Ivan Garcia-Hidalgo
Ivan Garcia-Hidalgo is a Republican Strategist and Political Commentator who appears regularly on CNN en Español, NTN24, RT, Voice of America, Univision and Telemundo. Ivan has also appeared on Fox News and CSPAN. He's currently Managing Director of Battleground Group, LLC., Chairman of the Hispanic Leadership Council a non-profit 501(c)4 focused on empowering Hispanics, and Managing Director of USA Restored which is a 527. He also has successfully launched several TV shows, his first being "Batalla Politica" which aired on NTN24, "Battleground" and "La Politica" which air on Americano TV. Ivan is also a surrogate for the Trump administration and the RNC.
Ivan's political experience runs deep. He’s been involved in campaigns for the Florida legislature, US House of Representatives, US Senate, and Governor. As for Presidential campaigns, in 2008 Ivan was a member of Mitt Romney’s Hispanic Steering Committee where he provided guidance and strategic advice on Hispanic issues, and served as a media surrogate on Election Day on CNNEE. During the 2012 GOP Primaries he joined former Speaker Newt Gingrich as his Hispanic Communications Deputy, bringing talking points, position papers and overall strategy to that aspect of the campaign. In the general election he joined Gov. Romney on his Florida Finance Committee, and served as a media surrogate. For the 2016 Presidential election cycle Ivan was quick to support Donald Trump and did so in all Spanish language media, he appeared on CSPAN and FOX News when it was a Hispanic related issue. During the primaries Ivan became part of CNNEE's elections panel, being the only one on the panel to predict the Trump victory and the path on Election Day. Ivan is also a recipient of a Certificate of congressional recognition, awarded to him by Senator Marco Rubio, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, and Rep. David Rivera.
On the policy side, Ivan has spent his entire career initiating, supporting or participating in many of the pressing trade and other issues facing our country and region during the past 20 years including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, 1992), Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR, 2005), Peruvian Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA, 2006), Chile FTA (2005), Columbian Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA, 2006), Trade Promotion Authority (TPA, 2002), Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA, 1991), Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA, 2002), The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (S. 1033, McCain-Kennedy), The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (H.R. 1836), Florida FTAA 2004-2006, Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act of 2006.
Outside of politics, Ivan has held several business development roles in the tech / telecom sector with companies such as ADC (now Tyco), Sprint and AT&T where he was a director and ran a group in Canada, Caribbean and Latin America.
Ivan lives in the suburbs of Washington DC with his wife Martha and two children, David and Jessica.
Ivan's political experience runs deep. He’s been involved in campaigns for the Florida legislature, US House of Representatives, US Senate, and Governor. As for Presidential campaigns, in 2008 Ivan was a member of Mitt Romney’s Hispanic Steering Committee where he provided guidance and strategic advice on Hispanic issues, and served as a media surrogate on Election Day on CNNEE. During the 2012 GOP Primaries he joined former Speaker Newt Gingrich as his Hispanic Communications Deputy, bringing talking points, position papers and overall strategy to that aspect of the campaign. In the general election he joined Gov. Romney on his Florida Finance Committee, and served as a media surrogate. For the 2016 Presidential election cycle Ivan was quick to support Donald Trump and did so in all Spanish language media, he appeared on CSPAN and FOX News when it was a Hispanic related issue. During the primaries Ivan became part of CNNEE's elections panel, being the only one on the panel to predict the Trump victory and the path on Election Day. Ivan is also a recipient of a Certificate of congressional recognition, awarded to him by Senator Marco Rubio, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, and Rep. David Rivera.
On the policy side, Ivan has spent his entire career initiating, supporting or participating in many of the pressing trade and other issues facing our country and region during the past 20 years including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, 1992), Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR, 2005), Peruvian Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA, 2006), Chile FTA (2005), Columbian Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA, 2006), Trade Promotion Authority (TPA, 2002), Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA, 1991), Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA, 2002), The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (S. 1033, McCain-Kennedy), The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (H.R. 1836), Florida FTAA 2004-2006, Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act of 2006.
Outside of politics, Ivan has held several business development roles in the tech / telecom sector with companies such as ADC (now Tyco), Sprint and AT&T where he was a director and ran a group in Canada, Caribbean and Latin America.
Ivan lives in the suburbs of Washington DC with his wife Martha and two children, David and Jessica.
Jose Aristimuno
Jose Aristimuño is the Chief Executive of a leading communications consulting company in The United States, NOW Strategies. Aristimuño is a leading political strategist, focusing on issues impacting Latinos in the United States. In 2016, Aristimuño co-led The Democratic Party's Communications Strategy, as Deputy National Press Secretary. Previously, he worked for Barack Obama, in The Department of Health and Human Services as Spokesperson & Director of Specialty Media. In 2015, he led Governor O'Malley's Presidential Campaign Hispanic Outreach and was named "40 Under 40" in US Politics, by The Huffington Post. He is a frequent media commentator for US & international media outlets such as CNN, FOX, and MSNBC. Aristimuño has been a keynote speaker at political organizations, business, political, & entrepreneurship conferences across the US & Latin America.
JEFFREY M. KIHIEN-PALZA, J.D. LLM. MBA
Mr. Kihien-Palza is an expert on Latin American Transactions and negotiations with twenty years of experience in the field, including international asset recovery and commercial litigation before Latin American courts. While practicing law in Peru, Mr. Kihien-Palza represented Wiese Bank, Solventa Bank and Unique Corporation. And in the U.S the Export Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, as well as SINOSURE the export import bank of China, on assets recovery and negotiations in the Latin American region.
Currently, Mr. Kihien-Palza is an entrepreneur and a private business and financial consultant, with expertise in Project Development and Finance.
Mr. Kihien-Palza holds a J.D from Universidad Privada de Tacna, en Peru, a LLM from American University, WCL, a Leadership Development Program certificate, from Johns Hopkins University, and a MBA from the same school, he is fluent in Spanish, and have understanding of Portuguese.
Mr. Kihien is currently Chair of our Latin America Practice.
Currently, Mr. Kihien-Palza is an entrepreneur and a private business and financial consultant, with expertise in Project Development and Finance.
Mr. Kihien-Palza holds a J.D from Universidad Privada de Tacna, en Peru, a LLM from American University, WCL, a Leadership Development Program certificate, from Johns Hopkins University, and a MBA from the same school, he is fluent in Spanish, and have understanding of Portuguese.
Mr. Kihien is currently Chair of our Latin America Practice.
GERARD "ROD" WITTSTADT, JR.
Gerard W. Wittstadt, Jr. is an attorney licensed to practice law in the states of Maryland, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. He is also a Maryland licensed real estate broker.
After graduating, with honors, from the University of Baltimore, School of Law in 1992 and successfully passing the Bar Examination for the State of Maryland, Mr. Wittstadt served his country, on active duty, from January of 1993 through July of 1996, as a Commissioned Officer in the United States Navy. During that time, Mr. Wittstadt served as appellate counsel for thousands of Sailors and Marines before the military appellate courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Wittstadt was awarded the National Service Defense Medal and the Navy Commendation Medal.
Mr. Wittstadt focuses his practice on complex business litigation, particularly in the areas of banking, finance and real estate. In addition, Mr. Wittstadt routinely represents real estate companies, brokers, banks and their servicers in complex business tort and contract litigation. In his twenty-six years of law practice, Mr. Wittstadt has served as defense counsel in both civil and criminal matters, and plaintiff's counsel.
Governor Hogan recently appointed Mr. Wittstadt to the Board of Trustees of the Community College of Baltimore County effective July 1, 2018, having been previously appointed to and served on the Board of Trustees of Cecil College from 2004-2010. He is a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, the nation’s oldest patriotic organization, founded in 1783, whose membership traces their lineage to officers of the Continental Army. An avid lacrosse fan, Mr. Wittstadt has been a youth lacrosse coach for 10 years.
Mr. Wittstadt has been active in Republican politics as early as 1979, having worked on President Reagan’s first campaign distributing election material at his local polling place. As an attorney, he has conducted legal operations on election day in all elections since 2000, including fighting against election day fraud in City of Philadelphia in 2003, 2011 2015, and war room operations in Pennsylvania in 2007. Likewise, Mr. Wittstadt has conducted legal election day operations in the Maryland Gubernatorial elections in 2006, 2010 and 2014. In this past election cycle, Mr. Wittstadt helped conduct legal election day operations in the war room for the reelection of Governor Hogan and the Broward County recount for Senator-elect Rick Scott.
A current member of the Greater Towson Republican Club, Mr. Wittstadt formerly served as president of the Republican Club of Cecil County from 2007-2010. He unsuccessfully ran for Maryland House of Delegates in 2007. He continues to advise Republican candidates on election strategies and operations.
Mr. Wittstadt is a published author, having written a historical reference “Maryland’s Charles Town, 1742 and Beyond, a Pictorial Tour of its History” in 2018, and currently serves as legal adviser to Hispanic Leadership Council.
Mr. Wittstadt and his wife, Lynn and four children live in Reisterstown, Maryland.
After graduating, with honors, from the University of Baltimore, School of Law in 1992 and successfully passing the Bar Examination for the State of Maryland, Mr. Wittstadt served his country, on active duty, from January of 1993 through July of 1996, as a Commissioned Officer in the United States Navy. During that time, Mr. Wittstadt served as appellate counsel for thousands of Sailors and Marines before the military appellate courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Wittstadt was awarded the National Service Defense Medal and the Navy Commendation Medal.
Mr. Wittstadt focuses his practice on complex business litigation, particularly in the areas of banking, finance and real estate. In addition, Mr. Wittstadt routinely represents real estate companies, brokers, banks and their servicers in complex business tort and contract litigation. In his twenty-six years of law practice, Mr. Wittstadt has served as defense counsel in both civil and criminal matters, and plaintiff's counsel.
Governor Hogan recently appointed Mr. Wittstadt to the Board of Trustees of the Community College of Baltimore County effective July 1, 2018, having been previously appointed to and served on the Board of Trustees of Cecil College from 2004-2010. He is a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, the nation’s oldest patriotic organization, founded in 1783, whose membership traces their lineage to officers of the Continental Army. An avid lacrosse fan, Mr. Wittstadt has been a youth lacrosse coach for 10 years.
Mr. Wittstadt has been active in Republican politics as early as 1979, having worked on President Reagan’s first campaign distributing election material at his local polling place. As an attorney, he has conducted legal operations on election day in all elections since 2000, including fighting against election day fraud in City of Philadelphia in 2003, 2011 2015, and war room operations in Pennsylvania in 2007. Likewise, Mr. Wittstadt has conducted legal election day operations in the Maryland Gubernatorial elections in 2006, 2010 and 2014. In this past election cycle, Mr. Wittstadt helped conduct legal election day operations in the war room for the reelection of Governor Hogan and the Broward County recount for Senator-elect Rick Scott.
A current member of the Greater Towson Republican Club, Mr. Wittstadt formerly served as president of the Republican Club of Cecil County from 2007-2010. He unsuccessfully ran for Maryland House of Delegates in 2007. He continues to advise Republican candidates on election strategies and operations.
Mr. Wittstadt is a published author, having written a historical reference “Maryland’s Charles Town, 1742 and Beyond, a Pictorial Tour of its History” in 2018, and currently serves as legal adviser to Hispanic Leadership Council.
Mr. Wittstadt and his wife, Lynn and four children live in Reisterstown, Maryland.
