Still flying high after the White House

Technology, aviation and the military have always appealed to Joe Hagin. As White House deputy chief of staff — he stepped down in July — Hagin oversaw, among other things, the White House Military Office, which keeps tabs on the president’s best toys: Air Force One and Marine One.

Now Hagin’s back in the aviation biz. He was just named chief executive officer of Jet Support Services Inc., which provides hourly cost-maintenance programs for aircraft engines and airframes. He’ll split his time between Washington and the firm’s headquarters in Chicago.

“Through my time at the White House, I gained valuable experience in global operations management, including aviation assets,” Hagin said. “I’m eager to build on that experience.”

During his seven years at the White House, Hagin oversaw — in addition to his day-to-day running of White House ops — the five-year modernization of its executive communications systems and the renovations of two West Wing hallmarks: the Situation Room and the Press Briefing Room.

Hagin — who also was an aide to President Bush’s father, the 41st president, George H.W. Bush — worked on the administration team that formulated the Department of Homeland Security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Among Friends at MS&L

Neil Dhillon is all about managing relationships. After 25 years in the trenches, he’s perfected the art of negotiating with Congress, the White House and those in the worldwide public affairs network. Now he’s the managing director of the Washington office of the global communications firm Manning Selvage & Lee, where he will also be director of its national public affairs practice.

“The town is going to be turned upside down, regardless of who wins the election,” Dhillon said, looking beyond Election Day. “With new faces coming in, we need to start off early, right out of the gates, in building the right relationships and understanding how transitions work with the coming of a new administration.”

Backed by some of the top communication leaders at MS&L, he hopes to provide clients with the expertise in linking the new administration and global partners. Along with strategic communications and public affairs counsel, Dhillon wants to expand the agency’s full-service interactive practice in digital communication.

Most recently, Dhillon was managing director in the D.C. office of the family-owned public relations agency Ruder Finn. He also served six years as director of public affairs for Hill & Knowlton. Earlier in the Clinton administration, he was deputy assistant secretary of government affairs at the Transportation Department and served for 10 years as chief of staff to the late Rep. Bob Matsui (D-Calif.).

On the move …

• Ronald J. Kamis is a new partner at Arent Fox. At the firm’s Washington office, he’ll counsel renewable energy and life sciences companies — issues that he’s familiar with after leading a similar group at Baker & Daniels.

• Kerry McTigue is moving from E Street to K Street as a new partner in the Washington branch of the Duane Morris trial practice group. He had been general counsel of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. At OPM for two years, McTigue managed health insurance benefits for nearly 8 million federal employees and was the agency’s liaison to the White House legal counsel. McTigue also served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps and was chief legal adviser to the FBI and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Division.

• Linda Hay Crawford, the former executive director of the Therapeutic Communities of America, is now CEO of the Clinical Research Forum. She has also served as national vice president for federal and state government relations at the American Cancer Society. She started her career at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the Carter administration.

• Kristin A. Bennett is the new vice president at The Implementation Group, a consulting firm helping clients negotiate federal grants and contracts. An expert in materials sciences and nanotechnology, Bennett worked for six years as senior program manager for the Energy Department’s Office of Science.

Blog alert

OK, we know you know everything there is to know about K Street. But just in case you want to learn a bit more from the lobbyists and PR gurus themselves, check out the K Street Café at www.kstreetcafe.com. It’s not a Starbucks clone, but rather a new blog, launched Tuesday, where the “daily specials” are quick hits on digital media from the city’s leading advocates.

Suite Talk is a regular Politico feature that follows career changes, client developments and other movements in the public affairs sector. Please send news items and photos to suitetalk@politico.com.