OUR TEAM

Martin Whitmer is a founding Partner of Whitmer & Worrall, LLC, a bi-partisan government relations and strategic consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. Mr. Whitmer has a broad policy and political background which has allowed him to successfully promote and advance key legislative programs within the public policy arena, among federal agencies and on Capitol Hill. Mr. Whitmer successfully works with both Republican and Democratic leaders due to his expertise transcending beyond political partisanship and has earned a distinguished reputation as one of Washington’s leading government relations strategists for the transportation industry.

During the George W. Bush Administration, Mr. Whitmer was appointed Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta and later promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff. He was the principal architect of the Presidents' Executive Order on Environmental Stewardship and Transportation Infrastructure Project Reviews. Prior to joining the administration, Mr. Whitmer served as Vice President of Government Relations for the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). Previously Mr. Whitmer served as the Republican Legislative Representative for the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA). He has also worked in the Capitol Hill offices of Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX) and House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) and on the 1988 and 1992 Bush-Quayle presidential campaigns.

Mr. Whitmer graduated from the evening program at the Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law in 1999. Concurrent with his law degree, Mr. Whitmer also completed a Master's degree in Public Policy. In 1992, he earned a B.A. from Georgetown University and graduated from the Kent School in Kent, Connecticut in 1988.

Mr. Whitmer is an Eagle Scout, a member of the Virginia State Bar, serves on the Board of Directors at the Eno Center for Transportation and was awarded the prestigious 9/11 Transportation Medal by Secretary Mineta. He completed the 2014 Boston Marathon as well as the 1993 Marine Corps Marathon, has visited all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries. He is from Dallas, Texas and currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his marvelous wife and three wonderful children.

Tom Worrall is a founding Partner of Whitmer & Worrall, LLC, a government relations and strategic consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. As a senior government affairs professional, a campaign manager, an adjunct university faculty member, and a National Finance Committee member of three Presidential campaigns, Mr. Worrall has played a substantial and active role in national politics for over thirty years.  While he’s had many people who have influenced him over the years, he attributes much of his professional and political experience to his years working with the late Congressman/Secretary Jack Kemp, one of his political heroes and mentors.

Mr. Worrall is a respected legislative strategist with an impressive nationwide political and corporate network.  His broad and proven experience has enabled him to successfully lead dozens of legislative campaigns across broad issue areas, including innovative technology, energy, state & federal business development, education, coalition management, FinTech and general corporate representation.

Mr. Worrall has served as the lead strategist and lobbyist for numerous Fortune 500 companies as well as some of America’s most well-known corporate leaders, such as Echostar Satellite, Evoqua Water Technologies, Monster.com, PPG Industries, Panasonic, RedZone Robotics, Rotech Healthcare, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. He has successfully helped many of his clients realize legislative victories by getting their top public policy priorities signed into law. These achievements are a result of Mr. Worrall’s ability to develop winning strategies to most effectively target, recruit, and mobilize Congressional champions. Mr. Worrall maintains extensive ties with the current House and Senate leadership and with senior public policy staff on Capitol Hill.

From 1999 through 2004, Mr. Worrall was a senior executive with The Rhoads Group (previously Boland & Madigan, Inc.), a top government relations firm and a division of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). Most recently he served as the firm's Senior Vice President and was the head of the technology practice area. He played a key role in growing the client base and doubling the revenue of the firm in less than three years.

In addition to Mr. Worrall's extensive government relations experience, he also has extensive political and campaign experience.  In the 2008 and 2012 Presidential campaigns, he served as an early member of the National Finance Committee for a leading Presidential contender.  During the 2004 presidential campaign, Mr. Worrall earned the distinction of becoming a “Bush Maverick” for his fundraising efforts and was featured in Influence as “one of President Bush's elite fundraisers.”  In 1997, Mr. Worrall was recruited to lead TEAM 100, the Republican National Committee's premier fundraising entity. Under his direction, working closely with RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson and Republican leaders nationwide, TEAM 100 greatly exceeded its fundraising goals during the 1997-1998-election cycle. While at TEAM 100, he also spearheaded the RNCs outreach to America's leading technology industries, to form the RNC Technology Advisory Board (TAB).

From 1991 until he joined the Republican National Committee, Mr. Worrall worked around the country as a senior political and campaign operative. He has served as a chief strategist and campaign manager for candidates running for the United States Senate, the United States Congress, and at the state level.

Mr. Worrall has been a regular speaker on the American political process and has served for ten years as an adjunct professor of campaign management at the George Washington University. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he holds a Master’s degree in Political Management from George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management and an undergraduate degree from the University of New Hampshire.

Erik Komendant is a Principal of Whitmer & Worrall. For nearly 15 years, Mr. Komendant has worked closely with corporate leaders across multiple industries to deliver results and impact public policy. He has been involved in and influenced the outcome of some of the most contentious and significant national debates of the past decade, including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement, reauthorizations of the FDA user fee programs, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and numerous budget appropriations measures. Among the keys to his success is his ability to build bipartisan consensus, develop broad-based stakeholder coalitions, and understand an ever-evolving landscape of political, policy, and regulatory changes.Prior to joining Whitmer & Worrall, Mr. Komendant led the government affairs teams at two major healthcare trade associations, the Association for Accessible Medicines and America’s Health Insurance Plans. Recognized as a “Top Association Lobbyist” by The Hill newspaper, his healthcare policy and advocacy expertise contributed to significant legislative victories in recent years. He was instrumental in the development of the ACA’s insurance market reforms; passage of the CREATES Act and USMCA trade agreement; the IRA’s prescription drug reforms; repeal of the health insurance tax; and improvements to Medicare Advantage. In both roles, Mr. Komendant was the point person with Biden/Obama Administrations, House and Senate Congressional leadership, and the primary health care committees in Congress.In addition, Mr. Komendant worked on Capitol Hill for more than seven years. He served as Policy Director for the moderate Blue Dog Coalition, as Legislative Director for former Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA-4), and as Legislative Correspondent for Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-16). While deeply involved in the 2009-10 healthcare debates, he was also influential in revamping the financial services rules (Dodd-Frank) and changing the federal budget process (PAYGO).Mr. Komendant is a graduate of the McDonough School of Business (MBA) at Georgetown University and the College of Arts and Sciences (BA) at the University of Pennsylvania. Raised in California, he lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, 9-year-old daughter, and two goldendoodles.

Morgan Collins is the Director of Government Relations at Whitmer & Worrall. Mr. Collins has worked at the firm for the past two years, providing in-depth legislative and regulatory analysis for the firm’s clients. Mr. Collins oversees Whitmer & Worrall’s defense & national security practice, where he has successfully secured defense appropriations funding and the inclusion of language in the National Defense Authorization Act on behalf of clients. In addition, Mr. Collins assists with the firm’s transportation, technology, and education clients. He also oversees the firm’s day-to-day operations and business development initiatives.Mr. Collins received his Master’s degree in Global Security Studies with a concentration in Strategic Studies from Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. Mr. Collins’ graduate studies focused primarily on national security strategy, defense policy, asymmetric warfare, strategic competition, and intelligence. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Boston College. In 2017, Mr. Collins graduated from Kent School, where he was captain of the Kent School Boat Club.Mr. Collins is a proud New Jerseyan and currently resides in Washington D.C.

Connor Brantley is the Legislative Director at Whitmer & Worrall. Prior to joining Whitmer & Worrall, Connor served as a Law Clerk for the Democratic staff on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, where he worked closely with the investigations team. Throughout law school, he gained legal, policy, and public affairs experience working for the Department of Justice, the law firm Montgomery McCracken, and other public and private organizations. While an undergraduate, he interned for Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and the Democratic National Committee.A native of Dallas-Ft. Worth, Connor earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Auburn University and attended George Mason University Law School.

Victoria Yanes is a Staff Assistant at Whitmer & Worrall. Victoria assists with client servicing initiatives, development research, and the firm’s internship program.Prior to joining Whitmer & Worrall, Victoria worked as the Leadership Programs Coordinator with Free the Facts, a D.C. based nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, and oversaw their Ambassador Program and nationwide campus programming. As a South Florida native, she interned in the House of Representatives in 2022 for Florida Representative Maria Salazar  (FL-27) and worked closely with the legislative team to cover Foreign Affairs and Small Business Committee hearings and briefings.Victoria Yanes earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics from the University of Florida in 2023. While an undergraduate student, she worked as the Assistant Executive Director for the Office of Political Affairs under the Hispanic Student Association. Victoria enjoys playing tennis and running in her free time.