Neel joins Hilltop as a Principal with over twenty years of political and public affairs experience.

After working in Washington, D.C. for leading public affairs firm Powell Tate, The Walt Disney Company and an investment group that helped return Major League Baseball to our nation’s capital, Neel planted roots in the Pacific Northwest in 1996 following a successful voter education project in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. Soon after, Neel served for over seven years as executive director of the Democratic Party of Oregon, helping to increase fundraising, engagement and ultimately to change control of the Oregon Legislature. Neel was elected nationally in 2005 as President of the State Association of Democratic Executive Directors, providing strategic counsel as a core member of the Democratic National Committee’s 50 State Strategy team.

Seizing an opportunity to work directly for one of Oregon’s leading mission-driven entrepreneurs, New Seasons Market Co-Founder Stan Amy, Neel spent seven years as Vice President of New Villages Group, Ltd. He credits this as earning an ‘organic’ MBA and providing unique insights into opportunities to promote better, more sustainable social outcomes through public and private sector collaboration. Uniting hands on business experience, political and public policy expertise, Neel became Senator Ron Wyden’s Director of Business Outreach and Field Operations in 2014 following the Senator’s ascendancy to Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. He served in that capacity until joining Three Arch Strategies in 2017.

Neel is a longtime resident of Southeast Portland where he lives with his wife and three teenage children.