Former Arizona Congressman Matthew Salmon Joins Echo Canyon Consulting as Managing Director of Government Affairs
Echo Canyon Consulting has named former U.S. Congressman Matthew "Matt" Salmon as its Managing Director of Government Affairs. Salmon, who represented Arizona in Congress for a decade and helped found the U.S. House Freedom Caucus, will lead the firm's government relations and lobbying practice from its Phoenix headquarters.
The hire matters because of what Echo Canyon has been building. The firm launched in 2024 to run two demanding lines of business at once, innovative voter contact through paid field programs and direct mail on the campaign side and public affairs on the institutional side. Adding a former ten-year member of the U.S. House gives its government affairs practice a depth of experience that most young firms take years to develop, and it positions Echo Canyon to expand its local, state, and federal lobbying work.
Key facts
Who: Former U.S. Congressman Matthew "Matt" Salmon
New role: Managing Director of Government Affairs, Echo Canyon Consulting
Based in: Echo Canyon's Phoenix, Arizona headquarters
Focus: Local, state, and federal government affairs and lobbying for new and existing clients
Background: Arizona State Senate, ten years in the U.S. House across two stints, co-founder of the U.S. House Freedom Caucus, public affairs entrepreneur, and Arizona State University government affairs leader
The relationship behind the hire
For Echo Canyon, the hire is more than a marquee name. Two people at the firm have worked alongside Salmon for years, and their history with him runs back well before Echo Canyon existed.
Co-founder Matthew Kenney, who leads the firm's public affairs practice, has worked with Salmon for more than a decade. The two first partnered between 2014 and 2016, when Kenney was leading the Arizona chapter of Concerned Veterans for America and Salmon was in Congress. They worked together on federal veterans' reform, including advocacy for legislation to expand veterans' access to care and increase accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Salmon's office became known as one of the most effective resources for veterans in the state, backed by an experienced and highly engaged constituent services team.
Rudy Cota, Echo Canyon's Chief of Staff for Public Affairs, goes back even further with Salmon, because Salmon's office is where his career began. Not long after graduating from Arizona State University, Cota joined the congressman's office as an intern during Salmon's second stint in the House, and earned a promotion to full-time staffer within five months. He worked across the office's legislative and constituent services operations, supported Salmon's leadership on U.S. relations with Asia, particularly Southeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific, and helped Arizona veterans navigate federal agencies to resolve benefits and casework issues. That experience became the foundation for the public affairs career he has built since.
"Matt Salmon and I have worked together for more than ten years, going back to our push for veterans' reform when he was in Congress," Kenney said. "His office was one of the most effective resources for veterans in Arizona, and he brought that same seriousness to every issue we took on. Having him lead our government affairs practice is a real moment for this firm."
Who is Matthew Salmon?
Salmon brings a career that spans state government, Congress, the private sector, and higher education. He served in the Arizona State Senate from 1991 to 1995 and rose to Assistant Majority Leader before winning a seat in the U.S. House. He represented Arizona's 1st Congressional district for three terms from 1995 to 2001, then returned to Congress to represent the 5th district from 2013 to 2017, roughly ten years in the House across the two stints.
A few things set his record apart. In 2000 he honored a self-imposed pledge to serve only three terms and left Congress rather than run again. On the House Foreign Affairs Committee he chaired the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, and as the only member of Congress fluent in Mandarin he led U.S. delegations to China and was instrumental in the 2000 release of the U.S.-based academic Song Yongyi from detention there. During his second stint in the House he helped found the U.S. House Freedom Caucus, and his fiscal record earned him recognition as a "Watchdog of the Treasury" and a "Taxpayer Hero" award from Citizens Against Government Waste.
After Congress he built a career in public affairs, founding and leading the advocacy firm Upstream Consulting. Since 2017 he has worked at Arizona State University, first as Vice President of Government Affairs overseeing federal, state, and tribal relations and as a professor of practice in public affairs, and today as Special Advisor on International Opportunities. He and his wife, Nancy, have been married for more than four decades and have four children and nine grandchildren.
What Echo Canyon's leadership is saying
Jon Seaton, the firm's CEO, did not hold back on the significance of the hire. "Matt Salmon is an absolute titan of public policy, a proven conservative leader, and an Arizona statesman who truly defines impact," he said. "At Echo Canyon, we filter everything through our core values: Grit, Integrity, and Loyalty. Matt embodies every single one of these principles. His fearless approach to navigating complex bureaucracy, combined with his lifelong commitment to his principles and his home state, makes him the perfect leader to scale our government affairs practice."
Salmon said the team was what drew him in. "I am incredibly excited to join the tremendous team at Echo Canyon Consulting," he said. "Echo Canyon has built a phenomenal reputation for delivering results with integrity and innovation, and I look forward to working alongside such a talented group of professionals. My primary focus will be on providing top-tier government affairs and lobbying services to a wide range of both new and existing clients, helping them seamlessly navigate shifting regulatory landscapes and achieve their goals."
For clients, the addition means Echo Canyon can now advocate at every level of government with someone who has shaped policy from inside Congress and advocated for major industries from the private sector. That is a background very few people in the field can claim, and it is what the firm is betting on as it grows its government affairs work.
About Echo Canyon Consulting: Echo Canyon Consulting is a full-service political consulting and public affairs firm based in Phoenix, AZ; Dallas, TX; and Alexandria, VA. The firm is renowned for its expertise in grassroots canvassing, with a record of knocking on nearly 7 million doors and contributing to victories in some of the nation's most high-profile races. For more information, visit echocanyonconsulting.com.