NFIB's Trailblazing President Hits The Highway

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Todd Stottlemyer, president and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business, is leaving the organization on February 1st. Dan Danner, a 15-year NFIB veteran who heads the group's political efforts, will step in to lead the organization. The Washington-based newspaper The Hill describes Danner as a "well-known and influential Republican lobbyist" who worked in the Reagan Administration.

Stottlemyer, who's held his post for not quite three years, was widely seen in Washington as the catalyst for an about-face at the NFIB on health care reform. Long aligned with Republicans on that issue (and many others), the organization worked to defeat the Clinton health care initiative back in 1993. Lately, though, the organization has joined forces with the AARP and the Service Employees International Union in Divided We Fail, a reform-minded coalition. And it worked with Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois to craft staunchly bipartisan legislation to revamp the small business health insurance market.

According to the press release, Stottlemyer will "return to private business," though news accounts say he's not decided where he'll land. Before joining the NFIB, Stottlemyer had long experience in the government information technology sector. Most recently, he helped a Washington-based private equity firm acquire and develop federal IT contractors. The consolidated firm, Apogen Technologies, was sold to a British defense contractor for $288 million in 2005.

CORRECTION Friday, 5:28 pm: This post was updated to correct the length of Stottlemyer's tenure, which is nearly three years.