Senior Vice President
Lauren Bazel brings a wide variety of experience from her more than three decades working in the legislative and public policy arena, beginning with a career as a tax journalist and culminating with service as a senior Senate policy advisor.
Her Senate career began as the Senior Advisor for Tax Policy to Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and she supported the Senator in her capacity as a member of both the Senate Finance Committee and Senate Small Business Committee. As her senior economic policy advisor, Lauren was actively involved on the Senator’s behalf during consideration of several major pieces of legislation including the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the Energy Independence Act of 2007. During her time with Senator Cantwell, Lauren was the lead Senate staffer involved in the drafting and successful enactment of the provisions modernizing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), and was instrumental in the drafting and inclusion of the renewable energy tax incentives and low-income housing provisions adopted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Immediately prior to joining the Alpine Group in 2013, Lauren was a senior economic policy advisor to former Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and his interim replacement, Senator William “Mo” Cowan (D-MA). She joined the Kerry staff in October 2011 to support the Senator’s work on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction and continued to serve him, and then Senator Cowan, as primary advisor on a range of tax, budget, housing, and general economic matters.
Before working with Senator Kerry, she was the Associate Director for Government Affairs at the Center for American Progress, a prominent public policy think tank. As a member of the External Affairs Department, she assisted and staffed CAP Executives with congressional testimony, and also advocated for CAP policy recommendations by working directly with Members of Congress, the Executive Branch, and outside progressive organizations on policy development, message development, and legislative strategy.
Earlier in her career, Lauren was a Senior Manager at Washington Council Ernst & Young, where she lobbied on federal tax issues on behalf of corporate clients.