Stewart Hall

Managing Director

Stewart Hall is CEO & Managing Partner of Public Policy Holding Company, LLC, which he co-founded in 2014, and co-founder and Chairman of Crossroads Strategies, LLC (CRS).

Stewart began his career as Legislative Director to Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) from 1992-1996. During this time, Stewart acquired a substantial background in defense policy, appropriations, financial services, and Senate procedure. In 1999, he co-founded Federalist Group, LLC as his first private sector venture.

Under his guidance as CEO, Federalist Group was ultimately acquired by Ogilvy Public Relations, a WPP company, in 2005 and proceeded to double in size during the four years after the transaction under his continued leadership.

In 2010, Stewart co-founded CRS and in 2014, CRS was merged to form PPHC – the first full-service organization dedicated to synthesizing all disciplines of the public policy economy in a multi-brand, horizontally integrated company.

As Managing Partner of PPHC, Stewart has overseen an organization that has achieved a 30% plus compound annual growth rate each year through merger, acquisition, and organic growth and has grown to over 200 employees nationwide.

Stewart is a graduate of the University of Alabama and earned an MA and Ph.D. in Government from the University of Virginia.

Bill Chess

Chief Financial Officer

Bill Chess is Chief Financial Officer of the PPHC, a role he has held since the company’s founding in 2014. Previously, Bill served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, part of WPP. In this position, he had responsibility for worldwide administrative functions and operations. He was a member of the firm’s executive committee and management committee.

Bill began his career in financial operations with Unilever’s Lever Brothers Co. During his tenure with Unilever he held many financial positions of increasing responsibility, eventually becoming controller of Lever Brothers Co. and then financial vice president of Lever’s Foods Division.

Prior to starting his business career, Bill served as an air traffic controller in the US Air Force. Bill holds an MBA in finance from Fordham University and is a member of Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business’ Advisory Board, a position he has held for more than 20 years.

Bill previously served as a member of the Marist College Advisory Board for the School of Global and Professional Programs, as a member of the Flame of Charity Board to aid Catholic Charities with fundraising in the Metuchen Diocese and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, an umbrella membership and service organization for more than 1,700 nonprofits in the New York City area.

Bill and his wife, Betsy, have three married children and eight grandchildren.

Jill Kendrick

Chief Operating Officer

Jill Kendrick is the Chief Operating Officer of Public Policy Holding Company. She brings 20 years of experience in developing, implementing, and growing the operational infrastructure to advance an organization throughout its business life cycle. She has been with PPHC since inception.

Prior to PPHC Jill served as the Chief Financial Officer of Crossroads Strategies, one of the founding firms of PPHC. In this role she built the back-office infrastructure from the ground up for the financial and human resources processes across the growing group of companies.

Before CRS, Jill served as the Chief Administrative Officer of Ogilvy Government Relations. In this capacity, she had oversight of all financial and personnel activities for, at the time, one of the top five government relations firms. She transitioned from Federalist Group to Ogilvy Government Relations post acquisition of Federalist Group by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, a WPP Company. She was the key point of contact throughout the due diligence during the acquisition process and handled the transition of all the financial and human resources post-acquisition.

Jill has held additional positions within Federalist Group, Berman Enterprises, and in Disaster Fundraising for the National Headquarters of the American Red Cross. It was in these positions that she grew her appreciation for business process improvement.

Jill is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and resides just outside of Annapolis, MD with her husband Andy and two daughters.

Thomas Gensemer

Chief Strategy Officer

Thomas Gensemer joined PPHC after nearly 20 years in the advertising, public affairs and political/advocacy campaigns. From 2005-2013 he served as the CEO and Managing Partner of Blue State Digital (BSD) where he led the agency from its early founding through years of rapid growth and client diversification until its ultimate acquisition by WPP in late 2011.

In 2014, Thomas was named Chief Strategy Officer for Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s largest public relations networks and another WPP company. Here he oversaw a portfolio of global clients and led the firm’s research, analytics, and creative functions.

Since departing WPP in 2018, Thomas has focused on private investments and advisory roles within the marketing services, hospitality, real estate and non-profit sectors. He continues professional involvement in organizations including the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Kasita, a new hospitality start-up, and Court Avenue, a digital transformation agency.

In 2019, he joined PPHC as an advisor and assumed his current role in 2020

Thomas serves on the boards of the Public Goods Projects (PGP), the Purpose Foundation, the It Gets Better Campaign, and is a longtime advisor to the Family Equality Council.

He lives in Brooklyn, NY with his husband Gabriel, their baby daughter and two very spoiled dogs.

Neal Strum

Chief Legal Officer

Neal Strum is the Chief Legal Officer of Public Policy Holding Company. He recently joined PPHC following its IPO, but served as outside legal counsel to PPHC since inception. Neal brings over thirty years of legal experience as a corporate and finance attorney at Venable LLP. Prior to joining PPHC, Neal represented numerous clients across various industries – service, finance, hospitality, technology and healthcare – with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, private equity and other equity investments. Neal is a graduate of the University of Maryland and resides in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and children.

Roel Smits

Deputy CFO

Roel Smits joined PPHC in May 2022 as Deputy Chief Financial Officer with a strong focus on driving the company’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) agenda. Roel Smits has spent his career in private equity, corporate M&A, as CFO in business services, and often working at the intersection of these 3 areas. 

Prior to joining PPHC, Roel spent 10 years in various CFO roles at Kantar, the global research and insights firm jointly held by WPP and Bain Capital. Most recently he was CFO of Kantar Americas, where he led multiple growth and profitability initiatives. 

Before joining Kantar, Roel spent 6 years leading the North American M&A team of WPP (the global marketing services firm), reporting directly to the Founder/CEO.

Roel gathered his M&A experience throughout his 8 years at HAL Investments, a family-controlled private equity firm based out of Monaco and the Netherlands. 

Roel laid the foundations for his career by obtaining two master’s degrees at London Business School and at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. 

Being a Dutch native, he and his family have lived and worked in London, New York, Singapore, and the Netherlands. This international experience helped him develop a framework for driving high performance across various cultures. 

He currently lives with his wife and his 4 children in Westchester County, just outside of New York City.

Ron Starzman

VP, Human Resources

Throughout his 20 year career, Ron has developed key workplace improvement initiatives, built and administered employee engagement programs, and oversaw performance management and benefits processes at leading corporations across a wide range of industries. In his current role as Vice President and Head of Human Resources, Ron provides strategic HR planning, direction, and operational business support while simultaneously serving as a leader, consultant, resource, and authority on HR policies, practices and programs for member companies of PPHC.

Prior to PPHC, Ron was the university-wide head of employee relations at William & Mary, where he directly oversaw all full cycle performance and talent management initiatives for over 2,500 staff. He had previously served as a managing consultant at Watershed, where he helped industry leading partner companies successfully define, identify, attract, select, integrate, develop, train, and retain top talent.

Ron joined Watershed in May of 2011 from Revlon, where he provided business partner support to client groups on key workplace improvement, talent acquisition, corporate policy, and employee relations initiatives while simultaneously managing recruitment processes for international and domestic executive and bonus plan eligible positions. Prior to that, he served as a consultant to large multi-national corporations including Alliance Bernstein, CB Richard Ellis, Credit Suisse, Mercer Delta Consulting, and the Luxottica Group. He started his career at Ogilvy where, in roles of increasing responsibility, he built and administered companywide policies, procedures, and communications related to employee engagement, on boarding, performance management, HRIS, compensation, and benefits.

Ron holds a B.A. in Psychology from William & Mary. He is originally from Long Island, NY, and currently resides in Alexandria, VA with his wife and two children.

Paula Thrasher

VP, Financial Operations

Paula Thrasher is the Vice President of Financial Operations at Public Policy Holding Company. In this capacity she oversees the Accounting Department and is primarily responsible for directing and managing the fiscal and accounting functions in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and Holding Company and member company policies, procedures and regulations respectively, across all operating units.

Paula Thrasher came to Public Policy Holding Company with over twenty-five years of experience in accounting and financial analysis. She has management experience in accounting, budgeting, board presentations, cash management, financing, revenue sharing, information systems, property management, statistics, and strategic planning.

Mrs. Thrasher graduated from Troy University with a BS in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting. She has previously been the Director of Finance with Forbes Tate Partners and the Controller/Staff Accountant for Diamond Concrete, Dominic’s, Alabama Farmers Federation, EFS, Inc., Dialysis Clinic Inc., and Columbia Regional Medical Center. She and her husband, Adrian live in Wetumpka, AL.