Jon Pyatt
Crisis Management • Government Relations • Grassroots Coalition Building • Political Consulting
Managing Director
Jon Pyatt is a Managing Director for Mercury Illinois, based in Washington, D.C. He is proven leader in state and national institutions with decades of experience in public service, higher education, government relations, politics, communications, and law.
Before joining Mercury, Pyatt served as Executive Vice President at Venn Strategies, where he lobbied Congress for an array of healthcare clients, including academic medical centers and medical colleges and patient-led coalitions for essential medicines.
Pyatt opened the University of Illinois System’s first-ever Washington, D.C., office in 2011. On behalf of its three distinct campuses in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield—and its teaching and safety-net hospital in Chicago—Pyatt forged alliances within the Illinois congressional delegation and the White House. He served as a board member of the Council on Government Affairs for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and as President and Board Chair of The Science Coalition, an alliance of premier research universities committed to maintaining strong and sustained federal investments in fundamental scientific research in American colleges and universities.
Pyatt was a longtime chief of staff to Rep. Cheri Bustos when she served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Pyatt served as her top governmental and political advisor when she was the only member of the senior elected House Democratic leadership team who represented the Midwest. In addition to guiding her offices in Washington, the Quad-Cities, Rockford, and Peoria, Pyatt helped Bustos win and outperform the top of the ticket over three election cycles in her battleground congressional district.
Pyatt was the architect behind Bustos’ two winning House leadership races. When Bustos co-chaired the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, Pyatt helped shape House Democrats’ 2018 For the People midterm message, widely credited with helping Democrats reclaim the majority. Later, Pyatt ran Bustos’ successful effort to helm the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), serving there as her Senior Advisor. He also worked as a Deputy Chief of Staff for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, where he served as her counsel on the House Judiciary Committee and directed her floor activities in the Majority Whip operation.
Pyatt is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Pepperdine University School of Law, and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).
Before joining Mercury, Pyatt served as Executive Vice President at Venn Strategies, where he lobbied Congress for an array of healthcare clients, including academic medical centers and medical colleges and patient-led coalitions for essential medicines.
Pyatt opened the University of Illinois System’s first-ever Washington, D.C., office in 2011. On behalf of its three distinct campuses in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield—and its teaching and safety-net hospital in Chicago—Pyatt forged alliances within the Illinois congressional delegation and the White House. He served as a board member of the Council on Government Affairs for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and as President and Board Chair of The Science Coalition, an alliance of premier research universities committed to maintaining strong and sustained federal investments in fundamental scientific research in American colleges and universities.
Pyatt was a longtime chief of staff to Rep. Cheri Bustos when she served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Pyatt served as her top governmental and political advisor when she was the only member of the senior elected House Democratic leadership team who represented the Midwest. In addition to guiding her offices in Washington, the Quad-Cities, Rockford, and Peoria, Pyatt helped Bustos win and outperform the top of the ticket over three election cycles in her battleground congressional district.
Pyatt was the architect behind Bustos’ two winning House leadership races. When Bustos co-chaired the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, Pyatt helped shape House Democrats’ 2018 For the People midterm message, widely credited with helping Democrats reclaim the majority. Later, Pyatt ran Bustos’ successful effort to helm the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), serving there as her Senior Advisor. He also worked as a Deputy Chief of Staff for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, where he served as her counsel on the House Judiciary Committee and directed her floor activities in the Majority Whip operation.
Pyatt is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Pepperdine University School of Law, and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).
