Miami, Florida, U.S.A.-based government relations, digital solutions, and communications firm Converge Public Strategies is expanding its focus on seafood and leading a new lobbying effort as the industry deals with potential tariffs on imports.
Converge Public Strategies was formed six years ago and, before entering the seafood industry, provided an array of services in the transport, climate, and sports sectors – offering government relations and regulatory consulting. Converge Public Strategies Partner Elnatan Rudolph told SeafoodSource it began its push to expand into the seafood industry after recognizing how it could assist companies with tasks like selling goods to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“We saw it as someplace where people were afraid to do business with government, and over the past two years, we’ve worked heavily on procurement with the USDA – helping American fish companies sell to the government,” Rudolph said.
Rudolph said the company has already helped some seafood producers gain contracts with the USDA. Lately, the firm has also been working to advocate for seafood companies regarding tariff decisions, as well as lobbying U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy to highlight the health benefits of seafood.
“We’ve taken a more active approach to educating companies and saying, ‘Look, we’re here to work with you and to help you navigate,’” Rudolph said. “As an industry, there is power in numbers.”
Rudolph said his life has revolved around politics and advocacy from a young age; he had his first lobbying client at just 15 years old, and he became a city councilor in New Jersey at 23.
Since those early days, he’s worked on over 2,000 political campaigns in 39 states and eight foreign countries and worked on political campaigns with current Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he was first campaigning for state government in Florida. Converge also has team members who worked with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his recent presidential run.
Rudolph said since getting started in seafood, Converge has taken ...
