Hoog, Thomas W.

Thomas W. Hoog, who serves as chairman of Hill & Knowlton/USA, has made two defining contributions to the practice of public relations and public affairs in the United States during his tenure at the agency. The first was expanding the practice of public affairs beyond representation at the federal level to representation at the state and local levels. The second was developing a client service model that integrated equally both the geographic and practice expertise available to clients throughout the extensive U.S. network of the agency.

Tom Hoog was born in 1939 in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. He went to the University of Illinois and received his degree in aeronautical engineering. Hoog started his career in 1960 as a naval aviator and spent four years with the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet from 1962 to 1966. He began his work in politics and public affairs with stints in the presidential campaigns of both Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Senator George McGovern. In 1974, Hoog became chief of staff for U.S. Senator Gary Hart of Colorado, and served as political director of Senator Hart's presidential campaign in 1984. Hoog later extended his involvement in U.S. presidential elections by serving on the executive committee and national finance committee for then-governor Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign.

In 1980, after his Capitol Hill experience, Hoog founded and served as president of Hoog and Associates, Inc. This firm specialized in government relations and public affairs and had offices in Denver; Washington, DC; and Orange County, California. In 1989 the firm was acquired by Hill & Knowlton to expand its public affairs practice, which was headquartered in Washington, DC.

As Hoog advanced in Hill & Knowlton, he served as chairman of its U.S. Public Affairs Practice in 1992, and as general manager of its Washington, DC, office from 1993 to 1996. In 1996 he became president and CEO of Hill & Knowlton/USA and served on the agency's Worldwide Executive Committee.

In 1960, Hill & Knowlton became the first national public relations agency to open offices in Washington with the explicit purpose of representing its clients to the federal executive and legislative branches. At this time, the agency began to offer lobbying as a service to its clients. This was one of the initial steps in what evolved over the next two decades as the practice of public affairs. Just as the visionary John Hill saw that the interests of American businesses and commerce dictated the expansion of Hill & Knowlton into the international arena, so Hoog believed that those same interests would be increasingly impacted by the growth of the federal government in the United States.

Over those two decades, as federal legislation and regulation expanded, so did the Washington office of Hill & Knowlton. But Washington was not alone in influencing business and commerce. In the 1980s, increasingly state legislative and regulatory actions became significantly relevant to the business community. Referenda, particularly in California, became a powerful force for change and impacted the business sector significantly. As a full-service firm, Hill & Knowlton wanted to offer services to its clients dealing with this shift in policy and legislative activity.

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