HILLCO PARTNERS

Area of Expertise: Appropriations, Health Care, Workforce

Quick Facts: 

• Worked for more than a decade in Texas state government, including as chief of staff to a senior House committee chair
• Served as director of the House Committee on Appropriations
• Volunteer for the Governor’s Strike Force to Open Texas

Nelda Hunter is an experienced budget and policy consultant skilled in government relations, public affairs, budget analysis, legislation, and public administration. She works primarily in the areas of state budget and fiscal policy, as well as health and human services.

Hunter has more than fifteen years’ experience in Texas state government, serving in a variety of roles that afford her keen insights and perspectives on the legislative process, budget and policy development, and state agency operations. She was chief of staff to House Committee on Appropriations Chair John Zerwas MD from 2015 to 2019, simultaneously serving as committee director during nearly three of those years.

While playing a consequential role in the development of two state budgets, Hunter also helped pass several significant statewide policies, including a constitutional amendment to extend and fund the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas, and a bill that repealed the widely unpopular Driver Responsibility Program, reconfiguring and preserving trauma funding for the state’s hospitals. She also volunteered her time and expertise to the Governor’s Strike Force to Open Texas, which focused on responding to the novel coronavirus.

Several organizations have honored Hunter for her legislative work, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the Texas Association of Community Health Centers, the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, and the Texas Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs.

Hunter received a master’s degree in public service and administration from The Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University. She was named a distinguished alumna of the Bush School.

Area of Expertise: Development, Insurance, Transportation, Financial and Tax Services, Energy

Quick Facts: 

• Recognized by clients for his tenacity in managing and being fully engaged in advancing their legislative goals
• Helps clients formulate strategies to achieve their legislative and regulatory objectives
• Special adviser to Governor Rick Perry during his early statewide service as lieutenant governor and agriculture commissioner

J. McCartt is a partner and lobby team director with HillCo Partners and leads the firm’s Transportation Practice. He has more than thirty years’ experience in the Texas legislative and political arenas and advised Governor Rick Perry during Perry’s early service as a statewide elected official.

McCartt was executive assistant to then-Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry From 1995 to 1998 and served as special adviser to Perry during his 1998-2000 tenure as lieutenant governor. In the latter role, McCartt managed staff and directed coalition building, fund-raising, communications, and website development for Lieutenant Governor Perry’s political committee. He also monitored legislative activities related to Perry’s key policy initiatives, mastering the intricacies of major legislative and regulatory issues facing the state and gaining valuable insights into legislative personalities and protocol. In the process, McCartt developed strong relationships with members of the Texas Senate and the Texas House, statewide elected officials, agency heads, and key staff.

Prior to his association with Perry, McCartt received a tremendous working education in Texas politics while serving on the staff of the legendary Bob Bullock during the 1991 legislative session, Bullock’s first term as lieutenant governor.

McCartt studied history and government at The University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history.

Quick Facts: 

• Launched STRIVE Public Policy Resources 
• Provides consulting support for the firm’s Education Practice

David Anderson provides consulting support for HillCo Partners’ Education Practice. He is widely recognized throughout Texas for his expertise in public education policies and issues.

Formerly managing director for curriculum at the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Anderson has experience with a wide range of education policy and finance/appropriations issues. Since joining HillCo, he has assisted numerous clients in the educational arena, including the Texas School Alliance, an organization comprised of almost fifty of the largest school districts in Texas; the Texas Fast Growth School Coalition, an association of seventy-plus school districts exhibiting enrollment growth that exceeds state averages; and several independent school districts and charter schools.

In 2024, Anderson launched STRIVE Public Policy Resources, an organization that provides strategic marketing, training, research and data, intelligence, value, and expertise in public policy.

At HillCo Partners, Anderson’s client schools enroll almost two-thirds of the students in Texas. Through these affiliations, he has developed positive relationships with school leaders in every corner of the state. He has also helped private-sector clients secure state, regional and local contracts, as well as develop agreements with other private entities.

In addition to his work at the Capitol, Anderson is actively involved in policy and client issues at TEA, the State Board of Education, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and several other agencies.

Prior to his work at TEA, Anderson spent eighteen years in the educational publishing industry, including sixteen years as a regional vice president for three publishers. He began his career as a teacher and administrator in Austin public schools.

Anderson attended The University of Texas at Austin, where he received an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree. He has done additional post-graduate work at UT-Austin and Harvard University.

Area of Expertise: Public Safety, Local Government, Public Pensions, Government Finance, Texas Statute Reform, General Business

Quick Facts: 

• Recognized as a tireless advocate for public safety and nearly forty years of service as police officer in a major metropolitan city
• Strategic and tactical counselor on public safety, public pensions, and a wide range of local government issues

Mark has more than four decades of experience in law enforcement and local government issues. Foundational to his expertise are his service as an active-duty officer in the Houston Police Department from 1978 to 2017. He has also served as president, executive director, and chief negotiator for the state of Texas’ largest law enforcement organization, the Houston Police Officers’ Union.

Clark was legislative director and political director for the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, which provides legal representation, legislative and political counsel, and assistance in labor negotiations to law enforcement organizations across the state of Texas.

In 2017, the Texas Senate, 85th Texas Legislature, honored Clark’s long career and dedication to public service by passing Senate Resolution 559, authored by then-State Senator John Whitmire. One by one, senators from Houston to Dallas to the Rio Grande Valley, representing the full diversity of the Senate, stood to laud him as a public servant, an unbiased source of information and balanced perspective, and a friend of the Texas Legislature. “You have something that is valued highly in this building, and that’s the currency of trust,” said Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick in his remarks from the dais before presenting Clark the legislative gavel to commemorate the occasion.

Clark graduated from Antioch University with a bachelor of arts degree in labor studies and from Midwestern State University with a master’s degree in public administration.

Areas of Expertise: Education, Philanthropy 

Quick Facts: 

• Lobbied for major associations—including one with more than 100,000 members—at the state and federal government levels
• Extensive experience working with clients in public and higher education
• Led a large association through the early months of the pandemic, charting its continued growth and success

Kate Kuhlmann joined HillCo Partners in January 2019 and represents various clients of the firm’s Education Practice. She is an experienced lobbyist in several policy areas at both the state and federal government levels.

Prior to joining HillCo Partners, Kuhlmann provided government relations counsel for the Association of Texas Professional Educators, where she represented the interests of the association’s 100,000-plus educator members. She was also a contract lobbyist for Arnold &
Porter LLP in Washington DC and Hance Scarborough LLP in Austin Texas, concentrating on issues such as public and higher education, transportation, and infrastructure.

Kuhlmann was also tapped to serve as acting executive director of the Fast Growth School Coalition—whose membership includes the most rapidly growing school districts in Texas—from the onset of the pandemic March 2020 through December of that tumultuous
year.

Kuhlmann graduated from Texas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in public relations.

Areas of Expertise: Education and Local Government

Quick Facts: 

• Public education policy adviser to former Governor Rick Perry
• Former Acting Commissioner of Education and Chief Deputy Commissioner at the Texas Education Agency
• Served as Mayor and on the city council of one of Texas’ fastest-growing cities in the United States
• Extensive education policy and local government expertise  

Todd Webster represents the interests of HillCo Partners’ clients before the Texas Legislature,
state agencies and local governments.

In 2012, Webster established a consulting practice providing government affairs and other counsel to a variety of clients. He has over twenty-five years of experience in public education policy, having provided guidance for clients in Texas and beyond on state and national education policy matters, including supporting private philanthropic efforts to improve public education.

Between 2009 and 2012, Webster was Chief Deputy Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency (TEA), tasked with overseeing the state’s primary and secondary public schools, and was the acting Commissioner of Education between the terms of Commissioners Robert Scott and Michael Williams. From 2007 to 2009, Webster was a consultant at a national consulting firm specializing in supporting the implementation of education reform initiatives at the national and state levels. For five years, beginning in April 2002, Webster was the public education policy adviser to former Governor Rick Perry. He was also a policy adviser to former TEA Commissioners Mike Moses and Jim Nelson, and a legislative aide for criminal justice and public safety to former Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock.

Webster was elected to two terms on the Kyle City Council before being elected mayor of Kyle and serving in that office from June 2014 to December 2017. During his service to the City of Kyle, Webster was a strong advocate and guided the city’s efforts to improve its capacity for economic development through significant improvements to water, wastewater, transportation, and public services infrastructures. He served on the Alliance Regional Water Authority and was Chairman of the Kyle Economic Development Committee.

A licensed attorney, Webster holds a bachelor of arts degree from The Ohio State University and a juris doctorate degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law.

Area of Expertise: General Business, Sports 

Quick Facts: 

• Represents individuals and organizations before multistate, federal, and international decision-making bodies
• Specializes in building trusting relationships and developing solutions to complex business problems in the US and internationally
• Resolves issues impacting successful operations, ranging from market entry to regulatory compliance, throughout the fifty US states and abroad

Kelly Barnes joined HillCo Partners in 2019. He focuses on assisting the firm’s clients in various public policy areas, at both the state and federal levels. He also handles the firm’s federal and international affairs matters including immigration. He has used his substantial influence abroad to help HillCo clients in ways such as securing the support of various Ambassadors and their Embassies.

Barnes has more than ten years’ experience working in and around Texas state government. For six years prior to joining HillCo, he was chief of staff for a member of the Texas House, advising them on policy matters and affecting the passage of major legislative initiatives ultimately signed by the governor.

Prior to working in the Texas House, Barnes was a government affairs consultant for the Texas Association of Business. In this role, he helped hundreds of companies and local chambers of commerce pass legislation aimed at ensuring a positive regulatory and tax environment for businesses statewide, and he advocated for policies that support business growth, improve the state’s economy, and elevate Texans’ quality of life.

Barnes also worked in Washington DC as a legislative aide to a US congressman from Texas.

Raised in Austin, Barnes received a bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish from Texas Christian University and a master’s degree from George Washington University. He lives in Austin with his wife and two children.

Area of Expertise: Health Care, Tax  

Quick Facts: 

• Counsels clients on property tax matters and a broad spectrum of health care issues,
  including facilities, physicians, pharmaceuticals and payers
• Helps clients raise their public- and private-sector profiles, navigate the legislative and
  regulatory landscapes, and negotiate effective public policy solutions
• Former chief of staff and committee director to a senior member of the Texas House of Representatives

Kyle Mauro has been with HillCo Partners since 2020. He focuses primarily on the firm’s Health Care Practice and property tax issues.

Immediately prior to joining HillCo, Mauro was chief of staff and committee director for a senior member of the Texas House of Representatives who chaired the House Committee on Human Services. In these roles, he was directly involved in developing policy and guiding legislative strategy on health care issues with statewide impacts.

During his time in the Capitol, Kyle helped craft legislation relating to health and human services programs affecting more than 7.5 million of Texans, including Medicaid managed care and Medicaid’s prescription drug benefit program. Although primarily focused on health care, Mauro also worked in a broad range of policy areas, helping pass taxation, gaming, transportation, telecommunications, and electricity legislation.

Mauro leverages his experience and relationships in the health policy arena to provide valuable insights to legislators and reliable advocacy to HillCo’s clients.

Mauro is a graduate of Texas A&M University. He lives in Austin with his wife Megan.

Quick Facts:

• Covered Texas politics for nearly two decades as an award-winning journalist
•  Doubles as a journalism professor

Karina Kling joined HillCo Partners in 2024 as communications director. She works with the firm’s clients on developing communications and media relations strategies, messaging, and digital content to support their legislative and public affairs goals.

Prior to joining HillCo, Kling covered Texas politics for nearly two decades as an award-winning journalist for Spectrum News. In 2011, she helped launch Texas’ only nightly political news program, “Capital Tonight,” as its lead reporter and went on to become its host and managing editor in 2015. During her tenure with Spectrum News, Kling reported on numerous political
campaigns, elections, state and national conventions, debates, state and federal legislation, and lawsuits, and lent her expertise to the network’s growing national coverage.

Kling got her start in journalism in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she reported on politics and was a news anchor at KOLN/KGIN.

Kling attended Syracuse University’s Newhouse School where she received a master’s degree in broadcast journalism. She received an undergraduate degree in media production and music from Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska.

Kling doubles as a journalism professor at Austin Community College.

Area of Expertise: Environment and Natural Resources

Quick Facts: 

• Provides legislative and regulatory counsel on environmental and natural resources issues
• Subject matter expert in water resources, air and waste permitting, pipeline regulation, and permitting for electrical generation facilities
• Comprehensive knowledge of Texas environmental protection laws and water rights permitting from the perspectives of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the Texas Attorney General, and the industry

Shea Pearson focuses on environmental and natural resources issues relating to water, energy, and air. Prior to joining HillCo Partners, he served as general counsel and director of regulatory affairs at the Texas Chemical Council; assistant attorney general for the Environmental Protection Division in the Office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton; an attorney in the TCEQ Environmental Law Division; and an environmental specialist in the TCEQ Water Rights Permitting Division.

Pearson provides strategic advice and counsel HillCo’s Environmental clients, assists them with technical and administrative components of the state regulatory process, and advocates for them at the executive, legislative, and regulatory levels of Texas government.

A graduate of Texas Christian University and St. Mary’s University School of Law, Pearson is a member of the State Bar of Texas. He served as Continuing Legal Education Chair for the Austin Bar Association Environmental Law Section Board. While attending law school, he was a law clerk for Lloyd Gosselink Rochelle & Townsend PC, an intern in the San Antonio Water System Contracts Division, and a research assistant to Professor Amy Hardberger, whom he assisted in authoring a published comparison of state groundwater regulations. Pearson resides in Georgetown with his wife and son.

Areas of expertise: General Business and Education 

Quick Facts 

• Launched and publishes the HillCo Client Advisory
• Supports the firm’s work in federal, state, and regulatory matters
• Oversees HillCo’s Policy Research Intern Program

Trish Bode joined HillCo Partners in 2006. A veteran director of numerous research initiatives, she closely monitors the activities of executive, legislative, and regulatory bodies at the state and federal levels to provide HillCo clients factual, timely, easily digestible information and perspectives. She organizes vast amounts of information to produce the HillCo Client Advisory and the HillCo News Flash, which publish a combined one hundred-plus editions during each regular legislative session.

Bode also oversees HillCo’s unparalleled Policy Research and Analysis team as they explore a broad range of issues consequential to shaping policy positions for HillCo clients. Additionally, she heads up the firm’s intern program, which produces stellar graduates who consistently move on to coveted positions with the government and professional firms doing business at the state and federal levels.

Before joining HillCo Partners, Bode was a lecturer and adviser at Texas State University, as well as a forensic and debate coach who led students to championships statewide.

Bode graduated from Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) with a bachelor of arts degree and returned to earn a master of arts degree. She is active in her community and throughout Texas, focusing on students in public education and women in leadership.

Areas of expertise: General Business and Health Care 

Quick Facts 

• Supports the firm’s work in federal, state and regulatory matters
• Manages the HillCo Partners Policy Research Intern Program

Emil Bailes joined HillCo Partners in 2014 as part of the firm’s Policy Research and Analysis team, focusing on legal research, health care policy, and campaign finance, delivering comprehensive insights and analysis to support HillCo clients’ specific needs. Bailes also helps manage the firm’s intern program, offering guidance and mentorship to help the exceptional young men and women involved develop essential skills and gain valuable experience to support successful careers in the public and government affairs field.

Before joining HillCo Partners, Bailes assisted with St. Austin’s Outreach to Persons in Need, a ministry of St. Austin Catholic Parish, and clerked for The Honorable Kathleen Hamilton, Judge of the 359 th Judicial District in Montgomery County.

Bailes received a bachelor of arts degree in English from The University of Texas at San Antonio and a juris doctorate from Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

Area of Expertise: Health Care, Hospitals, Pharmaceuticals, Health Care Finance, Medicaid

Quick Facts: 

• Widely recognized as a health care policy expert across multiple health care disciplines and industries
• Nearly four decades of legislative, political, and public policy on a range of diverse issues

Marsha Jone’s primary practice centers on a diverse range of health care interests, but she has shaped model state public policy on subject matter ranging from appropriations, privacy, hospital finance, pharmaceutical access and cost and tax to workforce, and tort reform during her more than thirty-nine years of legislative, political and policy work. Her experience ranges from serving as an assistant to a noted Texas political figure and Supreme Court counselor to stints in corporate leadership. During her career, Marsha has worked on the staff of both House and Senate elected officials and as the chief lobbyist for one of the country’s largest trade associations, representing more than 450 hospitals and health systems and 500,000 health care employees.

On behalf of HillCo Partners, Jones lobbies for clients with legislative and regulatory interests in the areas of health care, arts and entertainment, education, finance and even sports, as a representative of the Dallas Cowboys.

Jones has been honored as a respected health care expert earning recognition such as “Best in Health Care Under 40” and “Rising Star” by leading professional organizations. Most recently she was featured on Capitol Inside’s list of Top 50 Hired Guns in Texas.

In addition to most recently chairing the University of Texas at Austin Moody College Advisory Council, Marsha cochairs the college’s current capital campaign and is a member of the President’s Development Board and serves on it’s Executive Committee.  Additionally, she serves on the boards of several prominent entities and nonprofit organization including United Ways of Texas, Any Baby Can, and SITE Santa Fe Contemporary Art.  Other civic engagements have included the University of Texas Annettee Straus Institute of Civil Life, Junior League of Austin, the Elizabeth Ann Seton Board, and the Austin Lyric Opera.

Marsha graduated from the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin.

Area of Expertise: Economic Development, Local Government, Pensions

Quick Facts: 

• Helps HillCo Partners clients find ways to increase funding and tax incentives through economic development opportunities
• Worked for the Texas Comptroller’s office for more than a decade
• Subject matter expert on local government and pension issues

Eddie Solis is a HillCo Partners director and focuses on the firm’s Local Government Practice. Solis concentrates his efforts in the areas of public pensions, local government, and economic development, and advises various clients of the firm on a range of policy and strategic issues. In addition to his legislative work, he conducts stakeholder outreach, particularly in the local government arena.

Solis joined HillCo Partners in 2010 after serving as director of government relations for the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS). During his tenure, he coordinated the system’s outreach to Texas legislators, participating local governments, system members, and stakeholders, and facilitated passage of transformational legislation for TMRS.

Solis has twenty years of public-sector experience, including sixteen years with the Texas Comptroller’s office under the Bullock, Sharp, and Strayhorn administrations. He served as special assistant to Comptroller John Sharp and as legislative director under Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn. He was also special assistant for border affairs and general government under Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff during the 77th legislative session.

At the Texas Comptroller’s office, Solis traveled the state extensively, meeting with local and state elected officials and business organizations to inform them on local government issues and provide needed assistance. During his time in state government, he also gathered critical experience and knowledge on the workings and processes of state agencies.

Solis received a bachelor of arts degree from Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University- Kingsville) and a master’s degree in public administration from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos (now Texas State University).

Charlie Riley joined HillCo Partners in late 2024 as part of the Policy Research and Analysis team. In his role as a Policy Research Analyst, Riley generates insights as well as translates these complex areas with expert analysis. He primarily focuses on energy and environmental policy but is knowledgeable in all policy areas. Additionally, Riley has brought organizational skills to complex matters in spearheading multiple research projects allowing for much earlier completion and ensuring all projects keep moving forward.

Riley also plays an active role in mentoring the firm’s research assistants, offering guidance and hands-on training to help bridge the gap between academic learning and professional experience. Through his work, he provides emerging talent with real-world exposure to policy research, equipping them with the skills and insight needed to launch successful careers in the field.

Before joining HillCo, Riley earned a Bachelor of Arts in Government with a Business minor from the University of Texas at Austin, graduating in Spring 2024.