Andy Fisher, Former Professional U.S. Senate Staff Member, Joins The Cohen Group

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cohen Group is pleased to announce that Andy Fisher, former professional staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senior Advisor to Senator Richard Lugar, has joined the firm as a Vice President.

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Mr. Fisher began his career in Senator Lugar's office in 1983 – and served as the Senator's Communications Director and Deputy Chief of Staff prior to joining the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2007.  Mr. Fisher has traveled extensively during his time on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joining the official U.S. delegations to the July 2009 Nabucco pipelines conference in Ankara, Turkey and the November 2004 Ukrainian elections. As part of the oversight team working on the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, Mr. Fisher also traveled widely in the former Soviet Union to examine Soviet-era chemical and biological weapons sites. In 2005, Mr. Fisher staffed the first trip to Russia by then Senator Barack Obama.

Mr. Fisher was also a member of Senator Lugar's energy security team, which was tasked with promoting diversification of energy sources, improving energy efficiency, and advancing renewable energy research and development. In this role, he met with government and business leaders in Europe and in the Caucasus regarding strategic oil and gas supplies.

From 1996 to 2002, in addition to his duties as Senator Lugar's Communications Direction, Mr. Fisher served on the staff of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. In this capacity, he worked on reform of trade sanctions policy, and other trade promotion legislation, including the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

In addition to his work with Senator Lugar's office, Mr. Fisher was the founding executive director of the National Forest Foundation from 1993 to 1995. In this position, he drew on his experience working with the USDA Forest Service in 1992 on reform of forest management.

From 1989 to 1992, Mr. Fisher was the owner, publisher, and editor of the News & Farmer newspaper.  In his media relations work, Mr. Fisher dealt with nearly every major national and international news organization as well as internet delivery of news stories, analysis, and opinion.

Mr. Fisher holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Political Science from the State University of New York College at Fredonia.

The Cohen Group is a global strategic advisory firm led by former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen.  Founded in 2001 to help multinational business clients accelerate growth, pursue major initiatives, and overcome problems, The Cohen Group has offices in the U.S., United Kingdom, China and India and serves clients in North America, East Asia, South Asia, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, and Latin America.

Mr. Fisher joins a deep roster of senior talent at The Cohen Group which includes, among others:

• General Joseph Ralston, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;
• Ambassador Marc Grossman, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and U.S. Ambassador to Turkey;
• Ambassador Nicholas Burns, who succeeded Ambassador Grossman as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and also served as U.S. Ambassador to NATO and to Greece;
• Ambassador Craig Kelly, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs;
• Lord George Robertson, who served as NATO Secretary General and the UK Defense Minister;
• Admiral James Loy, who served as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Commandant of the US Coast Guard, Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, and Under Secretary of Transportation;
• General Paul Kern, who served as the Commander of the Army Materiel Command and the Secretary of the Army's Senior Adviser for Research, Development and Acquisition;
• Lt. General Joe Yakovac, who served as Director of the Army Acquisition Corps and Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology;
• Lt. General Harry Raduege, who served as Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, Commander of the Joint Task Force Global Network Operations.

The Cohen Group is comprised of 45 professionals with many centuries of combined experience working in top-level positions in Congress, the White House, the State Department, the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the intelligence community, other federal agencies, European and Asian governments, and international organizations. The Cohen Group assists its clients to better understand and shape the business, political, legal, regulatory, and media environments in which they operate. This includes developing strategic business plans to help clients achieve their objectives and actively participating with clients in the execution of those plans. The Cohen Group practice groups include Aerospace & Defense; Homeland Security; Information Technology & Telecommunications; Energy & Resources; Transportation & Logistics; Financial Services & Investment; Real Estate; China; and India. The Cohen Group also has a strong strategic partnership with DLA Piper, an international law firm with over 3,500 lawyers and 69 offices in 30 countries throughout the world.

SOURCE The Cohen Group