About us
Michael Wascom
Michael Wascom brings nearly 30 years of diversified, high-level, political, strategic, and global public affairs experience to The Banyan Woods Group, LLC, where he serves as President & Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Wascom founded The Banyan Woods Group, with a presence in Washington, DC and Southwest Florida in March 2018.
From May 2016 until November 2017, Mr. Wascom served as Senior Vice President at The Moak Group, a Washington, DC-based, aviation-focused government & public affairs, marketing, public relations/strategic communications, digital media and advocacy firm. Primary activities on behalf of clients included bipartisan political engagement, strategic planning and execution, legislative and regulatory coordination/monitoring, third party outreach and activation, issue-based legislative and legal research/analysis; and serving as a liaison to executive and legislative branches of government; business, industry, labor and non-profit organizations; and foreign governments and their embassies.
Prior to joining The Moak Group, Mr. Wascom was Managing Director of Government & International Affairs at American Airlines starting in 2007. In that role, he served as a primary representative of the world’s largest passenger airline on aviation, trade, and commerce issues to Members of Congress, congressional committees, the U.S. Government—including the White House, Departments of Transportation, State and Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security Administration, and Customs & Border Protection—as well as the diplomatic community in Washington, DC. Additionally, he maintained extensive interaction with U.S. military and veterans service organizations while serving as the primary liaison to American Airlines’ Veterans and Military Initiatives.
Apart from his career in Washington, Mr. Wascom possesses extensive international political and public policy experience in Europe (primarily Brussels and London), Asia-Pacific (primarily Beijing and Tokyo), Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America, including foreign governments, the United Nations, the European Union, the European Commission, and American and foreign embassies and consulates worldwide. He also worked closely with American’s oneworld alliance partners—British Airways, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas, and airberlin.
Prior to joining American Airlines, Mr. Wascom was appointed in 2004 to two senior positions at the U.S. Department of Transportation in the administration of President George W. Bush—Counselor (Chief of Staff) to the Under Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs. In 2003-2004, he was head of congressional affairs at the national headquarters of the American Red Cross.
Mr. Wascom also held two senior positions at Airlines for America (A4A)—formerly the Air Transport Association, the nation’s oldest and largest airline trade association—as Director of Federal Affairs (1997-2000) and Vice President of Communications (2000-2003), where he served as the public voice of the industry with media and worked closely with the communications departments of the association’s member airlines before, during, and after the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
Prior to his tenure in the airline industry, Mr. Wascom served as legislative representative for the National Automobile Dealers Association and worked on Capitol Hill for three Members of Congress from both the House of Representatives and United States Senate.
A native of Covington, Louisiana, he is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in Business Administration.
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