NATSO Enhances Government Relations Team to Support Growing Legislative Portfolio

NATSO President and CEO Lisa Mullings today announced that the association representing the nation’s truckstops and travel plazas has hired LeeAnn Goheen and Jessica Frend, two experienced government affairs professionals, to join the association staff. Mullings also announced that she has promoted David Fialkov to Executive Vice President of Government Affairs.

LeeAnn Goheen is joining NATSO as Director of NATSO’s Government Affairs, while Jessica Frend will serve as Senior Policy Advisor. Goheen and Frend were both previously government affairs professionals at the law firm of Steptoe and Johnson, where they represented NATSO and other trade associations with similar policy priorities.

Fialkov has spent the last five years as NATSO’s Vice President of Government Affairs, where he has implemented NATSO’s political and policy strategy.

The announcement comes at a key time for the industry, as Congress tackles broad infrastructure legislation and amid a changing retail fuels landscape as the industry further invests in alternative fuels. The strategic additions will play a key role in supporting the industry’s expanding legislative portfolio.

“NATSO has a talented staff dedicated to the success of its members and the overall truckstop and travel plaza industry,” Mullings said. “We are thrilled to have such experienced industry advocates join the NATSO team at a time when truckstops, travel plazas, and fuel retailers nationwide are on the precipice of unprecedented challenges and opportunities. These hires represent a strategic decision to expand our government affairs capacity as we focus on the near- and long-term business priorities of our industry. By enhancing NATSO’s government affairs team, we will implement NATSO’s strategic plan and make the industry stronger in its advocacy efforts on behalf of members.”

Goheen will implement NATSO’s legislative and political agenda in Washington, D.C., and direct the association’s political engagement efforts. Goheen will serve as the liaison with NATSO’s Government Affairs Committee and represent NATSO before Congress and officials in the executive branch on matters relating to the truckstop and travel plaza industry, including transportation, energy, financial services, environmental, and labor issues.

Frend will serve as a policy advisor to the entire Government Affairs team. She will be responsible for helping to shape and advance NATSO’s advocacy agenda on Capitol Hill. Her years of experience working with the industry combined with a focus on energy and transportation matters on Capitol Hill will enhance NATSO’s efforts to expand and strengthen its reach in Washington.

Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman

Wlazlowski Neuman leads NATSO and the NATSO Foundation’s public affairs initiatives and communications strategies to promote the truck stop and travel center industry to the public, opinion leaders, elected officials, and the media. Her outreach includes a spectrum of policy issues facing the industry, with a particular focus on transportation and fuel issues, truck parking, and human trafficking. She serves as NATSO’s representative on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Truck Parking Coalition, the Clean Freight Coalition, and various state truck parking technical advisory committees. She is the architect of the truck stop and travel center industry’s anti-human trafficking campaign and currently serves as a Committee member for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Human Trafficking Advisory Council. Wlazlowski Neuman serves on the American Highway Users Policy and Government Affairs Committee.

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