Top lobbying firm with Mass. ties shuts down

A10 Associates, which billed itself as the “largest woman-owned bipartisan public affairs firm,” was riding high.

An affiliate of financial media giant Bloomberg called them a “top-performing” lobbying firm in its report for 2024, released earlier this year. The firm came in at No. 7 on the Boston Business Journal’s Fast 50, a list of the fastest-growing private companies in Massachusetts.

But in July, the Washington-focused firm shut down. Its website now features a “Thank you” note and a contact form, with a message that reads, “We have decided to retire this business to focus on our families and other special projects.”

From the outside, it looked like an abrupt shutdown. According to Jessica Beeson Tocco, the CEO until about a month ago, it was in the works for some time ago.

Building the business was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life,” and it took a toll on her family, particularly when paired with a cancer fight during the Covid pandemic, Beeson Tocco said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Along with its Malden headquarters, the firm also had offices in D.C., Miami, East Falmouth, and Indianapolis. In its bid for a Fast 50 listing, the firm claimed 2024 revenue hit $10 million, up from $2.5 million in 2021. Its client roster included a member of the Bacardi family, a crypto exchange, the private Cambridge College and transportation and energy-focused companies.

The shutdown came months after they had put out job postings, saying they were looking to hire a controller and a junior lobbyist. In April, they had hired a director of strategic communications and operations from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

When the firm closed – she didn’t sell it, she noted – Beeson Tocco posted on LinkedIn a photo of herself standing on a balcony with her two children, ages 9 and 12, with the Washington Monument in the distance. “Right now my Number 1 focus is my kids and my marriage,” said Beeson Tocco, who is married to developer John Tocco, the son of lobbying legend and former Massport CEO Steve Tocco.

An Indiana native with ties to Mike Pence and a donor to Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund, she previously worked for Rasky Partners. She left that shop in 2018 to relaunch and scale up A10 Associates, which had previously been a small firm she ran solo.

But she added that since then the lobbying landscape had shifted. “This was really good timing for me to really bring in and align different national partners for the book of business and let them take the lead, because the industry is changing and developing,” she said. “What I mean by that is our growth was very aligned with the flow of federal funding.”

She is now in the process of helping transition clients and her former employees, who signed employment and severance contracts that don’t allow them to talk to reporters. She said she has offers and opportunities for herself and plans an announcement “down the road.”

Thanks to everyone who emailed an answer to yesterday’s Boston City Council trivia question. Yes, Michael Flaherty was the last councilor to run and return to the body. My inbox is always open for trivia, and any burning questions about Massachusetts politics you may have. I may feature them in a future mailbag edition (anonymity can be provided if preferred): gin@massterlist.com.

HAPPENING TODAY

12:00 | Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi hosts his annual golf tournament and cookout, which is slated to bring elected officials and dignitaries from across the state to western Massachusetts. | Springfield Elks Lodge #61, 440 Tiffany St., Springfield

1:00 | Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Board of Directors meets. Agenda includes approval for the admission of the Lynnfield Center Water District to the MWRA Water System and authorization to execute a water supply agreement. | Agenda and Access

2:00 | Gov. Maura Healey and Treasurer Deb Goldberg have their monthly meeting. | Governor’s Office, State House, Boston

2:00 | The Cannabis Control Commission hosts a support webinar on applying to the Social Equity Program. | Zoom, More Info

FROM BEACON HILL

STATE INSTITUTION RECORDS: State institutional records would become public after 75 years, and family members or researchers could access the records 50 years after a patients death, under a bill submitted by Gov Maura Healey. Disabilities advocates had been pushing for the change, which has also been sought by family members who lived at state institutions. – GBH News

BURN NOTICE: A spokesman for the Cannabis Control Commission hung up the phone on a Herald reporter asking about the use of taxpayer-paid procurement credit cards handed out to state agencies.– Boston Herald

PROPOSED PARTNERSHIP: Amid a primary care crisis, a proposed partnership between Mass General Brigham and CVS is drawing questions from the chair of the Senate’s Health Care Financing Committee, Cindy Friedman. – State House News Service

NEWS NEXT DOOR

BOSTON DEFIANT: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu responded to the Trump administration with a mini-rally on City Hall Plaza in defense of the city’s immigration policies, calling out Attorney General Pam Bondi and saying “stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures.” – WBUR

REP. CLARK’S WALKBACK: U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark seemed to walk back comments about genocide in Gaza, telling a news outlet, “I want to be clear that I am not accusing Israel of genocide.” – Boston Globe

READY FOR TAKEOFF: Former Gov. Chris Sununu starts as the new head of the industry lobby for airlines, Airlines for America, on Sept. 9. – Bloomberg Government

NEW JOB FOR LEE: Grace Lee, who previously worked for the state treasurer and later took a job as Massachusetts market president at M&T Bank, has taken the top job at St. Mary’s Credit Union in Marlborough. – Boston Business Journal

MEDIA BUY: Nexstar Media Group, which owns WWLP Channel 22 in Springfield, has a $.62 billion deal for rival company Tegna, which locally owns a Fox affiliate WTIC and WCCT in Hartford. – MassLive