• Michael Sherman has joined Venable as a partner. He was most recently partner at Kelley Drye & Warren , and before that he was partner at Collier Shannon Scott.

• Rich Thomas has joined Monument Policy Group as vice president of government relations. He is leaving the office of Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), where he worked as a legislative director.

• Craig Sharman has joined Tyco International as director of federal government relations. Prior to this, Sharman served as staff director of the House Emergency Communications subcommittee.

• The Ocean Conservancy has hired Sandra Whitehouse as senior adviser and Matt Tinning as legislative affairs director. Laura Capps has been promoted to senior vice president for government affairs and communication. Whitehouse has previously worked at the Coastal Resources Management Council and the University of Rhode Island. Tinning has served in the office of Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and as a congressional liaison officer for the Australian government. Capps has worked previously as a White House speechwriter under the Clinton administration and was communications director to Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.).

• Robert Gordon has joined the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) as senior vice president of policy development and research. Gordon previously worked on the staff of the House Financial Services Committee.

• Linda Singer has joined Zuckerman Spaeder as counsel and co-chairwoman of the firm’s public client practice. Singer is a former attorney general for the District of Columbia and previously worked for the Appleseed Foundation .

• William Galston will be the first scholar to hold the Ezra K. Zilkha chair in governance studies. Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, previously served as a deputy assistant to President Clinton and executive director for the National Commission on Civic Renewal.