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Jeff McAlvey
Jeff McAlvey began a tenure lasting nearly 14 years with Governor John Engler, starting in 1984 when Engler began serving as Senate Majority Leader. McAlvey oversaw the state appropriations process for the Senate Majority leader, as well as being Engler’s point person on the restoration of Michigan’s Capitol building. When Engler was elected Governor in 1991, Jeff assumed the role of the Governor’s Director of Legislative Relations. In that position, he coordinated all of the activities of the Engler Administration in the Michigan Legislature. This included the development of the Governor’s initiatives into legislation and the planning and execution of the strategies necessary to secure the successful passage of that legislation.
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The role required him to work closely with all members of the Governor’s Cabinet and the entire Michigan Legislature. Major legislative accomplishments during Jeff’s tenure as the Governor’s Legislative Director include 24 tax cuts, welfare reform, the recodification of the Mental Health Code and the School Code, the privatization of the State Accident Fund, the authorization of charter schools and schools of choice, Workers’ Compensation reform and the total change in the way Michigan’s schools were funded.
Jeff served in this capacity until May of 1997, when he left the Governor’s staff to begin McAlvey & Associates.
While leading McAlvey & Associates and then McAlvey, Merchant & Associates, Jeff has represented a broad range of clients, large and small including: a higher education institution, national corporations, a dynamic Michigan city, developers, road builders, a large public hospital, a charitable organization, the largest telecommunications firm in Michigan and several coalitions and a variety of others.
Jeff has worked in Lansing for almost 30 years including in both the Legislative and Executive branches of state government. He is uniquely qualified to represent clients before Michigan’s government and help them reach their goals as they relate to pending legislation, government regulation, and state procurement. His strategy development skills have been honed and tested in some of the largest legislative battles of the last 25 years in Lansing, almost always on the winning side!
Jeff and his wife Carole have four grown children, four grandchildren and reside in Lansing. |
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Rusty Merchant
Rusty Merchant currently serves as a partner with McAlvey, Merchant & Associates, a full service governmental and political consulting firm with offices in Lansing and Grand Rapids.
Prior to joining McAlvey, Merchant & Associates in 2003, Rusty served as Vice President for Public Policy and Government Affairs at the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. There, he was responsible for advocacy at the local, state and federal levels as well as the growth of the Friends of West Michigan Business into one of the top Political Action Committees in West Michigan. Prior to his service with the Chamber, Rusty served in the Office of Majority Floor Leader Andrew Raczkowski (R-Farmington Hills) where he served as Chief-of-Staff from August of 1997 to March of 2000. His responsibilities included assisting the Representative on the House floor and overseeing the day to day operations of a leadership office. Floor duties included scheduling legislation, parliamentary procedure, assisting members in moving legislation through the process, and serving the needs of the Speaker of the House.
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Rusty began his career as a Legislative Aide to the late State Senator Douglas Carl
(R-Shelby Township) where he managed the Senator’s legislative priorities and served as the chief aid to the Senate Finance Subcommittee to Combat Cigarette Smuggling. He was also instrumental in creating and passing legislation (Recommended by the subcommittee) that has garnered tens of millions of dollars of lost revenue to the state School Aid fund.
Rusty is a graduate of Grand Valley State University where he received a B.S. in Public Relations. He also received his Associates Degree from St. Clair County Community College and briefly attended Liberty University in Lynchburg Virginia. Rusty currently serves on the Board of Directors for the YMCA, Ridge Park Charter Academy, the Grand Rapids Township Board of Trustees, and the Kent County Community Corrections Advisory Board. Rusty was also identified in Grand Rapids Magazine as one of the top twenty community leaders under forty to watch in West Michigan.
Rusty enjoys golfing, softball, and spending time with his wife Jane, daughter Peyton, and sons Gavin and Grayson. They live in Grand Rapids Township. Rusty is originally from Port Huron, MI. |
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Angie Keilen
Angie is a veteran of the Lansing political scene. Prior to joining McAlvey, Merchant & Associates in 2003, she ran the Transition Office of former Governor John Engler. Angie served in other various capacities for Governor Engler including coordinating the Governor’s daily schedule and surrogates for critical events, while working closely with his Security Detail to arrange logistics for the governor’s extensive travel calendar. Prior to her years in the governor’s office, Angie gave tours of Michigan’s State Capitol and proved her extensive organizational skills by managing the Capitol Information Desk--assisting with the operations necessary to serve more than 100,000 visitors per year to the State Capitol. Angie also spent time interning for now Sen. Alan Cropsey while he served in the House of Representatives.
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