Politico Influence feature on Strategic Aerospace Alliance

Tom Culligan, who has spent the past decade lobbying for some of the largest defense and aerospace firms in the world, is striking out on his own. Culligan has left RTX, where he’s worked for nearly three years as senior director of government relations, to open Ascent Public Policy & Strategic Communications.

— For now a one-person shop, Culligan’s firm will become a member of the Strategic Aerospace Alliance, an advocacy partnership started by Dan Elwell, a former acting FAA administrator advising the transition, and Holly Woodruff Lyons, a longtime staff director for the House’s marquee aviation policy panel.

— Culligan spent close to a decade on the Hill and worked closely with former House appropriator Frank Wolf before moving over to the Brimley Group to build out its aerospace practice. More recently, Culligan has worked in-house helping aerospace giants Boeing and RTX weather a series of high-profile crises. At Boeing, he led lobbying for NASA programs and worked to manage the fallout on Capitol Hill from the 737 MAX disasters (which continue to play out in court).

— Over the past three years Culligan led the lobbying operation for RTX’s Collins Aerospace arm and the firm’s civil and commercial programs, as well as for Pratt & Whitney, which fended off challengers for its contract as the engine maker for the F-35 fighter jet and took a major hit after recalling a key commercial jet engine component in 2023.

— In an interview, Culligan said he’s eager to get back into the multi-client game at a pivotal moment for the aerospace market. You have “big players — like you think about Boeing or RTX, which have a massive incumbent footprint, and all these new companies that are showing up with a lot of innovative technology that are capitalizing that we’ve seen in the technology space over the last decade,” he told PI, adding that his firm will aim to help large and small companies navigate the new environment.

— One wild card will be the ultimate influence of Donald Trump adviser Elon Musk, whose SpaceX has been gobbling up market share in commercial space but which can also serve as a model for other companies hoping to become trailblazers.

— “Particularly in the commercial aviation and in the defense sectors, we haven’t seen the kinds of disruption that we’ve seen in space,” Culligan said. “One of the things I’m eager to do is apply this … probably 15-year-experience of watching how SpaceX and Elon and similar companies move into markets and disrupt, and help clients figure out how do you navigate that in a way that you come out on top?”

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2024/12/05/rtx-boeing-lobbyist-hangs-a-shingle-00192929