Get To Know
BIO
Tim Locke is a native of Middle Tennessee who migrated to Washington, D.C. in 1977, a move that sparked a career that now accounts for more than forty years in public service, politics, press liaison and public policy lobbying work. He often refers to himself as a “Tennessean living in exile in Virginia.”
The building blocks for this livelihood were numerous positions he held, and contacts made, within the Executive Branch as well as the U.S. Senate. In 1989, he left his political appointee job path to enter the private sector to work as a Vice President at Hecht, Spencer & Associates, a Republican lobbying company. Bill Hecht and Stu Spencer’s partnership thrived during and after President Reagan’s term in office.
Bi-partisan lobbying shops seemed though to ensure longer term viability so in 1996 Locke joined his Carter White House friends Jim Free and Alicia Smith, who along with banking industry lobby legend Jim Smith, had established their own consultancy, The Smith-Free Group.
Before moving to the private sector in his mid-thirties, Mr. Locke worked at the Department of the Interior as Director of the Office of External Affairs at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). BLM remains the Federal government’s largest land management agency responsible for mineral leasing and multiple use of the public lands as part of its stewardship mandate.
Mr. Locke began his life in Washington as the Personal Assistant to U.S. Senator Howard Baker (R-TN) assigned to Baker’s U.S. Capitol Leadership office. He later served with the U.S. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms. He also gained the experience of a lifetime as an Advanceman / Field Representative on Howard Baker’s 1980 campaign for the presidency in Iowa, New Hampshire and New England.
In June 1983, he was appointed Special Assistant in the Reagan White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, a post he held until 1985. This office served as liaison between the President and the Nation’s Governors, Mayors and County Officials. His work in this “New Federalism” office overlapped with President Reagan’s 1984 landslide re-election victory over Democrat Walter Mondale.
In other Reagan era jobs, Mr. Locke was a member of the Governmental Affairs staff at the Department of Transportation during the tenure of Secretary Drew Lewis of Pennsylvania. He also temporarily worked at the Environmental Protection Agency where he assisted in William D. Ruckelshaus’ 1983 return to EPA. He gained more transportation knowledge before leaving government as a consultant to the Administrator of the Urban Mass Transit Administration (UMTA); The Federal Transit Administration is the UMTA successor agency.
Mr. Locke’s diversified lobbying experience has encompassed tax, telecommunications, energy, small business franchising reform, health care, FHFA housing finance matters and Native American tribal government matters.
He has consistently maintained close working relationships with a succession of the top Republican Members of the House and Senate and has always been an active supporter, donor and advisor to his home state Tennessee delegation Members throughout his profession.
Mr. Locke holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss. He grew up in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee in Maury County and now resides in Alexandria, Virginia.