/AIDS response with the highly prestigious William C. Watson, Jr. Medal of Excellence.

Dr. Birx has published over 230 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, authored nearly a dozen chapters in scientific publications, as well as developed and patented vaccines. She received her medical degree from the Hershey School of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, and beginning in 1980 she trained in internal medicine and basic and clinical immunology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Birx is board certified in internal medicine, allergy and immunology, and diagnostic and clinical laboratory immunology.

Admiral Gary Roughead, USN (Ret.) is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy whose naval career culminated in serving as the Chief of Naval Operations, the senior officer in the U.S. Navy. In that role he was a member of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. In his career, he held six operational commands and is one of only two officers in the history of the Navy to have commanded both the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific Fleets.

Ashore, he served as the U.S. Naval Academy Commandant where he led the strategic planning effort that underpinned the Academy’s first capital campaign. He was the Navy’s Chief of Legislative Affairs responsible for the Department of the Navy’s interaction with Congress. Admiral Roughead was the Deputy Commander, U.S. Pacific Command during the massive relief effort following the 2004 tsunami in South and Southeast Asia.

Admiral Roughead serves on the boards of directors of the Northrop Grumman Corporation, Maersk Line, Limited and the Marinette Marine Corporation. He is a trustee of Dodge and Cox Funds, a trustee of the Johns Hopkins University and serves on the board of managers of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

In addition to his board responsibilities, he is the Robert and Marion Oster Distinguished Military Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He advises companies in the defense and medical sectors, and at the University of Haifa Maritime Center. He recently co-chaired a Congressionally appointed commission that reviewed the current administration’s National Defense Strategy and he remains active in non-governmental policy discussions with China, Japan, Canada and Mexico.

Heather Nauert is an accomplished public affairs strategist with extensive experience advising corporate and government leaders on high-stakes policy and crisis communications.

She currently serves on the Advisory Board of BGR Group, a bipartisan lobbying and public relations firm based in Washington, D.C. She also provides strategic counsel to corporations, non-profits, and think tanks that advance U.S. national security interests, including the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, Meridian International, Spirit of America, and the Center for a New American Security. Most recently, Heather advised retired General Keith Kellogg, Assistant to the President and Special Presidential Envoy to Ukraine.

A dedicated and compassionate champion of young professionals, Heather has served on the board of the William J. Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Program and the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, after President Trump appointed her to these roles in 2019. She continues to mentor young students in her recent role as a Fellow at Georgetown University’s Institute for Politics and Public Service, where she led weekly seminars on U.S. foreign affairs and the foreign policy objectives of the second Trump administration.

From 2017 to 2019, Heather served as Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, shaping U.S. foreign policy messaging and coordinating communications across the Department, its embassies, and consulates worldwide. She led Department press briefings and worked closely with two U.S. Secretaries of State, Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo. As a key member of Secretary Pompeo’s senior executive team, she traveled extensively with the Secretary, attended crucial bilateral meetings, and spearheaded communication efforts on top initiatives, including U.S. negotiations in North Korea with Chairman Kim Jong Un, discussions with U.S. counterparts in China and Russia, and the release of American prisoners wrongfully detained abroad.

She was also responsible for coordinating messaging between the State Department, the White House, the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Treasury on high-profile international matters.

In 2018, President Trump appointed Heather as Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State Department, where she was responsible for several bureaus, including Global Public Affairs and Educational and Cultural Affairs. These offices oversee communications and public diplomacy as well as the design and implementation of educational and other exchange programs that advance U.S. foreign policy interests.

Prior to her tenure in the U.S. Department of State, Heather served as a correspondent and news anchor at Fox News Channel, WYNW-TV (20th Century Fox’s owned and operated broadcast station in New York City), and ABC News in Los Angeles. For nearly 20 years, she covered almost every major domestic news story and global crisis affecting Americans, including the 9/11 terror attacks, the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and natural disasters. Her experiences abroad allowed her to observe the vital role of diplomacy in U.S. national security–a perspective that would later inform her work in government.

Heather’s firsthand experience covering the 9/11 terror attacks in New York City inspired her to become an advocate for post–9/11 combat veterans. She is a proud member of the National Advisory Board of Warrior and Quiet Waters, a nationally recognized veterans service organization in Montana.

Heather currently resides in New York and Montana with her family. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in communications from Mount Vernon College.

Edward J. Mathias is a member of BGR’s Advisory Board and a Senior Advisor with The Carlyle Group.

Prior to joining Carlyle in January 1994, Mr. Mathias was a long-time member of the Management Committee and Board of Directors at T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., a major investment management organization. He was instrumental in the founding of The Carlyle Group and assisted in raising the firm’s initial capital. Mr. Mathias serves as an advisor to senior management and is a member of the Investment Committees for Carlyle Growth, Asia Growth, European Technology, and Sub-Saharan Africa Funds. Additionally, he is actively involved with Carlyle’s broad-based investment strategy and serves in an advisory role for the firm’s Global Credit Funds.

Mr. Mathias holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania where he currently serves as a Trustee Emeritus. He is a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, The Council on Foreign Relations, and The Trustees’ Council at The National Gallery of Art.

Daniel Hoffman is an advisory board member at BGR. He is a former Senior Executive Clandestine Service Officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. His combined 30 years of distinguished government service included high-level positions not only within the CIA, but also with the U.S. military, U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Commerce.

A three time Chief of Station, Daniel’s assignments included tours of duty in the former Soviet Union, Europe, and war zones in both the Middle East and South Asia. Hoffman developed extensive, substantive expertise on geopolitical and transnational issues related to the Middle East, South Asia, Russia, counterterrorism, and cyber and counter-intelligence.

Now in the private sector, Daniel remains highly regarded for his policy experience and his work with foreign officials in the regions where he served.

He has been a Fox News contributor since April 2018, and serves on the advisory board of the Federal Enforcement Homeland Security Foundation.