News: Chris Toppings, a top GOP financial services and tax aide, is leaving Capitol Hill to help lead the American Investment Council’s lobbying unit.
Toppings is joining the group as co-head of government affairs.
The long-time GOP aide is coming off a big year. Toppings was senior policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, handling his tax, trade and financial services portfolio. That put Toppings in the middle of the push to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and advance landmark stablecoin legislation, the GENIUS Act.
Toppings is also an alum of the Senate HELP Committee GOP staff and former Sen. Richard Burr’s (R-N.C.) office.
AIC advocates for the private equity industry. Its members include some of the most powerful financial services firms, like Blackstone, Apollo Global Management, Goldman Sachs, KKR and The Carlyle Group.
This year, the industry fought off the possibility of a new crackdown on carried interest, which President Donald Trump toyed with for the GOP tax bill.
More AIC moves. The group is also promoting senior vice president of government affairs Lee Slater to be co-head alongside Toppings.
Slater worked at the White House under former President Joe Biden as deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of legislative affairs. Slater is also an alum of House Ways and Means Committee Democrats.
AIC has recently welcomed Will Dunham as president and CEO. Dunham replaced Drew Maloney, who went to run the Edison Electric Institute. Dunham, who was executive vice president of government affairs at AIC, was the policy director for Kevin McCarthy.
