Madison Services Group

Who We Are & How We Work

Madison Services Group, Inc. is a woman-owned government relations business specializing in the small business and entrepreneurial sector with offices in Washington, DC and Virginia. We work with associations, non-profit organizations, and corporations to assist them in developing and executing strategic plans centered on top-tier advocacy.

Our approach is collaborative and our expertise based on our intimate knowledge of public policy. Our relationships run deep and our knowledge of the legislative and regulatory processes is unparalleled. We strive to ensure that organizations who work with us achieve desired outcomes and build their voice in Washington DC.

Capabilities

ADVOCACY

With a broad range of subject matter expertise and experience, our team is focused on developing advocacy strategies that will produce results. Using our understanding of the legislative and regulatory processes, we proactively engage key players in Congress and the Executive branch to create opportunities for action. MSGI acts as the organization’s policy voice, offering a turnkey policy team. Learn more about how we can make a difference for your organization with top-tier advocacy

ENGAGE & EXPAND

Press, public relations and social media are all vital components to success for any business or organization. Our public relations expertise will help you engage and expand your audience. We write press releases, op-eds and blogs; speak to the press on your behalf; pitch stories and features to press outlets and handle your social media across all platforms.

GROWTH & EXPANSION

Most important to your business or association's success is the essential need to focus on the future. We can assist you by developing and implementing growth strategies that fit your goals and objectives. By providing direction and vision, Madison Services Group can help your organization reach new levels of growth and success.

OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

In some instances, legislative issues have a more far-reaching effect than simply how your business runs; they can affect how Americans live. In cases like these, the best way of affecting change and influence is by developing grass-roots activities through cooperative efforts of local businesses and associations to ensure that messages and issues are heard in those districts throughout the country where it matters most. Madison Services Group provides an array of outreach activities for its clients including initiatives and programs proposed by Congress.

PROCUREMENT ACTIVITIES

A critical part of developing business with the government requires a comprehensive understanding of the federal landscape. Building on experience working with agencies and developing program's to help small businesses succeed in government contracting, MSGI has developed its Next Win Services to work with individual companies. Learn more here.

LEGISLATIVE EXPERTISE

PROCUREMENT

In 2011, the SBA implemented the long-awaited Women Owned Small Business Procurement Program (WOSB). This program allows contracting officers to restrict bids for federal contracts to women-owned businesses in 83 industry categories. MSGI is dedicated to expanding the program, especially as the federal government recently reached its goal of awarding 5% of its purchases to women-owned companies.

SMALL BUSINESS

Our team is devoted to helping organizations and small businesses grow by providing policy expertise and legislative strategy. Policy decisions made at the federal level affect every aspect of profitable businesses and successful organizations. We provide a voice in Washington on their behalf.

ACCESS TO CAPITAL

Access to capital is a major challenge that continues to plague the small business community. Throughout the Great Recession, small businesses have seen a dramatic decrease in their ability to obtain both working capital and growth capital. The White House and the Congress have been working to find solutions, such as investment tax incentives and providing loan guarantees backed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Since angel investment is an important source of capital for many small businesses, we continue to advocate for tax incentives for angel investors and seek to educate small businesses about access to nontraditional sources of capital.

RETIREMENT

According to Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), women work an average of 12 years less than men do over their lifetimes due to family care-giving responsibilities. Fewer years worked translates to fewer years saving or participating in an employment-based retirement program. Women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, with the annual median earnings of full-time working women about $10,000 less than those of working men. When part-time workers are included, the median earnings for all women drop to $13,000 below men's earnings. As a result of lower earnings, the median income in retirement for women is only 58 percent of men's, yet women are expected to live 80 years from birth, compared to men's life expectancy of 74 years.

AFFORDABLE & ACCESSIBLE HEALTHCARE

Of the more than 47 million uninsured Americans, more than half are employed by a small business or are a dependent of someone who is employed by a small business. Providing affordable and accessible healthcare to employees is a major challenge faced by every small business owner. Healthcare reform put in to place a mechanism for small businesses to pool together to purchase insurance, lowering cost and risk. These small business marketplaces, or SHOP exchanges, should increase access to competitively priced healthcare nationwide. As the rollout of these marketplaces continue, MSGI remains actively engaged in ensuring they are formulated to effectively deliver affordable, quality insurance coverage to the small business community. Finally, as healthcare reform efforts progress, MSGI monitors and advises on future legislative and regulatory efforts with the aim to increase support of the small business community.

EXPORT ASSISTANCE

According to the SBA, small businesses represent 99.7% of all U.S. employers, generate 60% to 80% of new jobs annually, and account for 97% of all U.S. exporters. In fact, in 2010, U.S. exports totaled $1.2 trillion in goods and $543 billion in services and supported more that 16 million U.S. jobs. As some U.S. organizations already know, there are many good reasons for U.S. businesses to export, including:

-Nearly 96% of consumers and more than two-thirds of the world's purchasing power exist outside the U.S.
-Exports can help stabilize business cycles and seasonality
-Exports reduce dependence on domestic markets
-Exports provide diversified sources of revenue
-Exports extend sales potential and product shelf life of existing products

The State Trade and Export Promotion Program (STEP) is a 3-year pilot trade and export initiative authorized by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. Funded by federal grants and matching funds from the states, the STEP Program is designed to help increase the number of small businesses that are exporting and to raise the value of exports for those small businesses that are currently exporting.
Doing business internationally may seem overwhelming.

Madison Services Group, Inc. helps take the mystery out of foreign trade through use of the numerous government programs that offer logistical support, training, counseling, and financial assistance to small businesses that want to export their products and services.

Our Team

Ann Sullivan

Ann Sullivan is the President and Founder of Madison Services Group, a woman-owned company that provides government relations and federal business development services. She brings many years of government relations experience in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, serving in key advisory roles. Ms. Sullivan works with the United States Congress and the Administration to garner national attention for the small business community.

Her expertise includes business development programs, government procurement, healthcare, export development, and tax issues affecting small businesses.

Ann currently leads the policy teams for the largest national association of women business owners and women in business, Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, the HUBZone Contractors National Council, the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity (CAMEO), as well as the national voice for microbusiness, the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO). She has also led the formation of the National Migraine Coalition, a women’s health group and a small business advisory council for a Fortune 100 company.

MSGI specializes in outreach to the small business community with an emphasis on women-owned and minority businesses. Ann is recognized as the driving force behind implementation of the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract Program and has been a featured keynote speaker and moderator on many procurement panels nationwide.

Ms. Sullivan is part of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and also serves on the board of the Medical Care for Children Partnership. Ann received the Enterprising Women of the Year Award from Enterprising Women Magazine, and was honored by Professional Women in Advocacy for Excellence in a Federal Issue Campaign. Ann is also the recipient of three prestigious Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, receiving the top honor in the categories of Lifetime Achievement —Business, Woman of the Year— Business Services, and Communications or PR Campaign of the Year—Public Affairs. She was chosen by Small Business Trends as a Top 100 Small Business Influencer, and the Sunlight Foundation named her as one of Washington’s four “perfectly bipartisan lobbyists.”

Elizabeth Sullivan

Elizabeth Sullivan is a Director of Government Relations at MSGI focusing on education and women-owned small businesses. Her expertise includes early childhood education, small business and federal procurement. She is vice-chair of the Mistaken Identity Foundation and on the DC Teach for America Alumni Board. Elizabeth is a graduate of James Madison University, and holds a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. Prior to Joining Madison Services Group, Elizabeth was a Teach for America corps member in Chicago, IL.

Kristie Arslan

Kristie Arslan has over 15 years of experience working with business associations and nonprofits to develop and implement data-driven strategies to assist them in achieving their organizational goals. As the former Executive Director for Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) and President & CEO of the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), Kristie has taken the lead on the development and implementation of strategies for membership and sponsorship growth, creation of educational programming for stakeholders, and public policy efforts to increase the awareness of issues facing small business and to impact legislation and regulation. Kristie has spent years providing critical insight to media and policy makers into the issues affecting our nation’s small businesses and women-owned firms. She has been quoted and published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Roll Call, The Hill and CQ Weekly while having appeared on MSNBC, FOX, CNBC and C-SPAN. Kristie also blogs for the Huffington Post.

Jennifer White

Jennifer White is a Director of Government Relations at MSGI focusing on small business and healthcare policy. Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Jennifer is a graduate of East Tennessee State University and earned her J.D. from Charleston School of Law in Charleston, South Carolina. Prior to joining Madison Services Group, Jennifer served as the Government Affairs Manager for the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA), where her focus was small business and healthcare issues.

Mark Lee

Mark Lee is a Director of Government Relations at MSGI focusing on issues such as access to capital and regulatory policy. Mark saw the business of a startup firsthand as CEO of Smartgrid Corporation in Honolulu, Hawaii. His Congressional experience includes seven years in the House of Representatives, working for a Small Business Committee member, Rep. Yvette Clarke. He served four years as her primary staffer on the Committee, including her tenure as Ranking-Member on the Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations. Mark is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana and majored in history at Indiana University.

Margaret Barton

Margaret Barton is a managing and fundraising consultant with over 35 years of extensive experience in public affairs, communications and fundraising in both the private and public sectors, including positions in the White House, four presidential administrations, two national political committees, two Presidential Inaugural Committees and numerous Presidential, federal, state and local political campaigns.

Ms. Barton is currently providing consulting and communications support for private sector and political clients through her company, Barton Strategies. For five years, Ms. Barton was Executive Director of the National Women’s Business Council, an independent federal advisory council whose mission is to advise the President, Congress and the Small Business Administration on economic issues of interest to women entrepreneurs. Ms. Barton has advised U. S. Government agencies, foreign dignitaries and the private sector on the merits and challenges of women’s entrepreneurship. She has been quoted on this topic in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio and other national media outlets.

Ms. Barton has served on the Board of Directors at the National Constitution Center, is a Sustaining Member of the Campagna Center in Alexandria and is past President of the Sewanee Club of Washington. She was selected as one of the “72 Women Who Are Changing the Face of American Politics” by Campaigns and Elections magazine.