Vincent Versage came to Washington in the mid-1970's and worked for nine years as a legislative aide to the late Senator Spark Matsunaga (D-Hawaii) and Congressman Timothy Wirth (D-Colo.). In 1985, he joined the lobbying firm of Cassidy & Associates where he led that firm's appropriations practice for colleges and universities for 15 years and lobbied for major institutions such as Columbia University, Boston University, University of Hawaii, Northwestern University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Michigan Tech University, among others. In 2001, he left Cassidy and founded The National Group, which has become one of the leading appropriations lobbying firms in Washington. Mr. Versage has had many long-term client relationships, the longest and most successful of which has been with the Rochester Institute of Technology, for which he has lobbied since 1985 under three different presidents, and Texas Tech University for which he has lobbied since 1996. Mr. Versage also represented the University of Hawaii for fifteen years and succeeded in obtaining more than $100 million in earmarked appropriations for campus development projects. Currently, Mr. Versage leads National Group lobbying teams for Texas Tech, University of New Mexico, Loyola Marymount University, and Rochester Institute of Technology, among others. Mr. Versage is widely regarded as one of the leading appropriations lobbyists in Washington and is often quoted by Washington newspapers and journals regarding federal appropriations and budget issues.