Dallas “Rob” Sweezy is a senior advisor to PARMA. Rob was recently appointed Chairman of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, a Department of Health and Human Services advisory committee. Mr. Sweezy’s clients include a pharmaceutical company, two management consulting companies, a marketing firm, a long-term care hospital/home health company, a Medicare Advantage Plan and an investment advisory firm. From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Sweezy served as the Director of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Supervising a staff of forty-four personnel, he managed the CMS’s relations with the media, state and local governments, and provider and beneficiary outreach efforts. Mr. Sweezy directed communications for the repositioning and re-branding of the agency’s image and directed the agency’s first three $25 million national advertising campaigns. He was enormously successful in promoting some of the department’s top policy priorities such as the nursing home, home health and hospital Quality Initiatives and the external-partners “Open Door’ forums. Mr. Sweezy coordinated several nation-wide media tours with the heads of CDC, NIH, FDA and the Surgeon General to promote passage of MMA, the new Medicare modernization and prescription drug program. He was designated as one of CMS’s “Open Door” senior staff contacts and served as a CMS speaker to healthcare groups across the country.

Before joining CMS, Mr. Sweezy started Public Affairs Strategies, with clients ranging from telecommunications, food processing to agriculture and transportation. He previously served as Vice President of Golin/Harris, an international public relations firm. Mr. Sweezy led several successful crisis and litigation communications support efforts and provided public policy counsel to clients. He was also Director of State Government Relations and Public Affairs for the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). He directed political communications and strategy for federal and state issues and created SCAN, the Shopping Center Action Network, ICSC’s member-based grass roots program.

During President George H. W. Bush’s Administration, Mr. Sweezy was Director of Legislative and Public Affairs for an Agriculture Department agency, managing day-to-day media, public relations and legislative strategy. He also served during President Ronald Reagan’s Administration at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and at the Commerce Department in the International Trade Administration where he helped develop third-party coalitions in support of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, Export Trading Companies and state-run Export-Import banks.

His career began as a campaign operative for U. S. Congressman Marvin Leath (D-TX 11), Texas Governor Bill Clements (R) and on both campaigns for President Ronald Reagan, including as Texas Political Director in the 1984 re-election effort.

Mr. Sweezy media relations skills are extensive. He has prepared officials for challenging appearances on major network, cable and radio news and public affairs programs. He has been interviewed by and developed controversial stories with newspaper reporters and editorial writers across the country, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Chicago Tribune.

A native Texan, Mr. Sweezy received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Baylor University and has completed post-graduate studies in public policy and international business at George Washington University. He served on the Board of Directors for the Northern Virginia Parents of Down Syndrome, a local advocacy group. He is has four children; Dallas, Austin, Carson and Madison. Mr. Sweezy can often be found with his hands covered in gardener’s loam, his knees covered in grid-iron mud, or his face covered in actor’s grease paint.