Gerard Basalla
Director, Public Policy

Gerard Basalla is the Director of Public Policy at the Columbus Partnership. In his current position, he works in concert with the Vice President of Public Policy on advocacy and engagement strategies to support the Partnership’s policy efforts at the federal, state and local levels of government. This work includes leading efforts on the Partnership’s economic competitiveness agenda, facilitating connectivity with elected officials and weighing in on important public policy issues for the Columbus Region. Prior to his role as Director, Basalla served as Associate Director of Public Policy and as Special Assistant to former Columbus Partnership President and CEO Alex Fischer.

Before joining the Partnership, Basalla served as Co-Chair of the statewide student effort to re-elect US Senator Rob Portman and interned for both Senator Portman in Washington DC and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in Columbus. Additionally, Basalla represented 52,000 undergraduate students as the Student Body President at The Ohio State University and was selected to be the first student speaker in school history at the University’s commencement ceremony in Ohio Stadium.

Gerard currently serves on the Columbus Region Coalition, Metropolitan Civic Leadership Alliance, JobsOhio Network engagement team and as a member of Ohio Business for Immigration Solutions. He was also recently selected as a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) Leadership Network Millennial Cohort.

Basalla is a graduate of The Ohio State University with Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Political Science and Strategic Communication and resides in the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus with his wife Miranda.