Mike Panetta is an award-winning public affairs campaign strategist who specializes in using digital and social media for creative issue advocacy and grassroots activism.

As a founding partner of Beekeeper Group, he provides strategic direction to the firm's overall growth and development and leads a number of the firm’s non- profit, trade association, and political clients. Mike also directs Beekeeper Group's embrace of mobile communications through the development of its Lobby Day mobile app. His work has been recognized with top honors from the American Association of Political Consultants, the Public Affairs Council, and George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet.

In November 2006, Panetta was elected to Washington, DC’s city-wide position of U.S. “Shadow” Representative, and served in this role for 3 terms until January 2013. Panetta continues to be a leading voice in the fight for District of Columbia statehood and voting representation in the U.S. Congress.

Panetta graduated from AU’s School of Public Affairs in 1993 with a BA in political science, and earned his MA in political science in 1994.

#MySPAHistory

“I was always impressed with how SPA combined traditional academics with real world experiences in public affairs. As students we had amazing exposure to thought leaders and experiences on both the 'political' and 'science' sides of American government.”