Trump adviser Bryan Lanza joins private strategy firm

President Trump speaks during a listening session with small-business leaders at the White House on Jan. 30. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Bryan Lanza, an adviser to President Trump’s campaign and transition efforts, is joining a private strategy firm to help companies and other organizations navigate the new administration.

Lanza is joining Mercury, a bipartisan firm with offices around the world, as a managing director based in Washington. He said he plans to advise corporate and political clients on communications strategies and help them develop public-affairs campaigns in Washington as well as in other places, including London and Mexico City.

“A lot of clients are now trying to navigate and understand what the Trump administration will do going forward,” Lanza said. “My role on the Trump campaign will allow me to navigate this new playing field the president has created on his groundbreaking campaign.”

Lanza, 43, served as communications director for the Trump transition team, working to prepare Trump’s Cabinet nominees for their Senate confirmation hearings. During the general election, he was deputy communications director of the Trump campaign, helping develop the Republican nominee’s message strategy and guide the campaign’s relations with news organizations.

Before joining the Trump operation, Lanza spent years in conservative politics. He worked as communications director at Citizens United, an advocacy group run by David Bossie, who became Trump’s deputy campaign manager, and before that as a chief of staff in the California state legislature.

Lanza becomes the latest Trump veteran to join the private sector rather than work in the administration, helping clients adapt to the changes in Washington. Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and senior adviser Barry Bennett started a lobbying firm, Avenue Strategies, while senior communications adviser Jason Miller joined Teneo, a public-affairs firm.

At Mercury, Lanza will be reunited with several Trump veterans. Tony Fabrizio, who served as one of the campaign’s pollsters, is a senior counselor at the firm, and Mike McSherry, who helped oversee Trump’s delegate whip operation at the 2016 Republican National Convention, is a managing director.

“In President Trump’s words, this organization is filled with winners,” Lanza said.

Lanza was recruited by Vin Weber, a Republican former congressman from Minnesota who is now a partner and lobbyist at Mercury. Weber said Lanza’s experience with Trump is “a big, big asset to the firm.”

“Since literally the day after the election, every client and potential client out there . . . has had 100 questions about how this administration is coming together,” Weber said. “To have somebody that was as much a part of the campaign as he was will help a lot.”