Kennedy heads to Washington
Former Vice President for Federal and State Relations Michael Kennedy cleaned out his desk last week and said farewell to Utah State University. Kennedy boarded a plane to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday night to join Sen. Orrin Hatch as his new chief of staff.
“It’s very, very difficult to leave,” Kennedy said. “The opportunity to work so closely to such an important senator, the longest-serving Republican in the United States Senate … is also an opportunity I felt like I couldn’t pass up.”
Kennedy said he received a phone call about a week ago from the senator, who offered Kennedy the job. Hatch’s former Chief of Staff, Jace Johnson, recently took a job elsewhere.
“Sen. Hatch is delighted that Michael Kennedy has agreed to serve as his chief of staff,” said Hatch spokesperson Heather Barney. “Michael brings a wealth of experience to this new role and will be a great asset to the senator’s organization.”
Kennedy said University President Stan Albrecht is moving quickly to find a replacement for him. They will have to orient themselves with university initiatives for the upcoming legislative session in January.
A few names have been discussed, and Kennedy said he is confident there are several people that would be capable of fitting in with Albrecht’s team-oriented style of leadership.
“It’s a big job and a critical one for our university, as a major research institution,” said John DeVilbiss, executive director for public relations and marketing at USU. Kennedy’s replacement will be “a person with strong state and federal ties who will help us continue to build networks and relationships … for state and federal funding.”
Kennedy, a Utah native raised in Salt Lake City, said he attended Harvard University and received a bachelor’s degree in government. He completed an internship in Washington, D.C., with Bennett.
He said he considered going to law school, but instead, he took a job in Washington, D.C. as director of legislative affairs for a lobbying firm for various Utah interests. Utah State University was one of the clients.
Being that I grew up in Salt Lake and didn’t get to Logan that much, I didn’t really know much about Logan or USU,” Kennedy said.
Despite not knowing much about Logan, Kennedy said he was interested in working at the university because of what he had come to know about them through his job in Washington.
“I was in D.C., for those seven years, and worked for the university and found out all the cool research stuff that the university was getting funded through the federal government and from the work that I did,” Kennedy said.
Albrecht approached Kennedy and used his leadership skills and charisma to convince him to come back to Utah to work at USU, Kennedy said. In November 2007, he made the move and pioneered the newly-formed position, vice president of state and federal relations.
He said his predecessor for university state lobbying retired after 30 years and that is when Albrecht decided to combine federal and state roles. Putting the federal portfolio in the hands of Kennedy would lighten the load for the vice president of research, which he said was a tough job to begin with.
“The federal portfolio is kind of a big ask for any vice president to do,” Kennedy said. “So, the president, he wanted to form a comprehensive government relations approach and combine the two together.”
Now that Kennedy is back in Washington, D.C. after spending three years at USU, he said he has high hopes for the university’s future.
In my new job, I hope to continue, frankly, to help the university from the federal side and do everything we can to be beneficial to USU and to the entire system of higher education.
He said President Albrecht is a unique leader who focuses on his team and the university as a whole. Which he said is evident in the success of the university.
“President Albrecht is the kind of guy I would follow into battle,” he said, “that kind of inspiring of a leader.”
The university is going in a great direction from a government relations standpoint, he said. There are several prospective state-funded building projects in the near future.
“There are a lot of exciting things on the horizon, on the state level, putting in some new buildings and hopefully some salary increases for employees at USU,” Kennedy said. “Especially for our faculty, as we go forward in our next sessions, if the budget scenario improves.”
He said the university is currently doing close to $2 million in federal research, and lauded professors and the vice president of research for going after competitive grants.
“It’s great to be joining an office where there is that commitment to the citizens of Utah, and to be able to continue to contribute to my home and the people of my home, where my heart is, frankly,” Kennedy said.
DeVilbiss said the university faculty is sad to see him go, but they understand how great an opportunity it is for Kennedy and his wife.
– dan.whitney.smith@aggiemail.usu.edu