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.

Gabe Pellathy is a Principal of Whitmer & Worrall. Mr. Pellathy leads key client initiatives, successfully utilizing his extensive government, corporate and political skillset. Prior to joining Whitmer & Worrall, he served in senior management positions for three global fortune 500 corporations, including a power company, where he was frequently tasked with spearheading top political, legislative and policy priorities.

Mr. Pellathy has proven experience interacting at the highest levels of international, federal and state government. He has a broad policy background on issues related to international trade and tax, including extensive interactions with the EU, Japan, China, Canada and Australia, appropriations, business development, economic development incentives, export control policy, export financing, global supply chain, foreign direct investment, energy and environmental policy.

His federal government service includes five years as an attorney in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in the Executive Office of the President. He then served as senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security with regulatory, technology transfer and foreign investment responsibilities. Mr. Pellathy also served as deputy director and chief of staff within the International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce, managing a network of 1,600 employees in 260 offices across the globe focused on commercial diplomacy. In this capacity, he assisted not only global multinational corporations, but also small and medium-sized companies on trade, market access and investment issues. He played an active role in advocacy and business promotion programs involving over 20 federal agencies. Some of the industry sectors he supported include services, energy, aerospace, automotive, chemical, steel, electronics hardware and software.

In addition to his deep interagency experience, Mr. Pellathy has long-standing Congressional relationships on both sides of the aisle and legislative expertise in developing winning strategies and achieving results. Recent examples include the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, and legislation involving science and technology, investments in clean energy production and tax credits aimed at reducing carbon emissions, and appropriations.

Mr. Pellathy is a Fulbright Scholar and holds a law degree from Cornell University.

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.

Lindsay Bencick is an Associate at Whitmer & Worrall. Ms. Bencick assists the firm’s principals with planning and executing strategies that help clients achieve their policy priorities. Ms. Bencick monitors and reports on key policy issues and conducts research on the passage and implementation of legislation at the federal level. Her most recent work includes preparing comprehensive summaries of the American Rescue Plan Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Ms. Bencick coordinates closely with the firm’s clients and arranges meetings with elected officials, congressional staff, and agency leadership. Additionally, she assists with the firm’s marketing and business development initiatives andsupervises the firm’s internship program.

Ms. Bencick’s political experience includes an internship with the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). Working with FCNL’s communications team, Ms. Bencick drafted organizational briefs and updates on FCNL’s priorities such as healthcare accessibility, environmental justice, and international peacebuilding. She has also participated in Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) to advocate for early childhood education and food security.

Ms. Bencick holds a degree in Politics & International Affairs from Furman University. She is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas and resides in Virginia.

Natasha Epperly is an Associate at Whitmer & Worrall. In collaboration with the firm’s principals, Ms. Epperly plays a pivotal role in implementing and administering client initiatives by assisting with client communications, advancing key legislative priorities and the coordination of Washington, D.C. client visits. She regularly assists with the firm’s marketing and business development priorities. Ms. Epperly also supervises the firm’s internship program.

Ms. Epperly previously completed an internship with the Hillsborough County Property Appraisers Office. In her role, she assisted the office with updating property appraisals. Ms. Epperly also helped create digital neighborhood data sets and new digital property permits. Ms. Epperly also held an internship with the Tampa City Council, where she resolved constituent issues and prepared documents for the council members’ weekly community meetings.

Ms. Epperly earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Astronomy from the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida. While attending USF, she served as the Volunteer Coordinator for a Democratic candidate for Florida’s Attorney General.

Ms. Epperly is a member of the State Society of Florida. She is from Gainesville, Florida and currently resides in Washington, D.C.

Morgan Collins is an Associate at Whitmer & Worrall. Mr. Collins provides in-depth legislative and regulatory analysis for the firm’s clients. Mr. Collins monitors and tracks legislation, reports on key congressional committee hearings, and summarizes agency guidance and directives. He also assists with the firm’s marketing and business development initiatives.

Mr. Collins is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Global Security Studies with a concentration in Strategic Studies and a certificate in Intelligence at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. Mr. Collins earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Boston College. In 2017, Mr. Collins graduated from the Kent School where he was captain of the varsity crew team. Mr. Collins is a proud New Jerseyan and currently resides in Washington D.C.

Ms. Blackstock will be graduating in December with a degree in International Politics and Spanish from Juniata College. She is a Pennsylvania native and hopes to move to DC after graduation and obtain a law degree.