Bill has a distinguished career in Washington, including twelve years in the U.S. Department of Education, where he served as Deputy Secretary, overseeing more than five thousand employees and a budget of $100 billion. President George W. Bush appointed Bill to serve as the director of his education transition team, and current presidential candidate, Governor Mitt Romney, relies on Bill’s counsel as one of his key domestic policy advisors.

In the private sector, Bill has built successful firms focused on education and led the Scantron and Global Scholar Corporation as President and Chairman. He continues to serve on several corporate boards, including the First Marblehead Corporation, Everspring, Performant Financial, and the Student Loan Finance Corporation. He is also a member of the advisory board of Parthenon Capital, University of Virginia Curry School of Education, and the George W. Romney Institute of Public Management at Brigham Young University. His public service includes board membership for the National Guard Youth Foundation, Reading is Fundamental (RIF), Thanks USA, and the Education Sector.

A key member of the Policy Impact team, Ambassador Carlson has a long distinguished career in the media, government service, and diplomacy. He served as U.S. Ambassador to the Seychelles, the director-general of Voice of America, and the President and CEO of both the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and King World Public Television.

Carlson is an experienced diplomat. As the Voice of America director he led official U.S. delegations to the Soviet Union, People’s Republic of China, and other countries. He also has testified numerous times before congressional committees and before both the British House of Commons and the Israeli Knesset. He has been an advisor to the Institute for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence in Washington, D.C., founded by Buck Revel, former assistant director of the FBI in charge of counter terrorism, and R. James Woolsey, former CIA director.

Carlson has been a writer for Time and Look magazines, as well as a correspondent for ABC-TV. He has won three Hollywood Emmys, four Golden Mike Awards, and the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award.

Bill Cowan is a highly decorated, retired U.S. Marine Corps officer and a commentator on terrorism and national security for Fox News Channel since 2002. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Cowan also holds a Masters Degree in Computer Science from the Naval Postgraduate School and he was a Distinguished Graduate of the National Intelligence University.

As Marine officer, Cowan’s career was best characterized by often being selected for special, sensitive assignments. Subsequent to serving three and a half years on unique combat assignments in Viet Nam, Cowan was later selected as one of the first members in the Pentagon’s most classified counterterrorist unit. He conducted numerous clandestine and covert operations into the Middle East and Latin America both as a member of that unit and later following his retirement from the Marine Corps. Working with former CIA Director William Colby, he was responsible for the repatriation of a group of Western hostages from Kuwait after the country’s invasion by Iraq. He was also involved in every facet of the holding of Western hostages in Beirut, including the secret negotiations with Iran which ultimately led to their release.

Cowan served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Warren B. Rudman and as the Senator’s primary staff assistant during the Iran/Contra hearings. He was also one of the key staff authors of the legislation which created the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, FL.

Cowan is well known in the media. He has been co-host for seven years of the radio and TV shows “Danger Zone” about terrorism; has appeared multiple times on “60 Minutes”; has appeared on every major network to give analysis on matters of terrorism; has been featured in four TV documentaries aired on the Military Channel, the Discovery Channel, A&E TV, and PBS; and has written dozens of editorial and opinion pieces for various U.S. newspapers.

Cowan is a successful entrepreneur who has founded small companies which provided specialized services and support to the U.S. Government in the areas of homeland security, intelligence, and military special operations.

Miriam Harmer, a veteran of four presidential campaigns, has spent the majority of her professional career with the United States House of Representatives and Senate. As a Hill staffer, Miriam was a Research Assistant for the Joint Economics Committee and a Legislative Assistant for Representative Rob Bishop, where she covered judiciary, health, education, and NASA issues.

After graduating from law school at the University of Utah, Miriam returned to the Hill where she was a Counsel for Senator Bob Bennett. Most recently, Miriam served as a Legislative Counsel for Senator Mike Lee, where she advised him in his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

As the Director of Government Affairs at Policy Impact Communications, Miriam develops strategies for our clients’ success at every level of government. She also oversees the implementation of these strategies to ensure that our clients’ priorities are met.

Prior to her time on the Hill, Miriam clerked in the office of Utah’s Attorney General and the Oldaker Law Group. She was admitted to the Utah Bar in 2008.

Denet Grampp brings over 10 years experience in communications, sales and marketing to the Policy Impact team. As an account executive, she works as a liaison with clients to develop strategic communications campaigns that meet their needs. Collaborating with the design team to integrate a comprehensive marketing and public relations plan, she uses her AP writing skills not only to pitch and place effective press releases but also to develop and edit web content and collateral pieces with coherent messaging compatible with the brand.

Her background includes extensive experience in media relations’ management for major regional and international trade shows including the International Sportsmen’s Expo and the Utah International Auto Expo. As part of the executive team at Policy Impact, Denet worked to develop and execute a successful International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) campaign that garnered over $4 million in earned media value with top tier media outlets including Fox & Friends, Wall Street Journal and NPR.

Prior to entering public relations, Denet received numerous sales awards including Top Listing Agent and Most Units Sold honors, placing first in production in a real estate brokerage with over 150 agents. For regional homebuilders, she worked as sales manager for Alpine Homes and as director of sales for Hawkins Homes & Communities.

Denet holds a Bachelor of Arts in communications with an emphasis in public relations from Brigham Young University. While at BYU she was awarded the Faculty Award of Merit for her accomplishments.

Benjamin D. May is the COO and corporate counsel for Policy Impact Communications. Mr. May oversees all administrative and legal concerns for Policy Impact, including advising on lobby and election law issues; drafting and reviewing contracts and letters of intent; and managing the firms lobbying and Foreign Agent Registration Act disclosures. He also monitors pending legislation and rulemaking on issues affecting Policy Impact’s clients.

In addition to his legal experience with Policy Impact, Mr. May worked with Thomson West developing new Westlaw products; the Department of Justice in the Executive Office of Immigration Review; the Department of Labor in the Employment and Training Administration; Utah State Department of Commerce Division of Securities; and the Syracuse University College of Law Securities Arbitration and Consumer Law Clinic.

Mr. May received his Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University College of Law. He received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, a Bachelor of Science in Sociology, and a Certificate in Criminology and Corrections from the University of Utah.

Mr. May is admitted to the District of Columbia Bar and the Virginia State Bar.

Leonardo Bodmer is a key member at Policy Impact and brings over 13 years of experience in the advertising and design industry. Mr. Bodmer is responsible for conceptual development, client relations, and the execution of cutting-edge print, web, interactive, video, and corporate identity solutions. Leonardo has had the opportunity to work abroad with some of Policy Impact's international clients. He leads, manages and mentors the creative team and inspires them to constantly strive for excellence in the work they produce.

Before joining Policy Impact, Leonardo was part of the Discovery Creative team and provided print, trade show, packaging, and web solutions for many of Discovery’s networks, including Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, Discovery Health, and Military Channel. Mr. Bodmer’s background includes fine arts, illustration, photography, filming, video production, video editing, and motion graphics.