Becker & Poliakoff

Amanda L. Wood

Senior Federal Advocacy Director

awood@beckerlawyers.com

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Amanda L. Wood LinkedIn link.

Bio

Amanda Wood’s primary focus is assisting clients with federal funding needs. Her experience as senior Legislative staff on Capitol Hill provides the skills to represent clients on matters ranging from FEMA policy to smart city solution deployment to beach renourishment and major transportation infrastructure. She represents municipal, corporate and nonprofit clients on matters related to transportation, economic development, natural resources, law enforcement, homeland security and social services. She previously served as Legislative Director to Senator Bob Graham (D-FL), where she was responsible for developing and implementing the Senator’s legislative agenda and strategy. Amanda currently represents ShotSpotter, Tantalus, Tritium, NTT Data, Next Era Energy, Genasys Corporation, the Florida counties of Sarasota and Collier, Hennepin County, MN, Broward Sheriff’s Office, the City of Cape Coral, FL, the Town of Davie, FL, and others.

While serving as the Senator’s chief advisor on federal appropriations, Ms. Wood worked closely with representatives from cities, counties, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and state agencies to advocate for projects ranging from infrastructure improvements to research and cultural projects.

In addition, for private sector clients, Amanda trains their sales teams to communicate effectively with their public agency customers and helps them identify and pursue funds to purchase innovative smart city solutions. She provides strategic advice to sales teams and guides clients and prospects through the funding process, including review of grant applications and engaging political support. She achieves success through direct communication with customers and her deep knowledge of community-specific federal funding opportunities.

EXPERIENCE

  • Secured a $12 million RAISE grant for Hennepin County, Minnesota’s “Lake Street Multimodal Improvements to Enhance BRT” project. Funding will help improve the County’s bus transit operations with a bus only lane and increasing pedestrian mobility and safety with complete street improvements.
  • Secured $500,000 in funding for technology client NTT from the Federal Transit Administration. The funding will be used to create a digital modeling “twin” of Collier Area Transit’s real-world operations. The simulator will provide advanced predictive modeling which will assist CAT in implementing real changes to its transit systems.
  • Secured a $13 million US Department of Transportation (USDOT) TIGER Grant for transportation infrastructure for Collier County. The highly competitive grant was won on a re-application following a high-level debrief with USDOT and outreach from the entire delegation, including then-House Transportation Appropriations Committee Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL). The Becker team worked closely with USDOT’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to achieve this significant win for Collier County.
  • Secured $9+ million in 2020 for Collier County to purchase new buses and rehabilitate its existing operations and maintenance building. We helped the County design a well-aligned project with both the grant requirements and our knowledge of FTA’s priorities and interests. We also engaged their Congressional delegation to weigh in with support, arming them with draft letters of support and talking points for outreach to USDOT leadership. Notably, we leveraged the support of House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Mario Diaz-Balart.
  • Sarasota County received a $105 million low-interest loan to upgrade and expand a water reclamation plan through the US EPA Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. The funds will pay for half of the County’s planned enhancements to the Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility to meet national requirements by 2025 to make water safer and expand the treatment capacity to 18 million gallons per day. The County will realize long-term savings in the millions of dollars.
  • Helped coordinate local government coalition with cities and counties to change federal law to limit FEMA’s ability to de‐obligate decade-old disaster recovery expenditures for clients, including Collier and Palm Beach counties, the City of Cape Coral, and the Town of Davie.
  • Worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reach a favorable determination on appeals of FEMA’s de‐obligation of disaster recovery expenditures related to the hurricanes from over a decade ago for clients including Collier County, the City of Cape Coral, and the Town of Davie.
  • Expedited U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Army Corps of Engineers permits for multiple coastal communities, advancing critical habitat protection and economic development.
  • Secured $2.4 million under the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) SAFER grant program for fire service staffing in the Town of Davie and $462,673 through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant for the Town of Davie for new self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and an air compressor cascade system for frontline fire engines and rescue units.
  • Guided and advised public safety innovator ShotSpotter and its local government clients in securing over $15 million in federal funding to protect their communities through Gunshot Location System coverage.

RECOGNITION

  • Hired Gun, The Hill’s Annual List of Top Lobbyists, 2021
  • Top Lobbyist, National Institute of Lobbying & Ethics (NILE), 2021

PROFESSIONAL / COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

  • Ms. Wood is a graduate of Georgetown University, where she received a B.S., Foreign Service.
  • She serves on the Board of the Latin American Youth Center in Washington, DC., was the 2018 Commodore of the Severn River Yacht Club, and as a member of the Georgetown University Alumni Admissions Program.