The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) has made three new additions to its government affairs staff—hires that it reports will further expand the organization’s government affairs and advocacy capabilities.
Leann Paradise has been named VP of political and member engagement. In this new role, she works with both the federal and state & local government affairs teams to increase AHLA’s grassroots and political engagement. She is charged with leading both HotelPAC, AHLA’s political action committee, and HotelsACT, the association’s grassroots platform.
She joins AHLA from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, where she ran the organization’s grassroots programs and issue advocacy campaigns. Prior to NRECA, she spent 10 years at the National Association of Manufacturers in a variety of PAC and grassroots-focused positions.
Haleigh Hildebrand has been named senior director of government & political affairs. She joins AHLA from the American Federation of Federal, State and Municipal Employees (AFSME), where she served as assistant political director. In her new role at AHLA, she focuses on building out both grassroots and grasstops programs to support both the federal and state & local advocacy teams.
Bianca Castillo has also joined the association as state & local government affairs coordinator.
The new hires join a steadily growing AHLA government and political affairs team that has played a critical role on behalf of the hotel industry throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and on the road to recovery, the association reports. In the last 18 months, AHLA has tripled the size of its state and local government affairs team, and the organization continues to be deeply engaged in policy issues affecting hoteliers at all levels of government.
“We are thrilled to welcome Leann, Haleigh and Bianca to our growing team,” said Brian Crawford, EVP, government affairs, AHLA. “Their unique and diverse experience will help us improve all facets of AHLA’s government affairs operations. AHLA is working tirelessly to support hoteliers and advance policy goals at the federal, state and local levels. And as we look to the next stage of the recovery, we are growing our capacity to better engage policymakers and achieve even more advocacy victories on behalf hoteliers nationwide.”
