20+ years

In 2017, Governor-elect Phil Murphy selected Eric to serve on the Human Services Committee for his transition team. During that same year, he was nominated by Kentucky State Senator Jimmy Higdon and commissioned by Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin to become a Kentucky Colonel.

In 2004, Eric was nominated by New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey to serve on the South Jersey Port Corporation's Board of Directors, which is responsible for the development of port facilities in South New Jersey. Eric was reappointed in 2008 by Governor Corzine and again in 2017 by Governor Chris Christie.

In 2018, Eric was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Burbank International Film Festival.

Eric is also a founding member of the Board of Directors for the NYC Fashion Manufactures Alliance of Design Educators and Save the Garment Center in New York City; a position he's held since 2008.

In 2007, Eric was selected by the American Council of Young Political Leaders, a bi-partisan not-for-profit international exchange organization, as a delegate to Vietnam for a two-week political exchange program. Eric joined six other young political leaders from the U.S. to study Vietnam's political system, engage in dialogue on international issues, and forge professional relationships. He's also participated in international trade missions, including trips to the Netherlands, China and the United Arab Emirates.

Eric was appointed in 2007 by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine to serve as a member of the Economic Growth Council to assist with statewide economic development policies.

Eric is a former Committee Chairman for the Mercer County College Board of Trustees Advisory Committee and a former member of the Board of Trustees for the Arts & Business Partnership of Southern New Jersey. He's served on the boards of the Mercer County Workforce Investment Board, the Mercer County Economic Development Committee and Junior Achievement. Eric was appointed by Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano in 2002 to the New Jersey Council of Local Mandates and served as Vice Chairman until 2004.

Matthew O'Shea is the President of Matthew O'Shea Consulting, Inc. In 1994, Matthew started his public service career with State Representative Dan Rutherford and then worked for State Representative James Durkin and Senator Thomas Walsh from 1995 through 2000. While working for Representative Durkin and Walsh, Matt attended John Marshall Law School and completed his Juris Doctor in 2000. After leaving Representative Durkin and Senator Walsh, he served as the Village Administrator for the Village of Forest Park located in the western suburbs of Cook County. While serving as Village Administrator, Matt was also appointed to the Senate to fill out the remaining term of Senator Tom Walsh for the 22nd Legislative District.

As State Senator, Matt was able to learn and experience the legislative process from an elected official standpoint. In 2004, Matt joined House Republican Minority Leader Tom Cross as Deputy Chief and Ethics Officer before coming Chief of Staff. In his role as Chief of Staff, he dealt with all four legislative caucuses including participating in several high level leadership meetings. His role as Chief of Staff allowed him to deal with many important issues facing the legislature such as pensions, capital funding, energy, local government, budget, Medicaid and redistricting.

Matt has knowledge and experience working with many regulatory issues including those before Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Matt has spent time working on many political elections at all levels of state government.

15-20 years

Mike founded Drexwood Partners LLC with the mission to merge government affairs with a business savvy approach. By drawing upon his nearly 15 years of experience in government and politics combined with 10 years of experience in finance and real estate, Mike is able to provide a unique perspective to his clients. As a registered lobbyist he works with government officials at the state, county and city level navigating the process to solve problems and achieve the desired results for his clients.

Prior to founding Drexwood, Mike served as executive vice president at All-Circo, Inc, a full service government affairs and lobbying firm. There he handled the needs of over 60 clients ranging from fortune 500 companies and small businesses to units of government, non-profits and associations across all sectors and issues. In addition to helping clients with their legislative and administrative goals, he provided counsel in regards to appropriations, regulation, procurement, and coalition development.

Mike was previously vice president at Chicago-based real estate development firm The Prime Group. Serving as a member of the capital markets group, he provided financial analysis, budgeting, and due diligence on real estate transactions as well as helped facilitate $400 million in financing for the JW Marriott mixed use development on LaSalle Street. He began his career in New York with Jefferies & Company on the institutional trading desk, providing sales trading coverage for corporate accounts and hedge funds.

Mike received a B.S. in Finance from Santa Clara University in 1998. He resides in Chicago with his wife, Liz, and two daughters.

15-20 years

Member of the national council of state legislatures

6-10 years

Paul joined Drexwood Partners in 2019 bringing 10 years of professional experience with him, including a half decade handling multi-state government affairs and running a U.S. government affairs operation for a multi-national company.

Adept at handling complex public policy issues, Paul began his early professional days working as a litigation paralegal for multiple law firms and working as a field organizer on a national campaign. To begin his government affairs career, Paul spent a short time in Washington D.C. working for a child welfare non-profit conducting policy research and organizing advocacy days.

Prior to joining Drexwood as Vice President, Paul served as Director of Government Relations for a publicly-traded company where he led U.S. federal and state government affairs for multiple business segments. While there he executed federal and multi-state government affairs strategies to support organizational goals across six businesses. This included managing federal appropriation and jurisdictional committee advocacy, a fifty state legislative tracking operation, and direct and indirect lobbying in over half a dozen states across the country. In addition to traditional government affairs work, Paul led the first company-wide global political risk assessment due to international expansion and re-designed the internal government affairs approach to also focus on brand development for business segments that found more value in an elevated presence among government officials.

With a broad range of policy experience in agriculture, education (Pre-K through postsecondary), child welfare, healthcare, insurance, and tech fields, Paul is prepared to tackle new and complex issues quickly to deliver results. He is passionate about government affairs — from traditional lobbying and strategy development to advocacy, coalition building, and policy research.

A native of mid-Missouri, Paul holds a M.A. in Political Science from University of Missouri, Kansas City and a B.A. in Pre-Law/Legal Studies from William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri. He currently lives in Chicago, Illinois with his wife and two sons.