Edwina Rogers

Edwina Rogers
Edwina Rogers in July 2017
Born (1964-05-27) May 27, 1964
Alabama
Known for Conservative lobbyist, Executive Director of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative, White House National Economic Council Associate Director, Senate Health Policy Staff, General Counsel for Republican Senatorial Committee

Edwina Rogers (/ɛdˈwɪnə/ ( listen) ed-WIN-ə; born May 27, 1964) is an American lobbyist and former White House staff member. She is the founder and CEO of the Global Healthspan Policy Institute, the founding Executive Director and current President of the Secular Policy Institute, the CEO of the Center for Prison Reform, and a partner at the law firm of Johnson, Rogers and Clifton.[1]

Early life and education

Rogers grew up in rural Alabama.[2][3] She attended the University of Alabama on scholarship, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in corporate finance, and later attended The Catholic University of America, from which she received her JD degree.[4]

Career

White House

After graduation from law school, Rogers worked on international trade for President George H. W. Bush at the Department of Commerce from 1989 to 1991.[3] She practiced law in the Washington office of Balch and Bingham from 1991 until 1994,[1] then served as General Counsel of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the Republican take-over of the Senate in 1994.[1][5] She worked for Senator Trent Lott while he was the Senate Majority Leader in 1999.[6]

She was an Economic Advisor for President George W. Bush at the White House during 2001 and 2002 at the National Economic Council,[1][7][8] focusing on health and social security policy.[6]

Senate

Rogers handled health policy for Senator Jeff Sessions in 2003 and 2004[1][9] before serving as Vice President of the Health Policy for the ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) Industry Committee (ERIC) in Washington, DC from May 2004 until January 2009.[1][10][11] ERIC advocates the employee benefits and compensation interests of America’s major employers.[6][12]

She worked with Senator Paul Coverdell to establish the Fair Government Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan organization established to research and educate the public on First Amendment rights, campaign finance and political action committees, lobbying, government ethics and election law fairness issues.

Harvard

Rogers was a Fellow at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1996.[13]

Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC)

She served as the founding Executive Director of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative from 2006-2011,[14][15][1][16][17] a Washington DC trade association, responsible for the national Patient Centered Medical Home movement and implementing the model around the US. She was a supporter of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or, colloquially, Obamacare.[3]

Secular Coalition for America

In 2012, Rogers signed on as Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America.[1][18][4] The Secular Coalition represents 11 member organizations and their members on Capitol Hill. Rogers’ selection came on the heels of the March 2012 Reason Rally, a Secular Coalition for America sponsored event that drew tens of thousands of atheists, agnostics, humanists and other non-theistic Americans to Washington, D.C.[19]

The Secular Coalition for America emphasizes separation of church and state, and champions issues with which the Republican Party typically comes into conflict. The people on its staff and in its member organizations typically support gay marriage, think contraception should be more broadly available, and work against school vouchers that use public funds to support "religious indoctrination."[4] As a former Republican staffer, Rogers faced a great deal of scrutiny from the non-religious community when she joined the SCA.[2][20][21]

In answer to her skeptical critics, Rogers describes herself as "nontheist" and as a libertarian-leaning economic conservative who is also "laissez-faire on social issues".[4] According to Rogers, being a professional lobbyist and political staffer meant going along with certain causes even when she didn't believe in them. In 2007, when Rogers was vice president of health policy for the ERISA Industry Committee, she testified in the House against a bill mandating more generous mental-health coverage, even though she personally favored the legislation. And she handled health-policy issues for pro-life senator Jeff Sessions despite being pro-choice herself.[4] Rogers states she has donated to Planned Parenthood over the past 25 years.[2]

Rogers' work for the Secular Coalition included meeting with White House officials[22] and members of Congress, and coordinating events.

On June 6, 2014, the Secular Coalition for America announced that Rogers had moved on from her role.[23][18]

Center for Prison Reform

Rogers is the founder[24] and currently serves as CEO of the Center for Prison Reform for Non-Violent Offenders,[1][25][26] a lobbying group that promotes reform of the U.S. prison system's handling of non-violent offenders. She also worked on reports for government on sentence stacking and prison life expectancy.[3] She has said that she views the move towards private prisons as a mistake, as it creates an incentive for the prison companies to lobby to keep the prison population high.[3]

Secular Policy Institute

Following her work at the Secular Coalition for America, Rogers founded and served as Executive Director of the Secular Policy Institute.[27] She currently serves as President.

Global Healthspan Policy Institute

In 2016, Rogers founded the Global Healthspan Policy Institute, where she currently serves as CEO.[28][29][30]

Media appearances

Rogers has been a regular contributor of conservative newspaper columns, health and policy journals.[6] She has appeared as a commentator for Fox News and MSNBC,[4][31] and wrote a conservative column for The Georgetowner newspaper in Washington.

In 2008 Rogers appeared on the pilot for an NBC television show called PowerHouse, for which she demonstrated a method of wrapping small presents with uncut sheets of U.S. dollar bills.[32] She has said she started doing this as a "cheap" and "unique" way of wrapping inexpensive gifts while still complying with ethics rules governing gift-giving in Washington.[4]

In 2010 Rogers made a guest appearance on The Real Housewives of D.C.[33][34][35]

Other work

Rogers has worked as a lobbyist in the Middle East on behalf of the government of South Korea,[3] and has served on the board of directors for Semco Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SEN), a natural gas distribution company.[6] She currently serves on the advisory boards for eHealth First,[36] The Evolution Institute,[37] and the Lifeboat Foundation,[38] and serves as an expert for Geopolitical Intelligence Services.[39] Rogers is also rumored to be the Vice Chairman (US) for Le Cercle.[40]

Personal life

In 1989, she married Ed Rogers, a protégé of political strategist Lee Atwater who served in two presidential administrations and later founded a lobbying firm with former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour.[41] The couple lived in an 18,000-square-foot mansion in McLean, Virginia,[7][8] and had two children: Hal Rogers (1999) and Sabra Rogers (2002). The couple divorced in 2012 .[4][42] In 2016 Rogers married Gregory Neimeyer, Ph.D. an American psychologist affiliated with the American Psychological Association in Washington, DC, and with the University of Florida.[43] The Rogers-Neimeyer couple reside in Bethesda, Maryland.[44]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=78619
  2. 1 2 3 "IAmA Republican from Alabama who now leads the largest nontheist lobbying organization, AMAA". Reddit AMA. Reddit. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Colanduno, Derek. "Skepticality A Conservative Skeptic". Skepticality. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Libby Copeland (September 4, 2013). "True Nonbeliever". Washingtonian. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  5. ↑ https://www.c-span.org/video/?61519-1/alternative-ballot-techniques-part-2
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Edwina Rogers, Executive Director". Secular Coalition for America. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  7. 1 2 https://newrepublic.com/article/65614/welcome-mclean-home-americas-ruling-class
  8. 1 2 https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-washington-post/20060912/282278135813032
  9. ↑ https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Ssemakula.pdf
  10. ↑ https://www.eric.org/forms/documents/DocumentFormPublic/viewDoc?id=573D0000000E
  11. ↑ http://bailit-health.com/articles/purchaser_guide_070908.pdf
  12. ↑ "Executive Summary". Legislative Documents. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  13. ↑ http://iop.harvard.edu/fellows/edwina-rogers
  14. ↑ http://www.nhmamd.org/files/Conf2011/15EdwinaRogersPresentation.pptx
  15. ↑ http://www.worldcongress.com/speakerBio.cfm?speakerID=770
  16. ↑ http://epichealthcaremanagement.com/pdf/ManagingHealthToday_June2010.pdf
  17. ↑ https://www.homehealthprovider.com/doc/patient-centered-primary-care-collaborative-0001
  18. 1 2 Laurie Goodstein and Mark Oppenheimer (June 6, 2014). "Secular Group, on Eve of Big Meeting, Fires Top Official Who Elevated Its Profile". The New York Times.
  19. ↑ "Secular Coalition Announces New Executive Director, Edwina Rogers". Secular Coalition for America. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  20. ↑ Roxanne Roberts; Amy Argetsinger (8 May 2012). "Republican lobbyist Edwina Rogers new head of Secular Coalition for America". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  21. ↑ "Transcript of Interview with Edwina Rogers, New Executive Director for the Secular Coalition for America". Greta Christina's Blog. Freethought Blogs. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  22. ↑ https://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/secular-group-pleased-with-white-house-meeting-093271
  23. ↑ "Edwina Rogers Moves on from ED Role". Secular Coalition for America. June 6, 2014.
  24. ↑ https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/politico-influence/2014/10/brimley-group-hires-thomas-culligan-rogers-hopes-to-sway-gop-on-prison-reform-survey-americans-expect-opinionated-corporations-212543
  25. ↑ https://www.americaninno.com/dc/k-street-apple-hires-lobbying-team-to-lead-patent-fight-against-samsung/
  26. ↑ https://mashable.com/2015/09/05/john-oliver-influence/#6mgvjwhGmPqf
  27. ↑ David Jackson (Feb 26, 2015). "CPAC highlights, from the speeches to the swag". USA Today.
  28. ↑ Global Healthspan Policy Institute https://healthspanpolicy.org/person/edwina-rogers/. Retrieved 10 December 2017. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  29. ↑ http://transhumanity.net/new-thinktank-to-promote-research-innovation-for-treatment-of-underlying-causes-of-aging%C2%ADrelated-disease/
  30. ↑ http://www.longevityforall.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/The-new-age-of-aging.pdf
  31. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHz3IQj5PjE
  32. ↑ "Lobbyist Giftwrap: "As Long As The Gifts Are Small, I Don't Mind Wrapping Them In Money" (VIDEO)". PowerHouse. Huffington Post. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  33. ↑ "Dinner With Edwina Rogers". Real Housewives of DC. IMDb.com. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  34. ↑ http://people.com/tv/alex-mccords-housewives-of-dc-blog-false-accusations-facebook-the-fbi
  35. ↑ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/washington-women-wary-real-housewives-84734
  36. ↑ http://ehfirst.io/
  37. ↑ https://evolution-institute.org/profile/edwina-rogers/
  38. ↑ https://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.edwina.rogers
  39. ↑ https://www.gisreportsonline.com/edwina-rogers,45,expert.html
  40. ↑ http://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/meet-le-cercle-making-bilderberg-look-like-amateurs/
  41. ↑ "BGR Group Team - Ed Rogers". Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  42. ↑ Roxanne Roberts; Amy Argetsinger (16 September 2010). "Washington power-couple Ed and Edwina Rogers call it quits". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  43. ↑ http://www.wiat.com/news/hurricane-evacuees-forced-to-evacuate-venue-recreate-wedding-in-birmingham/868163134
  44. ↑ https://www.local.com/business/details/bethesda-md/edwina-rogers-133338743/
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