Capitol Decisions Inc

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H. Stewart Van Scoyoc “Stu” Van Scoyoc is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Van Scoyoc Companies. He has built his companies into Washington’s largest lobbying and consulting organization independent of a law firm or large corporation. The firm typically ranks third in lobbying revenue among Washington companies. Along the way, Mr. Van Scoyoc and his companies earned a reputation for care, results, and ethical behavior. Only a few years after the firm opened its doors, The National Journal noticed that “colleagues consider Van Scoyoc a brainy Washington insider who sweats the details.” Mr. Van Scoyoc is regularly interviewed by leading publications for his insights into politics, Congressional activities, and lobbying. Journalists have come to value his candor and ability to communicate complex ideas simply. The Hill newspaper had this to say about Mr. Van Scoyoc in a March 2009 profile: “He believes success can come to those who do not have a hard edge. But the absence of that sharp edge doesn’t mean he lacks business sense. Van Scoyoc has a practice of never hiring former Members of Congress; he only hires former Congressional and Administration professional staff members who are experts in specific areas. Most importantly, he and his lobbyists direct laser-beam attention on their clients.” Washingtonian magazine also recognized Mr. Van Scoyoc as one of the most influential lobbyists in Washington in its most recent survey. Mr. Van Scoyoc’s business formula is built on “hiring smart, entrepreneurial people with plenty of energy, and then getting out of their way,” he said. His staff’s professional development tends to parallel his own evolution, starting with mastery of one technical field, and then expanding from there. Mr. Van Scoyoc earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University in 1969, where he also received the Alpha Phi Omega Award for Leadership and Outstanding Service to the University. For several years, he worked as an engineer for the DuPont Company, while earning a law degree at night from the University of Maryland. Mr. Van Scoyoc came to Washington and joined DuPont's government affairs office handling legislative and regulatory issues. He then spent eight years as Vice President at Charls Walker Associates, a well-known lobbying company, where he focused on tax, energy, insurance, and environment. Striking out on his own, he became a founder of the Winburn, Van Scoyoc & Hooper government relations firm. In 1990, Mr. Van Scoyoc created Van Scoyoc Associates Incorporated, with a focus on Congressional appropriations and taxation. That company quickly developed more than 20 practice areas, ranging from agriculture, biotechnology, defense and foreign affairs, and education, to financial services, energy, homeland security, transportation, and telecommunications. In 2000, Mr. Van Scoyoc created Capitol Decisions Incorporated, a boutique lobbying firm providing government relations and public affairs counsel in health care, community development, energy, and grassroots advocacy. Separate from the government affairs firms, he formed the law firm of Van Scoyoc Kelly PLLC in 2004 to provide counsel for military and civilian government contractors and innovative legal solutions to acquisition, procurement, and regulatory issues. He is a member of the Delaware, District of Columbia, and U.S. Supreme Court Bars. Mr. Van Scoyoc is active with a number of community and service organizations, including the Armed Forces Foundation, Kidsave, Lehigh University, N Street Village, Our Military Kids, Project Hope, Redeemer Lutheran Church of McLean, Va., and the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. Carol McDaid Carol McDaid is a co-founder and Principal of Capitol Decisions Incorporated With nearly 25 years of Federal legislative experience in Washington, Ms. McDaid provides her clients with legislative and public affairs consulting on issues that span the breadth of health care, including Medicare, Medicaid, private sector reimbursement issues, and comparative effectiveness research. A special focus of Capitol Decisions is national alcohol and drug treatment policy. For over 15 years, Ms. McDaid has worked with leading non-profit drug and alcohol treatment centers, addiction physicians, and other prevention and consumer organizations to refine public policy addressing alcohol and other drug addictions. Ms. McDaid led the Parity NOW Coalition behind passage of the 2008 “Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.” This landmark legislation requires insurers to treat addiction, mental, and physical health problems equally. The Parity NOW Coalition became the model for successfully advocating for inclusion of addiction and mental health benefits in health-care reform legislation. Over 300 addiction and mental health provider and consumer organizations, plus criminal justice, child welfare, and other groups, make up the coalition. Ms. McDaid’s approach to government relations is built on what she calls “layered strategies.” Her method overcomes stigma by blending traditional lobbying with public affairs tactics, national media relations, third-party constituency building, Internet-based grassroots advocacy, and identification of federal funding in both the public and private sectors. “You have to fully engage the grassroots to do all the steps, building support among constituents back in local districts, with key opinion leaders at the ‘grasstops,’ and with policymakers in Washington,” she says. “We help our clients and grassroots members experience the power of their own advocacy.” Because Ms. McDaid personally overcame addiction, she understands the challenges, political and personal, of dealing with alcohol and drug issues. She serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for Faces and Voices of Recovery. She also serves on the Betty Ford Institute Executive Council, and in 2007, she received the Johnson Institute’s America Honors Recovery Award. Before coming to CDI, Ms. McDaid worked for seven years as Senior Vice President at R. Duffy Wall & Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based government relations consulting firm. There she managed the health-care practice and represented hospitals, providers, insurers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and cancer research interests. She has also been a senior Washington representative at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and a manager in the Employee Benefit Services Group of PriceWaterhouseCoopers Washington National Tax Service. A North Carolina native, Carol McDaid graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., where she majored in Political Science. The focus of her graduate work was in legislative affairs at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

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