Rich Harper has joined Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) as its new trade policy advisor and the third full-time lobbyist working out of its Washington DC office.
Harper will promote OIA’s trade and business policy goals, including lobbying for temporary and permanent duty relief for outdoor apparel and footwear and trade policies that advance OIA’s agenda. He will play a key role in policy development and analysis, political engagement and grassroots organizing.
Immediate priorities will include building support for the US OUTDOOR Act, which seeks to permanently reduce duties on many types of footwear. OIA has also been actively lobbying for provisions in the Trans Pacific Partnership sought by its members, who design, manufacture, market, distribute and sell apparel, footwear and equipment used for camping, climbing, cycling, hiking, paddling and other forms of human-powered outdoor recreation.
Harper comes to OIA from the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), where he was the legislative assistant for trade, foreign policy and defense, advising the senator on all policy and legislative matters. He began his career as a legislative correspondent with Sen. Feinstein in 1998. A native of San Francisco, he received his bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA and his master’s degree in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Bologna, Italy and Washington, D.C.
OIA’s Washington DC office is also home to Kirk Bailey, vice president of government affairs, and Jessica Wahl, a former U.S. Department of Interior staffer OIA hired in April as its recreation policy manager. An Eagle Scout who enjoys hiking, skiing and exploring the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Harper can be reached at rharper@outdoorindustry.org.
