Gordon Hensley Political/Policy/Business Bio

Gordon Hensley is an independent, DC-based communications strategist and writer with a diverse 30-year national politics, Capitol Hill, federal agency, corporate advocacy and health policy background. See Linked-in linear bio.

A native New Yorker originally from Brooklyn, Hensley is a former communications director and speechwriter for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), a southern GOP Governor, four Capitol Hill lawmakers, and a variety of competitive U.S. Senate, gubernatorial and presidential campaigns. Having worked campaigns on the ground in over a dozen states — including NY, TX, and CA — his institutional knowledge of numerous state capitol/state media cultures complements Hensley’s significant national experience and overall strategic perspective.   

After working on Capitol Hill and later for Pres. George H.W. Bush, Hensley founded GOP campaign communications firm Strategic Media, Inc (SMI) in the mid-90’s. Clients of the four-person Georgetown-based start-up included U.S. Sens. Al D’Amato (R-NY) and Paul Coverdell (R-GA), Gov. George Pataki (R-NY), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), TN GOP Senate candidate Bob Corker, U.S. Rep. Helen Bentley (R-MD), the NY and CA GOP state parties, and Texas Gov. George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential primary campaign, among others.

Hensley’s campaign work led him to be a featured speaker at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government with additional appearances as a guest lecturer or panelist at UT-Austin, LSU-Baton Rouge, Rutgers Eagleton Institute, Saint Anselm College (NH), Pace University (NY), the National Press Club, and other DC media forums sponsored by National Journal and others.

In 2000, Hensley began phasing-out politics in favor of non-partisan health policy communications strategy, writing and data-oriented content creation. After NYC and DC public affairs firms began retaining SMI on federal and state healthcare projects, Hensley’s focus shifted to Medicare/Medicaid provider reimbursement and advocacy work on behalf of the nation’s long term and post-acute care health sectors. For writing and strategic communications, two of SMI’s largest initial healthcare clients were the DC-based American Health Care Association (AHCA) via Edelman, and Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (AQNHC) via Mercury Public Affairs.

SMI was retained directly by both AHCA and AQNHC upon conclusion of their respective Edelman and Mercury contracts, bolstering Hensley’s ongoing ability to attract “word of mouth” business in the healthcare sector. In 2004 Hensley jettisoned the four person business model and has remained a “solopreneur” employing research, media production and other vendors on an as-needed basis.           

During the transition to healthcare work, Hensley was unexpectedly asked to help reorganize and lead 2006 TN GOP Senate candidate Bob Corker’s communications effort against Democratic Rep. Harold Ford following a late cycle campaign staff shake-up. Hensley worked for Corker during the Chattanooga businessman’s first 1994 Senate run, stayed in touch, and ended up spending most of fall 2006 in Nashville as a senior communications advisor, commuting back to DC as needed for healthcare work. After Corker’s 2006 win — a rare victory in the GOP’s disastrous ’06 cycle — Hensley moved forward with his newfound healthcare emphasis.  

In late 2006 SMI re-branded to sm/c/p (strategic media/content & platforms). The change reflected what Hensley saw in the Corker Senate race: the need to better align communications and messaging across multiple social media channels and platforms to break through an increasingly cluttered information marketplace. In the health advocacy space, Hensley also noticed that objective data-driven studies funded by healthcare companies themselves were becoming ever more useful tools to advance Capitol Hill and regulatory policy narratives. He began collaborating with health data firms to design and produce this ancillary advocacy content on behalf of providers. Meanwhile, the City of New York tapped sm/c/p to serve as lead copywriter on a multi-year project to boost international tourism — a new area of business focus. 

From 2015-2020, sm/c/p collaborated with DC-based government relations and communications firms (BGR Group, Schmidt Public Affairs, King & Spalding) to help launch and establish the Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC) as a relevant long term care pharmacy (LTCP) voice in the crowded pharmaceutical advocacy space. Issues related to federal/state PBM regulation, FDA drug repackaging, “21st Century Cures” legislation and opioid abuse became a new legislative and regulatory focus. In addition to leading policy content development for the pharmaceutical group’s website, news effort and opinion commentary, Hensley served as lead writer for media messaging directed at the Senate Finance, HELP, and House Ways and Means Committees.

In 2015, Hensley engaged in his final “one-off” campaign project: collaborating on WI Gov. Scott Walker’s GOP presidential announcement speech and policy proposal rollouts related to health reform, labor reform, and foreign policy. 

Following the 2016 election of Donald Trump, new opportunities to diversify and grow emerged. Hensley was asked to merge sm/c/p with a DC-based government relations firm seeking to add direct U.S. Senate lobbying to Hensley’s business offerings. Not his desire to lobby lawmakers he’d helped elect — nor spend significant time at DC fundraisers — sm/c/p remained solely focused on content, writing and communications strategy regardless of diversification opportunities.   

In 2017, sm/c/p formed a strategic alliance with TN-based Bridge Public Affairs, founded by former senior aides to Sen. Bob Corker. Three years later, in 2020, Hensley accepted a unique 8 month opportunity to join the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a senior communications advisor as Covid gripped the nation. In addition to communications advisory purview at the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Hensley served as senior media counsel to Covid “testing czar” Adm. Brett P. Giroir. sm/c/p business was resumed in 2021.  

Hensley studied political science and American literature at George Washington University (GWU) in the early 80s, and maintains an ongoing, decades-long affection for live music adventures. Between 2012 and 2020, he served as a board member of Headcount — the NYC-based non-profit that registers voters at music festivals across the nation. He splits time between DC and The Plains, VA — spending as much time as possible hiking the nearby Appalachian Trail, running and working from his Blue Ridge farmhouse office (above).