Experts at Influencing Public Perception
Our team has a combined 7 decades of experience advising public officials and advising organizations who need to interact with public officials and government bodies.
We understand the people and processes that can help ensure your success or prevent you from achieving your goals. We are experts at our craft and dedicated to your success.
Andrew Hitt, Esq
Managing Director and President
Andrew Hitt has spent 20 years advising public officials and those interacting with public officials. He began his career at the Wisconsin Supreme Court as the first law clerk to the Honorable Chief Justice Annette K. Zielger. He worked for a short time at a litigation boutique in Milwaukee before joining the District Attorney’s office prosecuting felony gun and drug cases. When Governor Scott Walker was elected, he was named Deputy Legal Counsel and subsequently became the Governor’s Senior Advisor before being appointed to the Governor’s cabinet as the Assistant Deputy Secretary at the Department of Health Services and then the Department of Administration.
After leaving the administration, he spent nearly 10 years at Michael Best & Michael Best Strategies as an attorney, government relations and communications consultant, and also growing Strategies’ consulting business, eventually becoming its Chief Operating Officer helping to lead a nationwide expansion of the consulting arm. During this time, Andrew substantially grew his political experience being selected for numerous roles and eventually became Chairman of the Republican Party in Wisconsin where he navigated a tumultuous time in Wisconsin politics. Most recently, he has begun a project at the Institute for Reforming Government focused on developing a Center for Leadership Excellence.
During his 20 years of advising, Andrew has helped public officials navigate government crises, guided organizations of every size–from small non-profits to as large as Fortune 20–through public policy fights, and has led at the highest levels of politics. He has participated in hundreds of interviews from local news, to the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, to appearing on Fox News, Fox Business, Front Line and 60 Minutes to name just a few.
Andrew is a Medical Microbiology and Immunology graduate of UW-Madison. He received his law degree from Marquette Law School and his MBA from George Washington University. Andrew and his wife, a successful physician, have three children. He plays a very active role in their lives as a soccer coach, school board member, and helps fuel the horse-showing passion of two of his children.
Heather Smith
Principal, On the Rail Advisors LLC
Heather Smith has a long background in Wisconsin government and politics. She served as Policy Director for the Speaker of the Assembly and Chief of Staff for leadership of the state budget-writing committee for a decade.
Smith served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Scott Walker overseeing budget and policy initiatives before being appointed Wisconsin’s Medicaid Director, where she led the $10 billion program that provides health care coverage for over 20% of the population. While in that position, the Council of State Governments selected Smith to receive the prestigious Henry Toll Fellowship.
A veteran of local, state and national-level politics, Smith has achieved national recognition for exceptional work in creative messaging. She’s won more than 20 Pollie Awards for her work in direct mail, digital, radio, and research, and is a Campaigns & Elections Reed Award winner and 9-time finalist. She served as Senior Advisor for Governor Scott Walker’s 2014 re-election campaign, and Research Director during his presidential run.
Smith has served on the boards of Wisconsin Women in Government, the Wisconsin Women’s Council, and University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics. She has been elected to both her local village board and as a delegate to the American Kennel Club for a national breed club. She has a master’s degree in healthcare administration.
Ben Voelkel
Principal, On the Rail Advisors LLC
The higher the stakes, the more you need someone who has been battle tested at the highest levels, and Ben Voelkel has been through some of the biggest fights of the last decade-plus. Ben has more than 15 years of experience advising senior leaders in businesses and politics on how to communicate their messages persuasively and effectively. Born and raised in Wisconsin, he spent 9 years in Washington, DC where he worked at a top public affairs firm that advised Fortune 500 clients and held senior communication roles in the offices of Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (TX) and Senator Ron Johnson. Ben is a veteran of 8 statewide campaigns, including three winning U.S. Senate campaigns and his own run for Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor.