Christopher Dews, former senior policy advocate at the Job Opportunities Task Force, also joins Mid-Atlantic team
(Annapolis, MD) – Cornerstone Government Affairs announced today the addition of former House of Delegates Appropriations Committee Chair Maggie McIntosh as a senior consultant to the firm. McIntosh has nearly three decades of experience in policymaking, most recently representing Maryland’s 43rd district. At Cornerstone, she will help build the firm’s presence and advise clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, including Maryland, Delaware and D.C.
Christopher Dews also joined the firm last month after serving as the senior policy advocate at the Job Opportunities Task Force (JOTF) for three years. In his role at JOTF, Dews advocated for policy and budgetary proposals that advanced lower-income workers to higher-wage jobs in Maryland, while also managing coalitions of community, advocacy, workforce and legal partnerships to advance JOTF’s goals. Prior to his work at JOTF, Dews worked as a training coordinator at the Civic Works Center for Sustainable Careers, where he recruited and managed unemployed, under-employed and at-risk Baltimore City residents for workforce development.
McIntosh and Dews join a well-established Mid-Atlantic team including John Bohanan, Delora Sanchez Ifekauche, PJ Hogan, Bernie Marczyk, Ellen Valentino, Mac Middleton, Shanetta Paskel and Jenna Massoni.
“Cornerstone maintains an outstanding reputation in the Mid-Atlantic region due to their effective advocacy on behalf of clients,” McIntosh said. “I am thrilled to be joining the team and offering strategic counsel to the firm’s clients in Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia.”
Before joining Cornerstone, McIntosh represented Baltimore City’s 43rd legislative district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1992 to 2023. She was appointed chair of the Appropriations Committee in 2014, the first woman in Maryland history to serve as Appropriations chair. Previously, she chaired the Environmental Matters Committee for a decade. McIntosh was the majority leader in the House of Delegates from 2001 to 2003, the first woman to serve in that post in Maryland as well. She began her political career as the state director for U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski from 1988 to 1992 and the campaign manager for Senator Mikulski’s 1992 Senate campaign.
In addition to being enshrined in the Maryland Daily Record’s Circle of Excellence as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women, McIntosh has received numerous awards and honors in her 30-year legislative career. In 2022 she received the Casper R. Taylor Founder’s Award in the Maryland General Assembly, was inducted into The Baltimore Sun Business and Civic Hall of Fame, and saw the Maggie McIntosh School Arts Fund Bill established in her name. She received an honorary doctorate degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art. In 2015 she was named an Admiral of the Chesapeake, the highest honor a governor can give a Maryland resident for their contributions to the health of Maryland’s environment. She is the first openly LGBTQ member of the Maryland General Assembly and has been the lead on legislation to enact marriage equality and to protect Marylanders from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2013, she was honored by the Mautner Project for her leadership on the Question 6 Campaign to secure marriage equality.
“Maggie’s 30 years of service to the Maryland House of Delegates speaks for itself,” Cornerstone President and Managing Director Geoff Gonella said. “Her valued insights, in addition to Christopher’s expertise in workforce development, will make great additions to an already strong Mid-Atlantic team.”