Catriona Macdonald
Catriona Macdonald is the President of Linchpin Strategies, LLC. Ms. Macdonald specializes in assisting private and not-for-profit clients in the areas of health, education, and disability to communicate their priorities and needs to audiences at all levels of government.
Prior to founding Linchpin, Ms. Macdonald was the Vice President for Policy at the fastest-growing government relations/public relations firm in the DC area. Her experience on Capitol Hill includes working for Senator Edward Kennedy on the Senate Labor Committee; staffing domestic social issues and appropriations for Congressman Steny Hoyer, the current House Minority Whip; and serving as the Legislative Director for Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. Ms. Macdonald’s experience in the executive branch includes working as a budget and policy analyst in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget at the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Ms. Macdonald received her Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.
Doran D. Edwards, MD
Doran Edwards serves as a Linchpin Policy Advisor. In addition to his role helping Linchpin clients represent their policy interests, he serves as an advisor to leading companies in the medical device industry.
Dr. Edwards is the former Medical Director at SADMERC (the Statistical Analysis Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier), the exclusive DME carrier selected by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide coding and review duties for the entire Medicare DME system. In this role, Dr. Edwards was responsible for the national HCPCS Level II coding functions. He served as medical advisor to the CMS Alpha Numeric Work Group for creation of new codes for HCPCS Level II Coding of all Durable Medical Equipment Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies (DMEPOS).
Dr. Edwards began his career in health care as a pharmacist and board certified surgeon. His health care administration experience includes serving as the Medical Director of Correctional Health Solutions, Inc, a specialty provider of general and emergency care, and as Associate Medicare Director with Cigna Medicare. More recently, Dr. Edwards held the position of Medical Director, Strategic Reimbursement at Smith and Nephew Orthopaedics.
Dr. Edwards holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Tennessee- Memphis, and earned an MD degree from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine.
Kathleen Havey
Kathleen Havey serves as a Linchpin Strategies Policy Advisor, specializing in advocacy on behalf of children and families.
Prior to joining Linchpin, Ms. Havey served as Director of Retirement Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where she represented businesses of all sizes before Congress and the Administration on pension and employee benefit issues.
Before working for the U.S. Chamber, Ms. Havey served as Legislative Director for Representative Nancy Johnson. In this capacity, Ms. Havey worked on issues under the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee, including income support programs, pensions, taxation, and trade. Responsible for issues of particular importance to women and families, including education and child care, Ms. Havey was deeply involved in conference committee negotiations on the landmark 1996 welfare reform law.
In addition to her work for Linchpin, Ms. Havey is an adjunct professor of marketing at Johns Hopkins University, and has served on faculty at the University of Maryland.
Ms. Havey holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. with concentrations in marketing and finance from the University of Maryland.
Tom Holohan, M.D
Dr. Holohan serves as a Linchpin Policy Advisor. In addition to his role helping Linchpin clients represent their policy interests, he is President and Chief Medical Officer of Clinical Evaluation, LLC.
Dr. Holohan served twenty-two years in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps and U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, followed by more than eight years as Associate Deputy Chief Medical Director for Clinical Programs and Chief Patient Care Officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration. Dr. Holohan holds two medical specialty board certifications. He was selected as a member of the first Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee, and appointed Chair of the Panel on Drugs, Biologics and Therapeutics. Dr. Holohan has frequently testified before Congress, and in 2005 provided presentations to the Biologic Weapons Convention in Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Holohan has held faculty appointments at Eastern Virginia Medical School, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Medical School, the University of Maryland Honors College, and has attended on the Georgetown University Medical Service at Fairfax Hospital, VA. In addition, Dr. Holohan has more than 30 published studies, book chapters and invited book reviews and has provided more than 70 lectures or scientific presentations at regional, national, or international professional meetings.
Ron Oxley
Ron Oxley serves as a Linchpin Strategies Policy Advisor. In addition to his role helping Linchpin clients represent their policy interest before the Department of Defense and Homeland Security, he serves as an advisor to leading providers of information assurance and security technologies.
Mr. Oxley has served as President and General Manager of L-3 Communications analytics corporation, and in the same capacity at Emergent Information Technologies, Inc. prior to the company’s acquisition. Mr. Oxley came to Emergent from Litton/PRC Inc., where he was Senior Vice President/Business Development.
Before joining PRC, Mr. Oxley spent more than 28 years in the U.S. government, where he held senior executive service positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence, Comptroller, and Acquisition and Technology. Mr. Oxley’s professional career also includes leadership positions with the United States Navy and Air Force.
Mr. Oxley holds a Master of Science degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from California State University. He served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968, including a one-year tour in Vietnam.
Sean Whalen
Sean Whalen serves as a Linchpin Strategies Policy Associate. In addition to his other contributions, he is well known to Linchpin clients as the master of organizational fly-ins and constituent Hill Days.
Mr. Whalen came to Linchpin from Capitol Hill, where he worked in the office of Congressman Ron Kind of Wisconsin, his home state Representative. Prior to his service on Capitol Hill, Mr. Whalen worked in the Legislative Affairs Department of the National Federation of the Blind. While at the NFB, his efforts focused on federal legislative initiatives to improve the lives of blind Americans.
Mr. Whalen holds Bachelor of the Arts degrees in political science and philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.