NAB’S Top Lobbyist Will Leave

First the head of the association leaves, now its top lobbyist.
John Orlando, who had been promoted to be head of NAB’s lobbying arm after Jim May left the association two years ago, is leaving NAB to head the Washington lobbying office of CBS. Starting Jan. 17, Orlando will serve as the lead contact with Congress and the administration for CBS.
Orlando, executive vice president and head of the NAB Government Relations department, will become senior vice president of CBS Washington. It’s not his first stint at the broadcast company; he went to NAB in 2001 having worked as vice president, Washington, for CBS before that.
In that role he remembers walking the halls of the FCC in 1998 when he and Ibiquity President/CEO Robert Struble delivered the company’s initial petition for rule making for IBOC, as RW previously reported.
Orlando said moving back to CBS “is an opportunity that I simply cannot turn down. I leave NAB knowing that this great trade association is stacked with immensely talented individuals.”
David Rehr, former head of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, began as the new president and chief executive officer of NAB Dec. 5. Earlier this week NAB hired another beer association alum, Laurie Knight, as SVP/Government Relations. She replaced Andrew Reinsdorf, who left NAB in February. Knight had been director of government affairs for the beer wholesalers.