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University Politics

Meet the key members of SU’s Office of Government and Community Relations

Paul Schlesinger | Staff Photographer

Syracuse University's Office of Government and Community Relations is in the Center of Science and Technology.

By Sam Ogozalek, Sara SwannThe Daily Orange

There are several key members to Syracuse University’s Office of Government and Community Relations. One of them directly lobbies officials on behalf of SU. Others coordinate local outreach with community organizations.

Included below is a breakdown of who’s representing the university on policy matters at the federal, state and local levels. Eric Persons, a former registered lobbyist for SU who recently took a job at Cazenovia College, is detailed as part of the following list. He no longer works with the university, but lobbied for SU between 2011-17. Bea González, who works with community relations, is also on the list.

Tim Drumm

Drumm joined SU’s Office of Government and Community Relations mid-way through 2017. After the second quarter of 2017, SU switched its main lobbyist from Eric Persons to Drumm.

So far, for SU, Drumm has lobbied Congress on issues related to veterans, tax reform legislation and student visas.

Before coming to SU, Drumm was senior adviser at The Roosevelt Group, a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. According to its website, The Roosevelt Group is a bipartisan organization that “offers advocacy, consulting, business development and strategic communications to clients in the defense, security and intelligence sectors.”



Prior to joining the lobbying world, Drumm was chief of staff to former Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-Rochester) from 2011-12. In the three years before that, Drumm worked in the Department of Defense as director of legislative affairs. His employment history makes him a part of the revolving door trend, meaning people who used to work for the federal government tend to shuffle into the lobbying world, and vice versa.

Eric Persons

Persons first joined SU as a lobbyist at the end of 2011, when Nancy Cantor was chancellor of the university. He lobbied on various issues for SU until halfway through 2017 when the switch to Drumm was made.

During Persons’ time as a lobbyist for SU, the university spent on average almost $210,000 per year on lobbying the federal government. Persons advocated for SU on topics such as higher education, economic development, campus and public safety, veterans-related initiatives and the Federal Perkins Loan Program, among others.

Persons now works at Cazenovia College as the vice president for institutional advancement. He received both his master’s of public administration and master’s of arts in international relations from SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Mike Haynie

In addition to being a professor of entrepreneurship in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and the executive director of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, Haynie also works with SU’s Office of Government and Community Relations to engage with government officials. That office is part of the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation, which Haynie oversees.

Haynie served in the Air Force for 14 years. The IVMF, which he leads, has partnered with the Department of Defense, Department of Labor, Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Bea González

González is the university’s vice president for community engagement. As part of that role, she directly works with local politicians and government agencies.

She has deep roots and connections to Syracuse City Hall. In 2008, González launched what would be an unsuccessful campaign for mayor. She withdrew her candidacy because of her mother’s health problems, according to The Post-Standard.

González also served as the city’s Common Council president for several years. She was first elected in 2001. González is listed as a member of the Consensus commission, which in 2017 recommended a merger of the city of Syracuse and Onondaga County legislatures.

Mayor Ben Walsh’s father, former congressman James Walsh, was a co-chair of the Consensus commission. Sharon Owens, Walsh’s chief of staff, also served as a member of Consensus.

González is currently spearheading an assessment and realignment of the university’s regional community investments. The exact details of that initiative remain unclear.

She is not listed as a registered lobbyist for SU, records show.





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