ABOUT US
“The Best View comes after the hardest climb!”
The Summit Consulting Group is a full service public affairs firm that provides management consulting services to political campaigns, public relations and corporate clients. From government relations, to message development, fundraising to coalitions, Summit Group can deliver on whatever you need to win.
Summit Consulting Group has represented clients at all levels of government. From school boards to city councils to members of Congress, Summit has delivered an overwhelming success rate.
We have over 76 years of Arizona and National experience – providing you the information, the answers and the recommendations to make informed decisions.
Call us – WE KNOW HOW TO WIN!
CHAD WILLEMS | PARTNER
Summit Consulting Group Managing Partner Chad Willems manages day-to-day operations. Chad has been a political and public relations consultant and professional fundraiser for over twenty years, working extensively in the area of campaign finance, campaign management, non-profit development, strategy, and marketing. In 2005, Chad took the helm at Summit and has managed hundreds of public opinion surveys, polling projects, and corporate affairs campaigns both locally and nationally. Moreover, he has used his management experience in ensuring efficiency in operations and accuracy in outcomes for client projects.
Before moving to Arizona in 1998 to work on congressional campaigns, Chad was very active in California politics as a grassroots organizer and political fundraiser for state and local elective offices. He also served as the Executive Director for the Adam Smith Institute, a conservative/libertarian think tank and political action committee in San Diego, before starting his own business as a political consultant and professional fundraiser.
Chad resides in North Scottsdale with his wife Kim and their three young children.
BRIAN MURRAY | PARTNER
Brian has over 24 years of legislative experience. Brian worked on Capitol Hill for multiple members, including his last roll as Chief of Staff to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He served as District Director for another Arizona Congressmen. Brian also worked in the U.S. Senate as a staff member on the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space. During Brian’s Congressional tenure he had a primary focus on appropriations requests and tribal relations.
Currently Brian is a partner at the Summit Consulting Group leading their government relations practice.
Brian also has extensive political experience, he is the former Executive Director of the Arizona Republican Party, a staff member on Steve Forbes campaign for President in Iowa, and has worked on numerous statewide, congressional and independent expenditure committees.
Brian resides in Phoenix and is married to Ashley a Kindergarten Teacher, and together they have three amazing children.
JANE H. SURGENT | SENIOR ASSOCIATE, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Jane H. Surgent is a fourth generation Arizonan who was raised on a cattle ranch near a small town in northern Arizona. Her father, John Hays, served in the Arizona state legislature for 16 years. Jane received a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in Education at the University of San Diego. She went on to receive her master’s degree in Elementary Education and a Teacher of Students with Disabilities Endorsement at Georgian Court University. She has taught pre-school, kindergarten, first, and second grade as well as fifth/sixth Special Education in New Jersey and Arizona.
Before joining Summit as a government affairs associate, Jane also worked as a researcher for a recruiting firm in the healthcare industry in Phoenix.
Jane resides in Phoenix with her three children.