Talent

Gardner G. Peckham, a Prime Policy Group Managing Director, has 30 years of experience in the design and implementation of federal policy on foreign relations, national security and international trade. He joins Prime Policy from its predecessor firm, BKSH & Associates Worldwide.

Gardner previously served as national security advisor to U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and was responsible for devising and implementing House legislative, political and communications strategy and tactics. He worked closely with House Leaders and committee chairs, their Senate counterparts and other House Members and was the Speaker’s liaison with administration officials, foreign leaders and business executives.

Before joining the Speaker’s staff, Gardner was senior counsel to Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, Henry J. Hyde (R-IL); deputy chief of staff and senior staff consultant, House Committee on Foreign Affairs; and staff consultant, Subcommittee on Africa, Committee on Foreign Affairs.

In addition to his work on Capitol Hill, Gardner held two senior positions in the George H.W. Bush Administration. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs to Secretary James A. Baker III, he actively participated in senior-level administration decision-making on key foreign policy issues and served as Secretary Baker’s liaison with Congress. Gardner also served as director of legislative affairs to National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft.

Gardner received his B.A. in politics and government from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1975 and pursued graduate studies at the American University School of International Service. He completed the Executive Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1983. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of directors of Partners for Democratic Change, a leading democracy-building NGO. He served on the National Commission on Terrorism, the Secretary of Defense/Director of Central Intelligence-appointed Remote Sensing Strategy Panel, and he has served as an advisor to senior officials in the US intelligence community and received an award of appreciation from the DCI Counterterrorism Center in August 2005.

Gardner and his wife live in Chevy Chase, MD and have raised two daughters, Elizabeth and Madeleine.