Jay Courie is President and Chairman of MG&C Consulting Services and Managing Partner of the law firm of McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC. He is a past President and Legislative Chair of the S.C. Defense Trial Attorneys Association. Jay was elected three times by the S.C. General Assembly to the Francis Marion University Board of Trustees. He also served as the Governor's designee on the South Carolina Jobs Economic Development Authority and as a legislative aide for the S.C. Senate. Jay is active in the South Carolina business and political community and represents clients in state and local government relations, procurement, strategic planning, and economic development issues. Jeff Thordahl is well known and has extensive experience in state and local government affairs. He has previously worked in the governmental relations departments of two Fortune 500 companies. Most recently, he was the resident Vice President of Public Affairs for the Carolinas with CSX Corporation. Prior to that, Jeff was the state government representative for the SCANA Corporation. Jeff served as Executive Assistant for Governmental Affairs and Legal Counsel to former Governor Carroll Campbell as well as Staff Counsel for the SC Office of Senate Research. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law and Wake Forest University. Hope Lanier has an extensive background and a broad base of experience in Federal, State, and Local government affairs. She maintains strong relationships with key policy leaders in North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as Washington, D.C. Most recently, Hope represented Piedmont Natural Gas Company in the Carolinas with a primary focus on the South Carolina General Assembly and State Regulatory Agencies. Previously, she was the Director of Corporate and External Affairs for BellSouth's Charlotte regional operations. Hope also served as Senior Legislative Policy Assistant in the Capitol Hill Congressional office of now U.S. Senator Richard Burr of Winston-Salem and on the policy staff of former Congressman Alex McMillan of Charlotte. Steve Benjamin has been recognized by The State Newspaper (Columbia, SC) as one of the 20 Business Leaders Changing Columbia (2005) and one of the 2005-2006 "10 Top Movers and Shakers" to watch in Government and Politics. He was appointed Director of the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services on March 2, 1999. Steve resigned his Cabinet appointment on September 1, 2001 and served as the Democratic nominee for the Office of South Carolina Attorney General in the General Election of 2002. Prior to accepting his Cabinet appointment, he served as Regional Manager of Public and Government Affairs and as the Manager of Corporate Affairs for two Fortune 500 companies, managing the legislative and public affairs activities in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia and the District of Columbia. Steve has also served as President-Elect of the State Agency Directors Organization and as a Commissioner on the City of Columbia Planning Commission. Billy Routh, a Columbia native, brings more than twenty years of experience in and around state government to the MG&C Consulting team, enjoying strong and long standing relationships with legislative leaders, key staff and decision makers across a myriad of state agencies. Most recently serving at the State Budget and Control Board as the Program Manager for Strategic Communications for the division of the Chief Information Officer, Billy managed the state's e-commerce and web portal upgrade and was the Grants Administrator for the Legislative Competitive Grants Program. Previously, he held positions in the offices of former Governors Carroll Campbell and David Beasley and served as Chief of Staff to former House Speaker David Wilkins. Billy was Director of Intergovernmental Relations in the Campbell administration and was Legislative Liaison for Governor Beasley. Before entering the world of politics, Billy was a restaurant owner and professional drummer and business manager for a rock band that performed extensively along the East Coast and for U.S. troops on three USO tours in more than twenty foreign countries.