CGCN Group

CGCN Group originated from the lobbying firm created by Steve Clark in 2000.[6] Sam Geduldig and Gary Lytle joined Clark in 2007, and the firm became known as Clark Lytle & Geduldig.[7]

The firm worked with financial services companies during the financial reform debate from 2009 to 2010, involving laws like the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. At the time, CGCN had more financial services clients in Washington, D.C., than other firms during the Troubled Asset Relief Program.[8] In the wake of Republicans taking control of Congress in 2010, CGCN saw strong growth in its business[5] and the firm doubled in size from 2015 to 2017.[9] While closely tied to GOP leadership—its partners have worked with former House Speaker John Boehner and others—CGCN was among the first lobbying firms to court the conservative Freedom Caucus.[10][11]

The firm was known as Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford and Clark Geduldig Cranford & Nielsen between 2011 and 2015,[12][13] when the firm renamed itself CGCN Group.[14] In 2015, CGCN's clients included oil companies, such as Hess, for whom they lobbied to end the ban of crude oil exports.[15] CGCN was named a top lobbying firm by Bloomberg Government in 2015.[16] A report by Bloomberg Government gave CGCN the highest mark for firms retaining clients over the long term.[14] According to Bloomberg, CGCN retains 83 percent of its clients for at least three years, a higher percentage than other firms.[14]

CGCN began working with foreign clients in 2016 when Saudi Arabia hired the firm to build relationships with U.S. congressional Republicans.[17] The next year, CGCN signed Japan as its second foreign client.[18] In 2017, CGCN lobbied for: SAP America on data security, privacy, cybersecurity, health IT, cloud computing and privacy shield implementation;[19] Puerto Rico Department of Treasury;[20] American Investment Council, a private equity trade group;[21] power company NextEra Energy on energy policy and tax credits;[21] and TransCanada Corp. on the Keystone XL pipeline.[22] The firm's other clients include 21st Century Fox, Microsoft, MasterCard and Boeing.[4] Also in 2017, CGCN announced a partnership with four Democratic firms with close ties to the Congressional Black and Congressional Hispanic caucuses to seek bipartisan victories, potentially in the areas of "jobs, transportation infrastructure, outside investment, energy, and economic development", according to a memo on the partnership.[2][23]

In the few years leading up to 2017, CGCN Group quadrupled in size.[24] Like other lobbying firms, CGCN Group posted a strong first year under the Trump administration.[25][24] It made $8.4 million in revenue in 2017 (compared to $6.6 million in 2016), including $2.2 million in the fourth quarter (compared to $1.6 million the year before).[25] CGCN terminated its relationship with Saudi Arabia in 2018.[26] According to the Roll Call, CGCN is closely related to UBI (United by Interest), a bipartisan K Street (Washington, D.C.) group lobbying business interests on Capitol Hill.[27]

CGCN Group has 11 partners as of March 2020: Steve Clark, Jay Cranford, Sam Geduldig, Mike Nielsen, John Stipicevic, Juliane Sullivan, Mike Catanzaro, Aaron Szabo, Matt Rhoades, Antonia Ferrier, and Scott Riplinger[28][29][27]

• Official website
• Sam Geduldig political campaign contributions: 2016 election cycle