Society Of American Florists Hires New Lobbyist

Shawn McBurney

Shawn McBurney

Shawn McBurney joined the Society of American Florists’ (SAF) staff starting January 5 as the new senior director of government relations.

Advertisement

“Shawn has an impressive breadth and depth of experience in government relations having worked on the Hill, for the federal government, for a non-profit and a trade association,” says SAF COO Drew Gruenburg.

McBurney is the former senior vice president of governmental affairs at American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA). In that role, he monitored federal legislative activities and represented the AH&LA on tax, labor, international business and other legislative issues. McBurney served on the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Services and Finance Industries, which is jointly administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative, to represent AH&LA and the U.S. lodging industry.

Prior to AH&LA, McBurney was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001 to serve as associate administrator, Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs and senior advisor at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). In that capacity, he served as an advisor to the GSA  administrator, and supervised and maintained agency liaison with all members of Congress, congressional committees and other federal agencies.

Top Articles
Vestaron Receives EPA Approval for Second Active Ingredient, Basin Bioinsecticide

From 1991 to 2001, McBurney was director of government relations at Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), where he developed and managed the governmental outreach activities for the largest taxpayer watchdog group in the country. He served as special assistant to Representative Ed Royce (R-Calif.), where he implemented legislative initiatives from 1993 to 1999. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C. to begin a career in politics, he worked as a commercial real estate agent in California from 1988 to 1991.

McBurney holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA). He is an amateur historian and photographer, and has written articles and taken photographs for American Heritage magazine and other publications.

0