With nearly three decades of experience in Washington, Hunt Shipman has held a variety of positions in government and the private sector. Prior to joining Cornerstone, Hunt was a senior executive for the largest trade association serving the food and beverage industry, where he led the association’s government affairs and communications programs. From 2001 to 2003, Hunt was deputy Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services and served as the acting Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the United States Department of Agriculture. In this capacity, he led three agencies with over 18,000 employees stationed around the world and administered over $31 billion in programs. Hunt was the Department of Agriculture’s principal negotiator with the Congress for the 2002 Farm Bill. He also served as the staff director of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Professional Staff Member at the Senate Appropriations Committee, and on the personal staff of Senator Thad Cochran.

In his time with Cornerstone, Hunt has used this experience to assist a variety of clients as they pursue their policy, regulatory and legislative goals with key members of various Congressional committees, the White House and executive branch agencies. The industry sectors he has worked with include food and agriculture, higher education, telecommunications, technology, international trade, environment, and energy.

Hunt has served on the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee for Trade at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Board of Directors for the U.S. Committee for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He is a graduate of Mississippi State University, where he was inducted into the University’s Hall of Fame and received the College of Agriculture’s Distinguished Service Award and was named the 2012 Alumni Fellow.