Crozer Served as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
April 14, 2021 – BGR Group, Washington, D.C.’s premier bipartisan lobbying and public relations firm, today announced that William Crozer will return to the firm starting April 19 as a Vice President on the bipartisan government affairs lobbying team and Managing Director of State and Local Advocacy.
For the past two years, Crozer served as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) – the primary liaison between the White House and the more than 500,000 state, local, territorial, and tribal leaders from the 54 States and Territories. In that capacity, Crozer engaged governors, attorneys general, secretaries of state, mayors, city council members, county commissioners, state legislators, sheriffs, first responders, and Tribal leaders, among other stakeholders.
“I am excited to return to BGR Group to continue my engagement at the state and local levels and help grow the firm’s reach across the country,” Crozer said. “Today, state, local and tribal governments are increasingly shaping policy debates and driving policy changes, forcing the federal government to follow. I am looking forward to bringing my experience and relationships to an already excellent team.”
BGR’s Chairman and CEO Bob Wood, said, “Few people understand the correlation between federal and state politics and policy better than William. He will immediately bolster BGR’s ability to help clients achieve results.”
Democratic and Republican leaders from across the country offered praise for Crozer’s ability to bring people together for a common goal.
“William is widely respected by America’s county officials for his incredible hard work, unmatched follow up and passion for finding practical solutions,” explained Boone County, KY Judge and National Association of Counties (NACo) President Gary Moore from Kentucky. “We could always trust William’s word. He is very professional, knowledgeable, and always present.”
“William is a unique leader. He has built an impressive national network of local government leaders through his trustworthiness and perseverance. He is always prepared, with thorough research and understanding of politics, policies and personalities,” noted Douglas County, NE Commissioner and NACo Past President Mary Ann Borgeson. “He is an experienced player who truly understands the landscape.”
“William is very professional and really demonstrated his care for county concerns and issues,” said Dekalb County, GA Commissioner and NACo First Vice President Larry Johnson. “He always had an open door, regardless of political party. He is about helping local leaders address real world issues.”
In addition to helping stakeholders navigate resources and programs across the federal government, Crozer and the IGA team worked collaboratively with stakeholders to advance a wide variety bipartisan policies and shared priorities, including fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, passing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), as well as policies related to energy independence, broadband deployment, natural disaster recovery, criminal justice reform, urban revitalization and rural prosperity, workforce training and combating the opioid epidemic. IGA also launched and led the Governors’ Initiative on Regulatory Innovation, a more than 700-strong stakeholder coalition promoting and advancing the administration’s regulatory reform agenda at the State and local level.
Commenting about William’s service, the Attorney General of Florida, Ashley Moody, offered that he, “has shown exemplary leadership and a mastery of legal policy and I know the bipartisan relationships he has formed with attorneys general and other state and local officials across the country will serve him well in his new role. It was great to work with William on issues important to Floridians and on other shared priorities.”
Iowa Secretary Paul Pate, the current President of the National Association of Secretaries of State, said, “I was very impressed with William’s ability to reach out and communicate with our state and others to gather input and insight. His work was a great example of the federal government working on cohesion with its state partners. He demonstrated a unique ability to coalesce stakeholder support, including that from Secretaries of State, around key policy priorities for the Administration.”
Mayor Bryan Barnett (Rochester Hills, MI) and Steve Benjamin (Columbia, SC) both former US Conference of Mayors Presidents, reflected on working with William, “Through the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, William was an invaluable resource for mayors and municipal official across the country. He ensured local interests were well represented in the Administration and worked collaboratively to advance shared, bipartisan priorities. “
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, William and the IGA team organized the most robust intergovernmental partnership in modern American history, leveraging solutions at every level of government. IGA led the Federal government’s COVID-19 response and recovery efforts with state, local, and tribal officials, providing historic collaboration, technical assistance, and resource allocation/deployment. These efforts included organizing 49 Governors-only briefings with the Coronavirus Task Force alongside 33 national state/local/tribal calls with senior administration officials and countless direct interactions with stakeholders across the country.
In addition to engagement at the State and local level, William helped lead efforts to reinvigorate outreach to the Nation’s federally recognized Tribal governments and joined in driving administration policy accomplishments, including launching Operation Lady Justice to tackle the tragic issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
Myron Lizer, Navajo Nation Vice President, offered, “I truly applaud William as he begins his new duty for BGR Group. During his two years in office, William served as primary liaison between the White House and America’s Tribal Government among others, where I had the exceptional honor to deliver collaborative efforts to enhance the Navajo Nation and Native American communities.”
Before joining the White House in 2018, William lobbied for five years at the federal, state, and local levels at BGR Group. In that capacity, he was responsible for developing and implementing client engagement strategies both in Washington and in state capitals around the country.
Prior to his previous tenure at BGR Group, William worked in Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s Office of Executive Counsel. He also served on 2012 GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign as Georgia Political Coordinator, where he oversaw grassroots operations in the state and assisted in the campaign’s Southeast Volunteer Deployment Program.
A native of Thomasville, Georgia, William received a BA from the University of Virginia in 2007 and a JD from the University of Georgia School of Law in 2012. He is licensed to practice law in both Georgia and the District of Columbia.
