Gerard Basalla

Background

About Gerard Basalla

Gerard C. Basalla is the Director of Government Affairs at the Columbus Partnership, a membership-based leadership organization of 80 chairpersons, chief executive officers and senior executives from the Region’s leading businesses and institutions. The Partnership’s members include Fortune 500 CEOs, as well as the leaders of top universities and the world’s largest private, nonprofit research and development organization. In his current position, he assists in leading advocacy and engagement strategies to support the Partnership’s policy efforts at the federal, state and local levels of government. His role involves spearheading initiatives focused on enhancing the Partnership’s economic competitiveness agenda, fostering communication with elected officials, contributing insights on critical public policy matters and guiding governmental and external affairs efforts across the 11-county region. Prior to his role as Director of Government Affairs, Basalla served as Director and Associate Director of Public Policy as well as Special Assistant to former Columbus Partnership President and CEO Alex Fischer. Before joining the Partnership, Basalla served as Co-Chair of the statewide student effort to re-elect US Senator Rob Portman and interned for both Senator Portman in Washington DC and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in Columbus. Additionally, Basalla represented undergraduate students as the Student Body President at The Ohio State University and was selected to be the first student speaker in school history at the University’s 415th commencement ceremony in Ohio Stadium. Gerard is an Executive Committee member of the Board of Trustees of Opera Columbus and the Downtown Columbus Young Professionals organization. He also serves on the steering committee of Ohio Business for Immigration Solutions as well as a member of the Columbus Region Coalition and JobsOhio Network engagement team. Basalla belongs to the Millennial Cohort of the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) Leadership Network and has been honored as a member of the Columbus Business First 40 Under 40 Class of 2023. Basalla is a graduate of The Ohio State University, with Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Political Science and Strategic Communication, and resides in the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus with his wife, Miranda, and son, Howard.