Shepherd Strategies has been recognized as a Top Public Affairs Firm 2026 by Gov Business Review, with President Jessica Beeson Tocco featured in a firm profile in the magazine’s August 2026 issue.
The feature looks at how the government affairs industry has changed since Congress eliminated earmarks in 2011, shifting real decision-making power over funding and programs from congressional appropriations to individual federal agencies.
Many firms, the magazine notes, are still operating from an older playbook built around congressional access. Shepherd Strategies has built its practice around a different model: helping organizations find and pursue opportunities that already exist inside the agencies themselves.
Instead of pointing clients toward lengthy appropriations processes, Shepherd Strategies opens every new relationship with a free, 30-day business assessment. The team reviews a prospective client’s objectives, conducts due diligence, builds a market study, and maps out realistic opportunities before any formal engagement begins, so both sides start from the same understanding of what’s achievable.
Beeson Tocco summed up the philosophy behind that approach in the piece, pointing clients toward “funding that already exists at the agency level” rather than dollars that may never materialize through appropriations.
The profile also walks through a recent engagement in which a national savings plan provider came to Shepherd Strategies looking to move quickly on the Trump Accounts program. Working within a compressed timeline, the team helped the client build credibility with senior government stakeholders, sharpen its policy positioning, and manage the documentation required to participate, an example the magazine points to as business analysis, market intelligence, and public-sector expertise working together in real time.
The recognition adds to a growing list of moments where Shepherd Strategies is shaping how businesses think about engaging with government, from earned media features to legislative wins alongside industry partners.
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