PERSON: Jai Chabria

Mercury, Ohio Office

Managing Director

Jai Chabria serves as Managing Director in Mercury’s Columbus, Ohio office, where he specializes in public affairs and campaign strategy management. In this role, he is responsible for the leadership and management of all political and policy efforts across a host of arenas.

Chabria has spent 20 years working in Ohio politics, and most recently served as senior adviser to Ohio Governor John Kasich from his first run for governor in 2010 to his 2016 Presidential campaign. Jai recently ran the Ohio Convention Committee 2016 as Cleveland hosted the Republican National Convention. Chabria has also worked on numerous other congressional and statewide races, with an expertise on digital, grassroots and messaging.

During his tenure with Kasich, Chabria provided strategic, legislative and messaging guidance for most of Governor Kasich’s key initiatives. He is credited with the development and launch of many programs, including the Balanced Budget Forever national tour and New Day for America, the Kasich campaign’s Super PAC, as well as his key role in the creation of JobsOhio, Ohio’s cutting edge private economic development entity.

From 2011 to 2016, Chabria served as Head of Personnel for the State of Ohio, where he recruited and hired over a dozen cabinet directors and their senior staff members. He also oversaw all gubernatorial appointments, including over 100 judicial appointments.

Chabria served in a leadership role in multiple state emergency responses. In 2012, Chabria chaired the Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force; Under Chabria’s direction and guidance, legislation was passed to increase penalties on human traffickers and increase protections for survivors.

Previously, Chabria was an associate with Schottenstein Property Group, advising the company on asset acquisitions. Prior to that, he worked in the investment banking division of Lehman Brothers and later Barclays Capital, where he worked across all sectors including Technology, Industrial, Power, Financial Institutions, and Media. Chabria worked with teams all across the country on M&A, Financings and IPOs.

Chabria served on the Board of Trustees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland for four years. He is also currently a weekly contributor to POLITICO’s “Insider Caucus”. He is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and lives in Powell, Ohio with his wife Tammy, daughter Arya, and son Veer.

— LinkedIn