Governors' Biofuels Coalition

Jack Gerard, leader of the country’s largest and most prominent oil trade group for more than a decade, is stepping down in August.

Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, plans to leave the lobbying group when his current contract ends in eight months and will continue to direct the lobbying group and help search for a new leader in the meantime.

Under Gerard’s leadership since 2008, API almost doubled its membership and is now facing a slew of policy wins under the Trump administration, including expanded offshore drilling in federal waters and an aggressive regulatory rollback, not to mention more favorable tax treatment.

Gerard’s tenure has also seen a more tumultuous side, including the massive boom in shale gas production, looming questions about the sector’s management of climate change, the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill and API’s merging with the America’s Natural Gas Alliance.

API did not immediately respond when asked about the timeline for finding a new leader or what comes next for Gerard, a father of eight and former House and Senate staffer (Greenwire, Sept. 22, 2017).

“I have served for 10 years at API, which is the longest tenure of my career,” Gerard said in a statement. “I’m ready for my next challenge and want to ensure that API will have time for an orderly transition to plan for its next decade.”

An Idaho native, Gerard first came to Washington in 1981 as an intern for former Rep. George Hansen (R-Idaho) and later worked for another Idaho Republican, former Sen. James McClure, who then chaired the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Gerard later co-founded and led a lobby shop with McClure before moving on to run the National Mining Association and the American Chemistry Council.

Gerard last week laid out API’s main policy goals at an annual “state of the industry” event, including retaining trade protections through the North American Free Trade Agreement and enhancing regulatory “certainty and predictability” (Energywire, Jan. 10).

Also departing the lobbying group is Brooke Sammon, API’s spokeswoman and the former spokeswoman for Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign. Sammon in an email yesterday to colleagues said she is joining Firehouse Strategies, a public affairs and communications firm in Washington, D.C.

Reporter Geof Koss con

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