The CAS Team

  • Chris Hayes

    President

    Chris Hayes is the President of Capitol Asset Strategies, where he leads the firm’s work advising clients at the intersection of financial services and emerging technologies.

    Prior to joining Capitol Asset Strategies, Chris held senior policy roles across both the digital assets and traditional financial services industries. Most recently, he led global government relations for the Celo Layer-1 blockchain and directed U.S. government relations for Sorare SAS, a SoftBank-backed NFT platform.

    Before entering the blockchain sector, Chris spent five years building and leading the global advocacy program at the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), representing more than 650 institutional investors invested in private funds. At ILPA, he also spearheaded legal best practices initiatives and worked closely with in-house legal teams at leading limited partners.

    Chris’s policy achievements include:

    - Leading a successful advocacy effort before Congress with our clients to pass the first digital assets legislation into law, the repeal of the IRS Broker Rule in early 2025.

    - Leading successful advocacy efforts before Congress and the SEC on major initiatives such as the Investment Adviser Alignment Act, the Stop Wall Street Looting Act, the SEC Private Fund Adviser Rule, and provisions within the 2017 tax reform package;

    - Driving the passage of legislation creating the SEC’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation and the permanent Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee;

    - Advancing legislation that enacted the first rollback to Dodd-Frank, raising the SEC registration threshold for certain private fund advisers to $150 million;

    - Launching the first publicly available model limited partnership agreement (LPA) for private funds—the ILPA Model LPA;

    - Shaping the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) legislation, with a particular focus on stablecoin and native Layer-1 token regulations;

    - Developing and executing a successful public policy platform for a Layer-1 blockchain project focused on tokenized carbon credits.

    Earlier in his career, Chris served as General Counsel and co-led government affairs for the Small Business Investor Alliance (SBIA), the national association representing Business Development Companies (BDCs), U.S. middle-market private equity firms, and Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs).

    Chris remains active as an advisor, investor, and fundraiser in the private markets. He previously served as an advisor to Aumni, Inc., a private fund legal analytics platform acquired by JP Morgan, and sits on the advisory board of Steward Asset Management, a strategic investor in emerging and diverse private equity and opportunistic managers.

    He holds a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and a B.A. in Political Science and Legal Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Chris is admitted to the bar in California and the District of Columbia.

  • Christopher Sheeron

    Senior Adviser

    Christopher Sheeron is a Senior Adviser at Capitol Asset Strategies.

    A critical communications strategist, Christopher serves as chief executive officer of Grayson & Co., a strategic public affairs and business advisory firm. He is also founder and president of Action for Health, a national non-profit advocacy organization working to ensure fair outcomes for critical healthcare issues. Additionally, he serves as a communications advisor to ndp | analytics, an advisor to Energy Applied Holdings, and an advisor to a London-based technology company.

    Advocacy and communications campaigns that he has led have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and POLITICO. Christopher’s opinion commentary has been featured in a wide array of publications, including the Financial Times, Empire Report, Becker’s Healthcare, RealClearHealth, Washington Times, Crain’s New York Business, and Houston Business Journal.

    Most recently, Christopher worked for a leading executive search and leadership consulting firm. He was a member of the firm’s management team, where he served as global head of marketing and communications, and an executive and board recruiter for energy and healthcare companies. Christopher also served in the office of the firm’s founder and chairman, Russell Reynolds.

    Earlier, he worked for one of the largest independent public affairs firms in the U.S., where he managed relationship development and strategic, crisis, and litigation communications efforts. Specializing in energy, chemical, and environmental issues, he provided strategic counsel to oil and gas, mining, forestry, and palm oil companies. During his tenure, he also engaged in a variety of policy efforts regarding pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and health insurance.

    Before that, Christopher worked at The White House Council on Environmental Quality and a global public relations firm, representing the U.S.' largest oil and natural gas trade association.

    Christopher earned his bachelor’s degree in international affairs from The George Washington University. He is a board member of the John S. Mulholland Family Foundation, a member of the Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows and Catholic Charities' 83.33 Society, and a patron of the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.

    He enjoys rowing, golf, and racquet sports, playing backgammon, and traveling in Latin America and Europe. Owing to his father's native France, Christopher also cherishes time spent in his kitchen and garden. Originally from New York, he currently resides in Washington, DC with his wife, Katherine A. H. Ballou.

  • Tommy Barletta

    Senior Adviser, Health Policy

    Tommy Barletta is a Senior Adviser at Capitol Asset Strategies.

    Tommy Barletta has over 20 years of experience working at the crossroads of financial markets, policy and politics. He currently leads his own policy advisory firm working at the intersection of health policy and investment, Jones Point.

    Throughout his career, Tommy has been a trusted advisor for both companies pursuing specific legislative and regulatory strategies and institutional investors assessing the impact of policy changes on their investment portfolios. Most recently, he led Marwood Group Research, where he spearheaded a multi-year strategy re-establishing the firm as the market leader for Washington healthcare investment research, resulting in several million dollars of revenue growth. As the Director of Research he was the practice head, responsible for leading the firm’s analysis of federal policy catalysts and leveraging those insights into actionable investment advice for hedge fund and mutual fund clients. His leadership, relationships and strategic vision played a key role in Marwood’s positioning in the highly competitive investment research industry.

    Prior to Marwood, Tommy worked in senior roles in public relations and in Congress, serving as Press Secretary and Legislative Assistant for former Representative Cal Dooley (D-CA). In these roles, he successfully built relationships in Congress, the White House and the business community that resulted in the passage of multiple pieces of bipartisan international trade legislation.

    Tommy holds a B.A. in Politics and Spanish from Wake Forest University and an MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. A huge Demon Deacon sports fan, Tommy serves on the Wake Forest Alumni Athletic Advisory Board.

  • Michael McGeary

    Michael McGeary

    Senior Adviser, Technology Policy

    Michael McGeary is a Senior Adviser at Capitol Asset Strategies.

    Michael specializes in technology, artificial intelligence, and their intersection with policy. McGeary is the former Chief Executive Officer of Allied for Startups, and also retains the position of Secretary-Treasurer and has been a Board Director since its founding. He is the former Head of Public Policy for Upwork, the world’s largest global freelancing website, and Chief Political Strategist of Engine, a non-profit based in San Francisco and Washington DC, working to connect startups with government to effect change on issues important to high-growth, entrepreneurial tech businesses.

    Previously, he worked directly in startups, with early-stage firms, and venture capital, specializing in operational scale, external relations and brand management and adoption. He also served in various roles with two U.S. Presidential campaigns, in a senior advisory role with the University of California, and worked with a leading California law firm specializing in political compliance and disclosure.

    A Gloucester, Massachusetts native, he holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Tufts University, and resides with his wife, Sarah, and two sons, Jack and Ted, in Wilton, Connecticut.