Lobbyists Profiles
Nell Kuhnmuench, Director
Ms. Kuhnmuench has been voted Michigan’s top lobbyist by an independent political survey. She served for eight years as Chief of Staff for two different Democratic Speakers of the Michigan House of Representatives. Ms. Kuhnmuench is widely recognized for her expertise on health-care, insurance and environmental issues. Ms. Kuhnmuench, who twice has been voted the state’s most effective woman lobbyist, holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Michigan State University and a law degree from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
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Mike Hawks, Director
Mr. Hawks has been voted among the 10 best lobbyists in the state by an independent political survey. He served as Chief of Staff for the Majority Floor Leader in the Michigan House of Representatives and on the Public Affairs Staff of the Speaker of the House before joining GCSI. Prior to working for the State of Michigan, Mr. Hawks received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Eastern Michigan University, where he was also a four-year scholar athlete in football. Mr. Hawks also earned a master’s degree in higher education administration from Michigan State University.
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Steve Young, Director
Mr. Young was recently voted Michigan's top lobbyist. He worked for seven years as the lead tax lobbyist for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce before joining GCSI. The former administrative assistant to a Republican state Senator from Saginaw is a graduate of Michigan State University and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute of Organizational Management in Delaware.
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Kirk Profit, Director
Mr. Profit had an award-winning 10-year career in the Michigan House of Representatives before joining GCSI. While a member of the Legislature, he chaired the influential House Tax Policy Committee, as well as the House Committee on Higher Education. The former legal advisor and Undersheriff to the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department earned a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Michigan University, where he also worked as an adjunct professor. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, having earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Detroit School of Law.
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Kenneth Cole, Director
Mr. Cole was an award-winning journalist with The Detroit News for seven years before joining GCSI. He worked five years in the newspaper’s Lansing Bureau and two in its Washington, DC Bureau, covering the politics of the auto industry. A graduate of the prestigious University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism, Mr. Cole has been the recipient of several writing honors, including the Golden Quill Award from the Washington Automotive Press Association; Excellence in Journalism for Highway Safety Award from the National Safety Council; and the International Wheel Award from the Detroit Press Foundation. The former adjunct professor of journalism at Michigan State University also formerly worked for the Ypsilanti Press and the Jackson Citizen Patriot.
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Bill Zaagman
Mr. Zaagman served as Director of Government Affairs for the Michigan Restaurant Association for four years before joining GCSI. He also worked for five years as a lobbyist for the Michigan Osteopathic Association. The Muskegon native is widely respected in Capitol circles for his expertise in tax policy, liquor control, labor law, public health and business. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Central Michigan University and a master’s degree in public administration from Western Michigan University.
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Jim Miller
Mr. Miller was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Michigan Insurance Coalition before joining GCSI and prior to that, a lobbyist for the influential 240,000-member Michigan Farm Bureau. Before getting into politics, he owned and operated Miller Orchards and Produce for 20 years, from 1978 to 1998, and was president of the National Peach Council. Mr. Miller is a graduate of the Michigan State University Kellogg Leadership Program and also a veteran of the United States Air Force.
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Barb Farrah
Ms. Farrah served six years in the Michigan House of Representatives before GCSI. While a member of the Legislature, she chaired the influential House Regulatory Reform Committee and was a member of the committees on labor, tax policy, insurance and local government. The former Southgate City Council president also worked 10 years for Wayne County in its Department of Environment. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
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Patrick L. Laughlin, Director Emeritus
Mr. Laughlin served as President of the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association (MBWWA) for 10 years before joining GCSI and was named Michigan’s most influential single-client lobbyist during that tenure by an independent survey of legislators. Active for many years in the association community, he also previously was president of the Michigan Society of Association Executives and the Wholesale Beer Association Executives of America. The former Ford Foundation Legislative Fellow holds a bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University, a master’s from Michigan State University and a Labor Relations Certificate from the University of Michigan.
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Gary Owen, Director Emeritus
First elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 1973, Mr. Owen served for 16 years as a legislator. He was the first-ever freshman lawmaker to join the House Appropriations Committee and sat on that panel for 10 years. He served six years as Associate Speaker Pro Tem before being elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1983 – a position he held through 1988. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan and holds honorary doctorates from Northern Michigan University in political science and Cleary College in law.
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