Paramount has hired former Biden White House official Shuwanza Goff as its vice president of U.S. government affairs.
Goff, who will join the company on July 6 and be based in Washington D.C., will serve as the media giant’s lead Democrat government affairs official, reporting to U.S. Public Policy and Government Affairs head Ted Lehman.
In her new role, Goff will help shape Paramount’s public policy and government affairs strategy, including engagement with federal and state policymakers and industry partners.
Prior to joining Paramount, Goff served as Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs in the Biden administration, where she led the entire operation charged with advancing President Biden’s agenda on Capitol Hill.
She also served as Deputy Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, playing a pivotal role in legislative achievements such as the successful passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, while managing critical bipartisan relationships between the White House and Congress.
Before the White House, she spent more than a decade in House leadership, including becoming the first African-American woman to serve as Floor Director for the House of Representatives under Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD).
Her oversight included all aspects of the House legislative agenda, operations and procedural strategy. In this role, Goff determined which bills reached the House floor, managed the legislative calendar and directed the Democratic Party’s vote-counting operation. Her other notable roles include serving as a vice president of government affairs for an international corporation and working at a multi-client public policy advocacy firm in Washington, D.C.
“I know how rare it is to find someone who is deeply respected and highly effective across both parties. Shuwanza is exactly that — a trusted, known quantity in Washington and an exceptional colleague,” Lehman said in a Tuesday statement. “As we continue to build out our Government Affairs team, we’re thrilled to have her join us.”
Goff’s hiring comes as the David Ellison-led media giant is working with regulators as it looks to close its pending $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by the end of the third quarter. The deal, which has already received approval from shareholders, has faced pushback from Democrats in Congress, as well as Democrat FCC commissioner Anna Gomez and Hollywood creatives.
Ellison met with U.S. Department of Justice officials in May to discuss the transaction. The DOJ’s Hart-Scott-Rodino review period expired in February, though the regulator can still get involved at anytime in the process. Paramount has also asked the FCC to approve its foreign investment in the deal, with those investors set to account for 49.5% of the equity of the combined company.
Additionally, Ellison met with U.K. Secretary of Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy and other European regulators in January as he looks to get the Warner Bros. deal cleared. Investigations by the European Commission and U.K Competition and Markets Authority have set initial deadlines of July 7 and Aug. 7, respectively.
In addition to federal and international regulators, a group of state attorneys general are preparing to file a lawsuit to block the deal as soon as this month, two individuals familiar with the matter previously told TheWrap. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is investigating the deal, previously told TheWrap that “red flags are everywhere when you have a merger of this type” and that the states are prepared to “act timely,” but declined to provide a specific timeline for when a decision could be made.
In May, Paramount said it was cooperating with various state AGs who sent them subpoenas, or civil investigative demands, focusing on the DOJ investigation and the competitive effects of the merger. At the time, it did not disclose which or how many state AGs sent subpoenas.
In the event the transaction does not close by Sept. 30, WBD shareholders will receive a 25 cent per share “ticking fee” for each quarter until closing. In the event that the deal does not close at all due to regulatory matters, Paramount will pay WBD a $7 billion termination fee.
