Our Team

Vic KlattVic Klatt

Principal

For 20 years, Victor "Vic" Klatt, III, has helped shape nearly every major education initiative in Washington – as a senior education official in the executive branch, as the top education staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives and now as a principal of Penn Hill Group.

Before joining Penn Hill Group, Klatt worked at Van Scoyoc Associates from 2000–2005 and 2008–2010, where he created one of the most significant education policy shops in Washington. He also represented some of the biggest names in education policy, from early childhood providers to higher education institutions, nonprofits, for-profits, issue-specific coalitions and large associations.

Klatt served three years as GOP staff director for the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor. He helped guide the committee’s deliberations on education, workforce and social policy issues, including higher education, the No Child Left Behind Act, pension reform, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Head Start, welfare reform, job training, civil rights and mine safety issues.

In the 1990s, Klatt spent seven years as education policy director in the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee (as it was then known), coordinating the committee’s work on all education and human resources issues within its jurisdiction. Klatt first began specializing in education in 1989, when he became deputy assistant secretary for congressional affairs at the U.S. Department of Education. With Secretaries Lamar Alexander and Lauro Cavazos, Klatt helped coordinate the legislative dimension of President George H.W. Bush’s education policy.

Shortly after coming to Washington, D.C., in 1984 to work for the Republican National Committee, Klatt managed the initial campaign of Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Klatt’s hometown congressman. He directed campaign staff, implemented the election plan, and coordinated fundraising and advertising for one of only six campaigns to unseat an incumbent that year. Klatt then joined Upton’s staff, serving as deputy staff director and press secretary.

Klatt has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Kalamazoo College in southwest Michigan.

You can reach Vic at vklatt@pennhillgroup.com.