Strategic Communications Director Michael K. Kelly Joins Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Global Economic Development and Government Relations Team in Virginia

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP continues to expand its Global Economic Development, Commerce and Government Relations Group with the addition of Michael K. Kelly, who most recently served as chief of staff and communications director for former Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring.

Based in the firm’s Richmond office, Kelly joins the firm’s full-service public affairs consultancy as a director of strategic communications and advocacy.

“Michael is a world class communications professional whose experience and persuasive approach to helping clients achieve their objectives make him a welcome addition to the firm,” said Todd P. Haymore, managing director of the firm’s Global Economic Development, Commerce and Government Relations Group. “We know he will be a valuable resource for the firm and its clients.”

As Herring’s chief of staff, Kelly advised on political, communication and organizational strategies; consulted with government partners, businesses, industry organizations, lobbyists, and advocacy groups; worked to ensure proper staffing and prompt delivery of legal services to the governor and state agencies; and directly supervised the departments of Finance, Information Technology, Operations, Communications, Scheduling, and Constituent Services.

Prior to his appointment as chief of staff, Kelly was the agency’s communications director from 2014 to 2020. In that role, Kelly created and executed a successful communications and branding strategy for Virginia’s first Democratic attorney general in 20 years. As chief communications strategist, spokesman and senior advisor to the attorney general, Kelly helped raise the office’s national and in-state profile by conceiving and executing proactive, defensive and crisis communications strategies for litigation, legislative, and policy matters including government investigations, environmental enforcement, cannabis legalization, project permitting, utility regulation, consumer investigations and litigation, grant/incentive compliance, civil rights litigation, crime prevention, data breach enforcement, and much more.

Kelly’s career began in 2007, when he joined the communications staff for former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, where he rose to the position of assistant press secretary in just three years. In 2010, Kelly left the governor’s office to serve as communications director for the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus and then as deputy press secretary for U.S. Representative Tom Perriello. In 2011, Kelly went back to work for Kaine as his travelling press secretary during his successful 2012 campaign for the U.S. Senate.

Kelly is the latest of several key additions to Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Global Economic Development, Commerce and Government Relations Group. His colleagues include Elizabeth Rafferty and Adisa Muse in Richmond and C. Evans Poston in Norfolk. All three joined the firm last year as directors of government affairs.

Kelly earned his undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech in 2007.