WASHINGTON, DC — The Ripon Society and Franklin Center for Global Policy Exchange held their 10th annual bipartisan luncheon today honoring the Schedulers and Executive Assistants in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. These “unsung heroes of Capitol Hill,” according to Ripon and Franklin President & CEO Jim Conzelman, “Give their all, day-in and day-out, to make Congress work.”

“Through endless requests and an ever-changing agenda, these individuals in the House and Senate manage to do the impossible,” Conzelman stated in his remarks to open the event. “These past two years have been some of the most unique and challenging years many of us have seen in our lifetime. You have all had an undeniable role in keeping Congress functioning, and for that we owe you our gratitude.

“This is the 10th year we’ve been holding this event. That’s right, an entire decade of honoring the job you all do and the hard work for which you never get thanked enough. And, as always, we surveyed the membership of The Ripon Society and Franklin Center to vote for the executive assistants and schedulers who go above and beyond each day. The individuals here today – from both sides of the aisle – were nominated because of their unwavering commitment and dedication to government service.”

The Top 23 Schedulers and Executive Assistants of 2021 included:

• Alexis Alavi – with Representative Darin LaHood (R-IL);
• Lauren Allen – with Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV);
• Caleb Baca – with Representative Lisa McClain (R-MI);
• Jacqueline Battaglia – with Congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA);
• Per Bergstrom – with Representative Rick Larsen (D-WA);
• Bryer Davis – with Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV);
• Richard Eddings – with Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO);
• Sydney Harvey – with Representative Tom Suozzi (D-NY);
• Julie Macmann – with Representative Jackie Walorski (R-IN);
• Nicole Malec – with Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL);
• Lindsay McDonough – with Senator Todd Young (R-IN);
• Brianna Nagle – with Representative Rodney Davis (R-IL);
• Sabrina Parker – with Representative Tom Cole (R-OK);
• Laura Piccioli – with Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ);
• Karli Plucker – with Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA);
• Madeline Roberts – with Representative Kathleen Rice (D-NY);
• Angela Schulze – with Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC);
• Tory Scordato – with Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA);
• Suzanne Scruggs – with Representative Fred Upton (R-MI);
• Emily Ann Smith – with Representative Ann Wagner (R-MO);
• Shelbie Thaler Rogers – with the NRCC;
• Grace Tricomi – with Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC);
• Kathi Wise – with Senator John Barrasso (R-WY).

Also in attendance was Shelby Scarbrough, a serial-entrepreneur, author, public speaker, and Global Board President for the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), an international association of over 10,000 highly motivated entrepreneurs worldwide in 40 countries. She addressed the crowd in attendance and discussed her latest book, Civility Rules! Creating a Purposeful Practice of Civility.

Conzelman – who spent 26 years as the Chief of Staff for former Congressman Mike Oxley (R-OH) prior to joining The Ripon Society and the Franklin Center – said that today’s luncheon was attended by a group of nearly 60 Schedulers and Executive Assistants.

The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.