Team

Rob Housman

Rob Housman is a partner with Book Hill Partners. His clients include professional athletes, Fortune 500 companies and not-for-profit organizations.

From 1996 to 2001, by appointment of President Clinton, Rob served as Assistant Director for Strategic Planning in the White House Drug Czar's Office. He led the sports component of the largest public education campaign ever run by the federal government. He was also the United States' lead negotiator for the multinational negotiations on reform of the IOC and for the establishment of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

He served on the White House Task Force for the Salt Lake Olympic Games. He also served, on detail, as co-counsel to the international audit team for the Sydney Olympic Games. He wrote both the first-ever White House Strategy on combating drug use in sports; and, Executive Order 13165 on combating drug use in sports, which was signed by President Clinton on August 11, 2000. He was White House staff lead for the first-ever inter-agency task force against drug use in sports, which was formed under the Executive Order. He served as deputy head of the U.S. delegation to the World Anti-Doping Agency.

He previously ran his own firm, the Housman Group; was a Senior Vice President with Fleishman-Hillard GR; served as Counsel to the Government Relations Section of Bracewell & Patterson; served as Director of Media Logistics for the 53rd Presidential Inaugural Committee; and was an Associate with the nation’s largest law firm.

He also serves on the Board of the Taylor Hooton Foundation (educating young people about the dangers of performance enhancing drugs) and the Institute for Sports Coaching.

Rick Moore

Rick Moore is a partner with Book Hill Partners and BHP Sports and has over 20 years of public policy, public affairs and public relations experience at the highest levels of government and the private sector. His practice is focused on technology, media relations and public affairs. His clients include Compaq Computer, Hewlett Packard, Sprint, Oracle, The Coca-Cola Company, Fortune magazine and a number of other Fortune 500 companies, and foreign governments.

Rick Moore previously served as the Global Account Director at McCann Erickson where he worked with Coca Cola on global projects and new product development for Africa. Prior to that, he was as Executive Vice President at Weber Shandwick Worldwide, where he headed the global communications team for Hewlett Packard. He also served as the Senior Vice President and Global Account Director for Shandwick International in Houston, where he led the Compaq Computer account and managed technology marketing teams around the world.

Prior to his tenure at Weber Shandwick, Rick Moore held the position of Senior Vice President with the Oracle Corporation in Silicon Valley reporting directly to Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison. Rick Moore served on the technology development committee and the executive management committee. He headed up a number of global executive projects and developed strategic relationships with key business leaders and governments.

In 1994, Rick Moore began advising the Clinton White House on media-related issues to the President’s visits to Italy and Russia during the World War II anniversary celebrations. Moore also served as a senior advisor for media affairs for the President’s visit to South Korea and Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Jeff Gulko

jgulko@bhpsports.com

Jeff Gulko is Of Counsel to Book Hill Partners and BHP Sports. He has over a decade of experience in public affairs, government relations and branding. Jeff has provided leadership direction in strategic communications, public affairs, community relations, public relations, cause related marketing, brand image and relationship marketing. He has worked with private and public enterprises, non-profit organizations, emerging and growth businesses, and entrepreneurs. His clients include Boston Red Sox First Baseman Kevin Youkilis's charity Hits For Kids, the breakout music group The Varsity Girls and recording artists Lisa and Louie Bello.

This summer Jeff spearheaded a nomination, grassroots public awareness and voting campaign resulting in Rob Dixon, Executive Director of Project RISE being named the People Magazine/Major League Baseball All Star Among Us. As a result of this initiative Dixon was featured on The Today Show and was honored on the field by the five living U.S. Presidents at the MLB All Star Game before an international audience.

His media relations work has generated media placements in numerous outlets including The Today Show, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, Fox, ESPN, The Boston Globe, The Washington Times, The Boston Business Journal, Fox Sports and Men’s Vogue.

Before entering the private sector, Jeff served in senior positions within the United States government, including with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Department of Energy and the Central Intelligence Agency. At the White House Drug Czar’s Office Jeff staffed the Office’s Athletic Initiative Against Drugs, which included partnership efforts with professional and collegiate sports teams and leagues, and 150,000 high school and middle school coaches nationwide.

Jeff serves as the President of the Board of Directors for the Institute for Sport Coaching and as a member of the Board of Directors for Project RISE.

Dennis W. Alpert

dalpert@bookhillpartners.com

Dennis W. Alpert is Of Counsel focusing in the areas of Sports Marketing / Business Development, Brand Management & Development, Public Affairs / Government Relations, and Crisis Management. Mr. Alpert was recently named to Nashville Post Magazine's 2010 "In Charge" list of influential businesspeople and community leaders.

Mr. Alpert spent more than six years with the PGA TOUR, Inc. in a variety of executive level positions most recently having served as Executive Director of The Presidents Cup 2003 staged in George, South Africa. As Executive Director of The Presidents Cup 2003, Dennis was responsible for all tournament activities including sales, brand development / marketing, public, community and government relations, tournament operations and oversight of the $8M operating budget for the PGA TOUR biennial international team golf competition. Mr. Alpert was directly responsible for corporate hospitality sales in excess of $5M. Dennis was also responsible for successfully negotiating multi-million dollar sponsorships with companies such as, but not limited to, Daimler Chrysler, South African Airways, Telkom, SAP, Coca-Cola, NBC, SABC Sports, South African Breweries / Miller Brewing, Motorola and Rolex. Dennis was directly responsible for the event’s economic impact of more than $46M locally (South Africa) and a worldwide charitable contribution of $2.8M.

Serving as the PGA TOUR Director of Corporate Communications and Public Relations, Dennis was responsible for corporate client / sponsor management and PGA TOUR constituent relations. In this position, Mr. Alpert developed and implemented a national strategy for marketing of the PGA TOUR, its integrated programs and public and corporate outreach. Mr. Alpert also served as Executive Producer of the annual PGA TOUR Players’ Awards show and as the first interim Executive Director of The First Tee, golf’s youth development initiative created to provide opportunity, new facilities and affordable access to golf. Mr. Alpert was responsible for the program’s inaugural year and national and international launch. Dennis served as the PGA TOUR official representative to the successful Jacksonville, FL Super Bowl XXXIX Bid Committee.

Dennis currently represents Minor League Baseball’s Pacific Coast League affiliate, the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx and the NBA Development League’s Maine Red Claws.

Mr. Alpert has extensive experience in the realm of international, national, state and local government affairs, political affairs and communications. Mr. Alpert served more than five years as White House Director of Advance and Trip Director for Vice President Al Gore. In addition, Mr. Alpert served on the national Public Affairs & Government Relations team for the world’s largest company, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Mr. Alpert graduated from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York with a B.A. in Political Science and History. Dennis resides in Lebanon, Tennessee with his wife Beth and his two children Fredric and Olivia.

Ira Sockowitz

Ira Sockowitz is a partner with Book Hill Partners and serves as the firm’s General Counsel. His career spans the fields of law, public policy, communications, and event logistics giving him a unique blend of strategic planning and management know-how. By integrating skills in initiative management, public policy research, strategic communications, and project administration, Ira has earned a reputation as an effective leader who achieves his employers’ and clients’ mission-critical goals.

Among his many successes, Mr. Sockowitz advised the Mayor of Washington DC in drafting and negotiating the $1 billion legislation that brought Major League Baseball back to the District, built a new stadium, and provided funds for youth athletics and other community works.

Before entering the private sector, Mr. Sockowitz served in a number of senior-level government posts. During the Clinton administration, he served as Special Counsel to the late-Secretary Ron Brown at the U.S. Department of Commerce. In that capacity, Ira has traveled extensively overseas on behalf of the U.S. Government and U.S.-based corporations to meetings with Heads of State, various Ministers of foreign governments, and foreign corporate entities. In the course of these travels, he advocated for U.S. business interests resulting in over $42 billion of contracts, participated in the negotiation of treaties and agreements, and provided legal counsel to senior government officials. After the death of Secretary Brown, Mr. Sockowitz was appointed the Senior Advisor for the Small Business Administration, where he was responsible for the formulation and implementation of policy; he also led a trade mission of small businesspeople to Russia.

John Benford

jbenford@bhpsports.com

John Benford is an Associate with Book Hill Partners and BHP Sports. He works with a range of the firm's sports clients. John's work also focuses on assisting clients with implementing and managing social media platforms.

John graduated from Iona College with a B.A. in History in 2006 and has been with Book Hill since 2008.