SEGERMARK ASSOCIATES, INC

Howard Segermark

President and CEO

Howard Segermark is President of Howard Segermark Associates, a government relations and association management firm.  He is a Senior Economic Consultant to the American Family Business Institute and a Visiting Fellow in Monetary Policy at the Heritage Foundation.

In recent years, Howard has testified before state legislative committees or regulatory commissions in over twenty states, and represented clients before the FCC, FTC, IRS and other agencies. He currently serves as the senior Trustee on the American Motorcyclists Association Political Action Committee and is a founding Director of the National Civic Art Society. He also is a member of the Board of Directors of the Committee for Monetary Research and Education, Vice Chairman of the Board of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. He is also a long-time member of the Philadelphia Society.

Previous clients include the International Prepaid Communications Association, and the Free Speech Coalition, a group of nonprofit organizations concerned about regulations of their activities for which he served as Legislative Director; and USA Letters, a grass roots lobbying organization which he served as management consultant. In addition, he was Managing Director of Free the Eagle, a grassroots advocacy organization advocating lower taxes and federal budgets (1986-1991). He was also President of the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (1985-1991), the national trade association for the coin and precious metals industry.

Previously, he was Vice-President of A. B. Laffer Associates, the supply-side economic consulting firm founded by economist Arthur Laffer and prior to that he was Economic Counsel to a member of the U. S. Senate where he developed monetary and tax legislation and legislative strategy. During this period he founded and administered the Institute on Money and Inflation, a public policy research organization dedicated to the study and dissemination of information on sound money.

He directed the Presidential Transition Team for Multilateral Financial Institutions for President Elect Reagan, was Tax Counsel, Administrative Assistant and Legislative Assistant to other members of the U. S. House and Senate serving a total of eighteen years as a key Capitol Hill aide.

Howard’s clout and influence as a seasoned policy professional have landed him on the pages of The National Review and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. He is author of numerous articles including “The Citizen Lobbyist” a handbook for the average concerned citizen to be effective in lobbying Congress or the state legislature and is author and developer of “The Government Relations Audit.”  He lives on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C. 

Palmer Schoening

Director, Public Policy

Palmer Schoening serves as Director of Public Policy for Segermark and Associates. He also serves full time as Policy Analyst and Coalitions Manager for the American Family Business Institute, the leading organization representing America’s family businesses and farms, in downtown Washington, DC. Palmer Schoening contributed significantly to the nationwide campaign to end the federal estate tax (“death tax”), a feat realized on January 1, of 2010 when the tax dropped from 45% to 0% for the first time since 1916. The 2010 repeal was touted by the Wall Street Journal as a “symbolic and substantive victory”.

Soon after being hired at the position of Policy Analyst for the American Family Business Institute, Palmer published “Repealing Death Tax will Create Jobs and Boost Economy” with Dr. Pat Fagan of the Family Research Council. The study brought laypersons description of the economics surrounding the estate tax to a wide audience. The study was reported and referenced in publications including Townhall Magazine, Forbes, Marketwatch, Reuters, and the Washington Examiner. He also published “Showdown: Life Insurance Lobby vs. America’s Family Businesses and Workers in 2009”, exposing an egregious case of corporate welfare in which the Life Insurance industry spends millions of dollars lobbying to keep the estate tax in place in order to maintain the $15 billion stream of premiums they enjoy because of its existence. His research on the life insurance industry has been cited by Huffington Post, the Washington Examiner, and Foxnews.com, among others.

In addition to published work, Palmer helped bring to light how minority business owners are unfairly targeted by the estate tax and laid the groundwork for what became a working alliance between the National Black Chamber of Commerce and the American Family Business Institute. He worked behind the scenes editorially on a number of important and groundbreaking economic studies and preformed important coalitions building work.

Palmer is a graduate of Hillsdale College where he majored in Political Economy and a Masters candidate at George Mason University’s school of Public Policy where his concentration is in Financial Economics. While at Hillsdale, Palmer held leadership positions in the College Republicans and PRAXIS Political Economy club. He held the post of Treasurer for his fraternity (Delta Sigma Phi) for three terms and was a standout cornerback for Hillsdale’s Football team, earning the Outstanding Defensive Back Award and Academic All Conference honors. Palmer has worked on a number of campaigns and previously served as Campaign Manager for a state house race in Michigan’s 45^th district. He writes as an analyst for the American Shareholders Association, a subsidiary of Americans for Tax Reform that focuses on financial regulatory issues. Palmer currently serves on the Hillsdale Alumni Steering Committee of greater Washington, DC.