Bill Hanka has worked with Ron Hamm for more than 18 years. He has nearly 30 years of experience working for the federal government and as a successful lobbyist in Washington, working for 10 years in positions at the White House, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives before moving to the private sector to represent local government clients at the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz and also at The Ferguson Group, where he was a partner for 12 years. In 2014, Bill started his own firm, Hanka Advisor, where he continues to specialize in the needs of local government clients, including the City of Cincinnati, the Port of Cleveland, and Long Beach Transit.
Throughout his career, he has worked successfully to obtain federal funding and implement agenda for many County governments around the nation, including King County, WA; Deschutes County, OR; Umatilla County, OR; Madison County, IN and Mecklenburg County, NC.
In 2008, Bill created a national coalition of manufacturing community mayors – known as the Manufacturing Alliance of Communities (MAC) – in response to the needs of local communities facing drastic downturns in their economies because of auto plant closures.
As MAC’s Executive Director, he fought successfully in 2009-2010 for the establishment of the $773 million RACER Trust to remediate and redevelop 89 former General Motors sites around the nation.
Some of Bill’s recent successes include working with Hamm Consulting Group and the City of Cincinnati in March 2014 to obtain $4.5 million in immediate U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction funding to complete the federal authorization for the first phase of the $120 million Cincinnati Central Riverfront Project. Bill also worked with the Port of Cleveland in April 2014 to require US Customs and Border Protection to implement an interim security protocol to allow the Port’s new international container cargo service with the Port of Antwerp – the first such service on the Great Lakes in 40 years – to go forward as scheduled.
Bill has worked for a number of governments, including King County, WA, where he worked with the Army Corps of Engineers and Congress to secure $44 million in emergency funding in 2010 to repair the failing Howard Hanson Dam in a densely-populated neighborhood near Seattle. He also worked with King County on a successful $34 million TIGER II grant application to replace the South Park Bridge in Seattle that remains one of the highest TIGER grant awards in the history of the program. In 2011, Bill was also successful in obtaining a $10.9 million TIGER III grant for the Cincinnati Streetcar Project, which was later augmented by $5 million in discretionary funds from the Office of the Secretary of Transportation.
Bill’s government career includes serving as deputy director of legislative affairs for Vice President Dan Quayle, legislative director for Congressman George Nethercutt, and investigative counsel for the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee.
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