Comcast has added two new employees to its federal affairs office in Washington, D.C.

Joe Trahern joins Comcast as its senior director of federal government affairs, while Rudy Brioché was named senior director of external affairs and public policy council.

Trahern will serve as one of Comcast’s senior lobbyists focused on Congress and the administration, while Brioché will focus on the development of the company’s public policy positions and legislative analysis.

Trahern joined Comcast’s federal affairs team with extensive experience in the House, Senate and executive branch. He most recently served as director of legislative and regulatory affairs in the Washington office of General Motors. Prior to joining General Motors, Trahern served as chief of staff to both Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and her husband, the late Robert Matsui. 

Trahern worked in the Senate before moving over to the House, serving former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and on the staffs of Senators Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.). 

In addition to his extensive experience on both sides of the Hill, Trahern served in the White House as special assistant to the president for political affairs during the Clinton administration. 

Brioché has legal experience at the Federal Communications Commission on the Hill, and in the non-profit sector. He came to Comcast from the FCC, where he served as legal advisor to Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein and focused on media regulatory issues. 

Before the FCC, he worked in the U.S. Senate for Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), covering Senate Commerce Committee issues including wired and wireless telecommunications, media, judiciary and small business. Earlier in his career, Brioché served as Washington Bureau counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and as law clerk to Judge Andre M. Davis of the U.S. District Court and Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Maryland Court of Appeals.

Brioché and Trahern are the latest additions to Comcast’s Government and External Affairs Team that is led by Comcast executive vice president David Cohen.