Drawing on nearly 20 years of public policy and advocacy experience, Mr. Sporidis provides clients with senior level proficiency in crafting solutions to legislative and regulatory challenges. He has worked closely with House and Senate Republicans and Democrats over his career on a wide range of issue areas including the environment, health care, transportation, trade, energy and financial services.
Mr. Sporidis began his career on Capitol Hill, providing policy counsel to several members of the House of Representatives. Shortly after Republicans gained control of the House in 1994, Mr. Sporidis served as Senior Legislative Assistant to Congressman Jim Greenwood (R-PA). Congressman Greenwood was the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, a panel with broad jurisdiction. Mr. Sporidis provided counsel on policy issues before the committee and subcommittee, assisted in managing the office’s legislative staff and provided strategic advice regarding institutional knowledge of Congress and the federal legislative process.
From 1991 to 1995, Mr. Sporidis was Legislative Assistant to Congressman Mike Bilirakis (R-FL). Congressman Bilirakis was the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. Mr. Sporidis developed much of his early legislative knowledge while working for Congressman Bilirakis.
Mr. Sporidis began his career in the office of Congressman E. Clay Shaw (R-FL), who was the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade.
Since 1998, Mr. Sporidis has represented clients in the areas of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, health care delivery, energy and telecommunications. Clients include Pfizer, Amgen, Sanofi Pasteur, Novartis, Theragenics, Mentor, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Cox Communications, Dunn-Edwards Paints, Exelon Generation and Florida Power (now Progress Energy)
Policy successes include:
- Helped a major pharmaceutical company in securing a $1.1 billion legislative provision that restores funding under the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvements and Protection Act (enacted as Public Law 106-554).
- Assisted a medical device client in securing approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for a controversial post-market approval (PMA) study regarding a highly publicized device in 2006.
- Advocated successfully on behalf of a medical device client for the inclusion of a provision in the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) to re-establish fair reimbursement for a prostate brachytherapy device. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) attempted to bundle payment for this device, which would have reduced reimbursement for this life-saving therapy. The provision included in the MMA provided hospitals with the ability to invoice separately for the devices used in this procedure, thereby “unbundling” the payment structure.
- Worked with Cox Communications on the "Make Them Play Fair" campaign, which was directed at negotiating a fair deal between the cable giant and the sports network, ESPN. The campaign successfully saved the client millions of dollars. The campaign was later awarded the prestigious Silver Anvil Award, one of the highest awards bestowed in the public relations industry by the Public Relations Society of America.
- Assisted a client in securing funding for a $3 million atmospheric air chamber to be built at the University of California, Riverside. This air chamber was the first high-tech atmospheric air chamber to be built in the United States and is used to measure the emissions of certain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other air pollutants.
Mr. Sporidis earned his B.A. from Washington and Jefferson College with a major in Political Science and a concentration in Art History.