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Charles H. "Chip" Gerhardt, III, is President and Founder of Government Strategies Group, LLC. He is also the former Vice Chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party. Chip has an extensive background in the fields of economic development, government affairs and issues advocacy. He has worked in these areas both in the private and public sectors, and on local and statewide levels.
Prior to forming GSG, Chip was Vice President of KMK Consulting Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keating, Muething and Klekamp, a major Cincinnati law firm. While at KMKC, he led the firm’s government affairs practice.
Chip also spent three and a half years at Cinergy (now Duke Energy), a large Midwestern public utility, in the areas of economic development, public strategies and community affairs. He was part of the team which successfully lobbied to bring competition to the electric industry in Ohio. He also worked with the company's non-regulated affiliates on a number of significant projects.
Chip served in the administration of Ohio Governor George Voinovich as Deputy Director of the Governor's Regional Economic Development Offices. In this capacity, he facilitated private sector expansion, retention and relocation within Ohio by coordinating tax, training, technical, legal and financial incentives offered by the state. He was also instrumental in the creation of economic development incentives, known as Ohio's "Jobs Bills," which lower the cost of doing business in the State of Ohio.
Chip has been active in politics for many years on the local, state and federal levels. He is a veteran of numerous campaigns. He was instrumental in the success of Issue 4, which brought the strong mayor form of government back to Cincinnati, and was Governor Voinovich's liaison to the 1996 stadium campaign. Most recently, he was Southwest Ohio Regional Counsel for the Ohio Republican Party during the Bush/Cheney campaign.
Chip received his B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Notre Dame and his Juris Doctor from the St. Louis University School of Law. Chip currently serves on Ohio's Transportation Review Advisory Council, a board responsible for allocating funds to major new transportation projects in the state. He also serves on the Hamilton County Board of Elections, the Cincinnati Museum Center Board of Trustees, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden Board of Trustees, the National Down Syndrome Society as well as numerous other boards and commissions. He resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife, Jane, and their three children.
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James T. Benedict brings a broad background in government affairs and economic development to Government Strategies Group, LLC. His practice focuses on negotiating economic development incentives for companies planning expansion or relocation projects as well as providing legislative and executive level government affairs services.
Jim has assisted numerous clients, both publicly and privately held, as their negotiator with local and state governments for economic development incentives as they pursued relocation or expansion plans. He has worked to realize several millions of dollars in savings for his clients. Jim has represented clients in negotiations with Arizona, California, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, and Utah.
Jim has provided extensive government affairs assistance to clients over the years ranging from drafting new legislation, resolutions of support and amendments to existing bills; coordinating grassroots support for bills; preparing legislative analyses; tracking legislation; strategic communications with interested parties; preparing legislative updates for stakeholders; and attending meetings and hearings related to specific pieces of legislation.
Prior to joining GSG, Jim was a Consultant with KMK Consulting Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keating, Muething and Klekamp, a major Cincinnati law firm. While with KMK Consulting, Jim played an instrumental role in a number of the firm’s economic development engagements, including the Cities of Cincinnati, Hamilton and Mason, the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority, the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation, Downtown Cincinnati, Inc. and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. He was the primary author of the Cincinnati Economic Development Task Force Report which Mayor Charlie Luken called a “roadmap for the future” of the City of Cincinnati.
Jim received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Ohio University in Management and International Business with a minor in French. He is a member of the Cincinnati USA Partnership Regional Business Retention Committee. He and his wife, Melissa, live in Cincinnati.
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