Beau Mills chosen to lobby for UNC as director of Office of Federal Affairs

Beau Mills didn’t learn how to be a lobbyist in Capitol Hill — it was at Chapel Hill.

The new director of UNC’s Office of Federal Affairs was an activist during his time as an undergraduate, pushing for UNC to divest money from South African companies that did not sign a code of labor ethics during apartheid.

Mills said he learned how to balance interests and articulate his viewpoint. Similar to what UNC student activist groups do today, he helped craft a resolution with UNC’s Student Congress and made a presentation to the Board of Trustees to discourage them to divest.

“I learned those very same skills,” he said. “You could call me a lobbyist, but I describe a big part of my job as educating policymakers.”

Mills said he is glad to return to his alma mater after working for federal agencies and politicians, most recently as district director for U.S. Rep. David Price.

“Working for Congressman Price was quite extraordinary,” he said.

“But when the opportunity came up to work for UNC, it gave me the opportunity to think ... I don’t think people understand how the important the University is.”

Mills will succeed Karen Regan, who was appointed federal affairs director in 2005. In a press release, vice chancellor for research Barbara Entwisle said Regan will assist Mills in his transition.

He will spend about a third of the time in Washington, D.C., lobbying on behalf of the University’s interests, especially research funding. For now, he said he will spend time on campus meeting with administrators and researchers.

“The most powerful thing is to collaborate with people on campus, other universities, other businesses and connect with policymakers,” he said. “That involves telling stories, helping people understand — defend this complicated thing.”

Associate Chancellor for Research Don Hobart, whom Mills reports to, said Mills’ role as lobbyist will only be more important after the severe budget cuts known as sequestration and the government shutdown in fall 2013 threatened University research funding.

“Beau is a true North Carolina public servant,” Hobart said. “UNC is in Congressman Price’s district, which gives Beau a leg up in this job because he has already encountered a number of our federal issues as a result of his work in David Price’s office.”

Though UNC received more federal research dollars than ever before in 2013 — $778.8 million — Mills said constantly working with policymakers is necessary to sustain the money.

Hobart said in addition to research funding, UNC is also concerned with ways to make patents and licensing easier for faculty and how to bolster the University’s profile in Washington, D.C.

In 1998 groups spent more than $30 million on education lobbying, and in 2013 they spent more than $80 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks political money.

The UNC system has heightened its spending on lobbying in Washington from $260,000 in 2003 to $331,183 in 2013, according to the center’s database.

When Mills thinks of the most enriching experience he’s had in his career, securing a grant or negotiating a deal isn’t one of them.

It was in the 1990s, when Hurricane Floyd wreaked havoc on eastern North Carolina and Mills served on the governor’s response team.

There often wasn’t much the team could do to help people whose lives had been destroyed, but every bit of help from the government mattered to the people affected.

“Helping that part of the state was so humbling,” Mills said. “We had meetings every day at 7 a.m. I learned government can help a lot, but it can’t solve all of the problems.”

Mills said he will channel that spirit into his work for the University.

“The opportunity to improve lives is something that has always been at the center of what I do.”

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